Nebraska baseball came into the final game of the Cambria College Classic on fire. Winners of their last five and still riding high off their victory over no. 7 Vanderbilt, the Huskers looked to upset no. 4 Ole Miss.
But the Rebels had no problem extinguishing the Huskers as Ole Miss walked away with a dominant 14-5 W.
Ole Miss came out swinging to start the game. The Rebels sent Nebraska starter Caleb Clark to the dugout with two outs in the first after scoring five runs off five hits, two hit-by-pitches, and a walk.
Clark left the game with the bases loaded for Michael Garza. Garza’s first batter, center fielder Ethan Groff, knocked a bases-clearing double to put Ole Miss up 8-0.
The two sides traded scoreless 2nd innings until a no doubt, two-run homerun from Brice Matthews cut the Rebel lead to six.
Ole Miss threatened the Huskers, putting runners in scoring position for two straight innings, but they could not add to their lead.
Rebel starter Xavier Rivas was on cruise control after the Matthews home run until an Efry Cervantes solo homerun disrupted his rhythm. Rivas retired one more batter until he was taken out for Brayden Jones.
NU tacked on one more run in the fifth after Matthews scored off a Dylan Carey groundball that bounced off of Jones and went into the outfield. The Huskers went into the bottom of the fifth with some momentum down four.
Jalen Worthley entered the game to start the bottom of the fifth in relief for Garza. Garza was solid for NU, pitching 3.1 innings, allowing four hits, three walks, and 0 earned runs.
Ole Miss killed all Big Red momentum plating two runs of their own in the 5th, regaining their six-run lead.
From there, it was all Ole Miss. The Rebels added one run in the sixth and two runs in the seventh, extending their lead to 9.
Nebraska scored one run in the eighth off a Max Anderson double and had an opportunity to put together a rally with runners on second and third with no outs. Nebraska could not capitalize as Mason Morris retired three straight batters for the Rebels. Ole Miss scored one more run in the eighth and walked away with the victory and the Cambria College Classic trophy.
Nebraska’s pitching struggled Sunday. Altogether six Nebraska pitchers gave up 14 hits, 13 earned runs, and 12 free bases in the loss.
Matthews had a terrific day from the plate, going 3-for-3 with a homerun, a walk, and two RBIs.
Nebraska baseball is now 5-4-1 on the season and plays its first home game of the year against Northern Colorado Tuesday.