Nebraska baseball rebounded from a disappointing opening weekend as they picked up their first win of the season, 5-4 against South Alabama
Pitching and defense were major problems in the Husker’s opening series. Nebraska allowed 38 runs and committed four errors in four games against San Diego.
Friday night the Husker bullpen stepped up.
Even though they allowed two walks and hit four batters the bullpen allowed no runs on 3.2 innings pitched and secured a win for starter Emmett Olson.
The Cornhuskers got on the board early in the second inning with a Garett Anglim solo homerun. It was Anglim’s first homer of the year and the fifth of his career
The Huskers immediately after taking the lead found trouble in inning two.
A two-out walk followed by a Brice Matthews error and a hit by pitch put runners on the corners for the Jaguars. South Alabama’s ninth hitter, JG Bell. came through with a two-RBI single to put the Jags up 2-1
Nebraska recaptured the lead in the third after RBIs from Max Anderson and Ben Columbus.
NU extended their lead to 4-2 in the fifth after another ground out RBI by Columbus. Nebraska loaded the bases later in the inning but could not capitalize.
Emmet Olson posted back-to-back 1-2-3 innings until a homerun by Jaguar right fielder Colson Lawrence cut the Big Red Lead in half in the bottom of the fifth.
Nebraska immediately responded in the next inning as with the bases loaded Columbus got hit by a pitch, giving the Husker a 5-3 lead
Olson exited the contest in the 6th inning after a one-out walk. Shay Schanaman entered the game for the Big Red after making two appearances out of the pen last weekend. one run would score after Schanaman hit two batters and threw a wild pitch. The run would count against Olson as The jaguars trailed 5-4 heading into the seventh.
Both sides went down quickly in the seventh until the eighth when Schanaman found himself in a two-out two-on jam. Manager Will Bolt called Freshman Jalen Worthley out of the pen. Worthley loaded the bases but got NU out of the inning off a flyout.
The Huskers threatened in the eighth and ninth innings but could not add any insurance.
In the ninth inning Kyle Perry came in for Worthley. After hitting the first batter Perry retired the top of the Jaguar’s order. Perry picked up his first career save and secured Nebraska a 5-4 win.
Olson picked up the win after 5.1 innings pitched, four runs, 2 earned runs and five strikeouts. Columbus picked up three RBIs even though he did not record a hit and Max Anderson recorded two of Nebraska’s six-team hits.
The Huskers will play South Alabama tomorrow at 2 p.m.