After losing earlier Tuesday night, Nebraska baseball finally defeated the Creighton Bluejays this season by a score of 7-4. The Huskers are now 26-20-1 on the year after winning the series finale against their in-state foe.
After being deflated from losing the game earlier in the night, the Huskers needed something to get them going early in the contest. Brice Matthew cooked up just what the doctor ordered for NU hitting his 19th home run of the year to start game two.
But the Husker lead would not last long. In the Bottom of the inning, the Jays stringed together three hits plating two runs and secured a 2-1 lead.
NU put runners on the corners at the top of the second with two outs for Matthews who tallied an infield single to tie the game at two.
As quickly as the Huskers tied the game, the Bluejays grabbed the lead back. Creighton Catcher Hogan Hellisgo mashed a leadoff homer giving his side a 3-2 lead. In the next at-bat starter Michael Garza gave up a double to Bluejay right fielder Ben Gbur. After giving up his fourth extra-base hit in just one inning of work, Garza was relieved by Kyle Perry. Perry thwarted the Bluejay threat by inducing two ground balls and a flyout.
After a rapid offensive start the sides traded two scoreless innings.
In the top of the fifth, Casey Burnham knocked a leadoff single and reached second on a stolen base. After Burnham’s hit and swipe, Gabe Swansen reached base on a walk. Both runners moved 90 feet after a wild pitch, and Burnham scored after a groundout RBI by Efry Cervantes.
Kyle Perry worked another scoreless inning in the fifth, keeping the game tied at three. The Skers kept the bats rolling in the sixth.
Ben Columbus led off the inning with a double and came around to score from second after a throwing error from Creighton Pitcher Paul Bergstrom on a sac bunt from Dylan Carey. Carey reached second on the error but was thrown out at third on a Luke Sartori ground ball. Sartori moved to second after Burnham worked a walked. Max Anderson stepped up to the plate and gave NU a 6-3 lead after a two-RBI double.
Perry returned to the mound for the bottom of the 6th. After striking out the first batter, Perry loaded the bases with one out. After his second walk in a row, Corbin Hawkins was brought in for Perry. Hawkins pitched well to avoid disaster but allowed a run to score after he hit Nolan Sailors with a pitch. At the end of the inning, the Bluejays cut the Nebraska lead to two.
Nebraska quickly regained their three-run lead in the seventh after Ben Columbus’s second double of the evening scored Efry Cervantes.
In the bottom of the seventh, a wild Nebraska defensive sequence tallied three outs on one swing of the bat. With runners on first and second and no outs, Dylan Carey stabbed a hot shot to third, stepped on the bag threw it over to Anderson for an out at second. Anderson then threw the ball to first, trying to get the triple play, but the ball passed the glove of Efry Cervantes. Bluejay left fielder Jack Grace attempted to go to second, but Cervantes gathered the ball and threw Grace out for the final out of the inning. The sequence was scored as a fielder’s choice double play and an out at second.
The Wild defensive play got the Huskers out of another jam and deflated any momentum the Bluejays created. In the next inning, both sides went scoreless, and NU added no insurance to their three-run lead in the ninth.
Corbin Hawkins returned to the mound for the ninth for his fourth inning of work. Like he did all night, Hawkins put the Bluejays away for his first save of the year.
The Bullpen was tremendous Tuesday for the Big Red. Kyle Perry and Corbin Hawkins combined for eight innings pitched; one earned run, six hits, and six strikeouts.
The Huskers host the Penn State Nittany Lions at home this weekend.