Cornhuskers can’t dig out of an early hole

Will Bolt and the boys took a drive down to Lawrence today to play a little ball against old Big 8 foe Kansas. It’s been a while since Nebraska has played at Kansas as this is the first trip the Big Red has made since they joined the Big Ten in 2012. The two teams did meet in Kansas City in 2016 where the Cornhuskers came away with a 3-1 victory.

Nebraska got out of the gate quick with new leadoff man Joshua Overbeek smacking a double, moving to third on a bunt sacrifice by Riley Silva, and scoring on a Cole Evans grounder to short. That was followed by a sterling first inning by freshman lefty Ty Horn, getting a couple of swinging strikeouts and a flyout.

In the second Nebraska loaded the bases with only one hit, but were unable to get a run across. Despite not putting a run on the board, Cornhusker fans were still thinking good things for the night. Then the bottom fell out.

As good as Horn looked in the first inning, things went sideways on him in the bottom of the second. He did get a flyball out to start the inning, but then surrendered a solo homer to first baseman Ben Hartl to tie the game. Unable to put the dinger behind him, Horn then gave up a double to Michael Brooks and walked Ty Wisdom. The young pitcher then got a groundball out to make it two Jayhawks on base with two outs.

With a chance to get out of the inning, Horn fell behind in the count to number nine batter Mike Koszewski and then served up a single that scored Brooks. Then, when the youngster really needed some help, Dylan Carey made an error and up came Jake English who smacked a bases cleaning single. Horn was pulled for Kyle Froehlich, who gave up a single and then got the final out. The result in the bottom of the second for Kansas was five runs on five hits and a Nebraska error. After two, Kansas led the Cornhuskers 5-1 and once again, the boys from Lincoln found themselves down by a bunch of runs.

Over the course of this season, we have learned not to count the Cornhusker offense out, and they showed why when they rallied in the top of the third inning, scoring four runs on four hits to tie the game. Case Sanderson got his second single of the game and scored on a Tyler Stone double. Stone then scored when the next batter up, Dylan Carey smoked a single up the middle. Then catcher Ben Columbus delivered the bomb with his first home run of the season, plating two and tying the score at five.

This good feeling did not last long. Reliever Kyle Froehlich had a disastrous bottom of the third surrendering four runs to the Jayhawks. Jackson Brockett replaced him and did not do much better as he struggle to get outs, but eventually got a strike out and a ground out to end the carnage. After three innings, Kansas led Nebraska 9-5.

The Big Red didn’t get anything done in the fourth inning, going down 1-2-3 and Bobby Olsen came in to face Kansas in the bottom half. Olsen faced seven batters, giving up two more runs on two hits.

At this point one had to wonder 1) did Nebraska have anyone in the bullpen that could get any Jayhawks out, 2) what happened to the offense, and 3) was there any fight in this team tonight?

In came Evan Borst to pitch for the Cornhuskers and he hit Kodey Shojinaga on his first pitch. It looked like more of the same, but just a couple of pitches later Lenny Ashby grounded into a double play and Borst then struck out Hartl. Going to the sixth inning, Kansas was still up 11-5.

With one out, Columbus got his second hit of the night, singling up the middle. Will Jesske pinch hit for Dylan Hufft and reached on an error by the third baseman. That brought Overbeek to the plate who walked to fill the bases. With a chance to take a bit out of the six run Jayhawk lead, Riley Silva walked on a full count to bring in Columbus. Kansas then pulled Evan Shaw and brought in Ethan Lanthier to face Cole Evans. Without a hit in three at-bats, the guy with the mustache from Grand Island drilled a grand slam over the centerfield wall. Score: Kansas 11, Nebraska 10.

Down by a run and back in the game, Coach Bolt opted to bring in closer Casey Daiss to try and stop the Jayhawks. He gave up a single to leadoff hitter Brooks to rightfield, which was misplayed by Evans. Brooks ended up on third, and scored two batters later. Daiss then got a strikeout to end it. After six innings, Kansas was up 12-10. The twelve runs are the most Nebraska had given up this season.

For the first time in the game, both teams went down in order in the seventh inning. Down to their last six outs, Nebraska went down in order again in the top of the eighth. That was not the case for Kansas. With Rans Sanders now on the mound, Ashby smoked a home run to put Kansas up 13-0. Sanders got the next three batters to flyout, but Kansas had an insurance run.

Even though Cain was pumping fastballs at 98-mph and sat Nebraska down in order, Hunter Cranton, the Kansas closer, came in to face the meat of Nebraska’s order. The San Diego State transfer, throwing 97-mph got Evans to flyout before walking Sanderson. Then Nebraska showed that they weren’t quite ready to pack their bags and load the bus.

Josh Caron got his first hit of the night, moving Sanderson to second. Gabe Swansen then pinch hit for Garrett Anglim and slapped a single to load the bases. Dylan Carey then hit a dribbler that the second baseman could not reach, scoring Sanderson. Now down by two runs and the bases loaded, Ben Columbus unfortunately grounded into a double play to end game. Final score: Kansas 13, Nebraska 11.

For the third time in a week, Nebraska found themselves in a deep hole early in the game and having to fight uphill the rest of the game. Each time they have fought back, but have not been able to put enough runs on the board to come out with a victory.

Tonight, a number of pitchers who haven’t had many innings got a chance to show what they had, and frankly, none of them made much of a case for themselves. The coaches are trying to figure out what the combination of pitchers will be as they continue in the back half of the season. There is uncertainty with starting pitching, particularly one of the weekend roles and the midweek spot. Those two spots need to be shored up.

Will Bolt got sent to the showers in the top of the seventh as he blew his stack when home plate umpire Connan Strobel for the second time in the game called a strike on a check-swing that normally is appealed. This was most likely done to send a message to his team to try and spark them, though there had been some frustration with the strike zone throughout the game.

Nebraska will travel to New Jersey this weekend to take on Rutgers. The Scarlet Knights are not the same team they’ve been the past three years, but are tough on their home field. First pitch on Friday is at 5:00 CDT.

Notes:

· Nebraska left the bases loaded twice tonight.

· Brett Sears was named National Pitcher of the Week today to add to his B1G honor.

· Two Nebraska swings produced six runs with the two-run homer from Ben Columbus and four on the Cole Evans grand slam. That generally enough runs to win a game!

· Tegan Cain, who came in for the top of the eighth was throwing his fastball at 98 mph. Nebraska has not seen that speed since the opening weekend in Arlington.

· There are whispers that Cayden Brumbaugh may be ready to play defensively, which would provide more options with the designated hitter position.

· For the first time this season, Nebraska wore their beautiful road gray uniforms. It was great to see that they finally found them in the equipment room, though they could have left the white front-paneled caps at home. And, Kansas brought out the vests, but I’m not sure what to think about seeing more red than blue on a bunch of Jayhawks.