Nebraska lost their first Big 12 conferences series of the season at Texas Tech over the weekend. It was a weekend of missed opportunities and failed pitching. The Huskers lost game one 16-8, then came back to split the Saturday double header, winning 10-1. The rubber match was taken Sunday by Tech, winning 10-3 while recording all ten runs with two outs.
Mike Nesseth started the first game of the double header Saturday, throwing for six innings while giving up seven hits and five earned runs. He struck out only three before he was replaced by Eric Rose. Rose gave up two hits and two runs without getting a single out before he was replaced by Casey Hauptman. Hauptman proceeded to give up three hits and three runs in less than an inning of work. Matt Freeman came in, walked two and gave up a run before being replaced by Kash Kalkowski.
In all, the Huskers gave up 12 runs in the seventh and eighth innings.
Huskers Tyler Farst, Jeff Tezak and Jake Mort had two hits apiece, but Tech’s Taylor Ashby went 4-for-5 with three RBIs and three runs.
The lone Husker win came off a strong pitching performance by Jordan Roualdes who threw for eight innings while giving up only one run on five hits. Adam Bailey hit a two-run homer in the fourth, going 2-for-4 with four RBIs to lead the offense. Jeff Tezak drove in two runs, while Kyle Bubak scored three runs with two hits and Cory Burleson added two hits and two RBIs.
Game three featured more of the same from the Saturday loss, as the Huskers missed opportunities and gave the game to Tech. Michael Mariot held Tech scoreless the first three innings until the fourth inning, when he gave up a run-scoring double to Logan Leslie. Tech’s Jeremy Mayo then hit the first of two two-run homers. Mariot then gave up a single, and hit two batters to load the bases. He was replaced by Sean Yost who gave up a two-run single.
Tech would score five runs in the fourth, then two more in the fifth and two more in sixth.
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Nebraska has two solid starters in Mike Nesseth and Jason Roualdes. Michael Mariot showed that he’s still pretty shaky, and the bullpen struggled mightily.
The Huskers have shown that they can deliver the offense as they’ve hit double figures in six of their games. Kyle Bubak and Cory Burleson are both hitting over .400 on the season, while Adam Bailey is one of the conference leaders in home runs and RBIs.
It’s unfortunate that Nebraska lost a series to a team they should have beaten, even on the road. It’ll be more unfortunate if they don’t take the two losses this weekend and turn them into something positive.
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