Maryland's walk-off homer sinks Nebraska baseball in the 10th

Nebraska baseball’s Thursday-night clash with Maryland had a bit of everything. A 90-minute rain delay, lengthy reviews, quality pitching and a walk-off home run.

The Huskers came out on the losing end. A strike away from sending the game to the 11th, Nick Lorusso hit a solo-shot off Shay Schanaman to give the Terrapins the win. Over four hours after first pitch, the game ended with one swing of the bat.

“He was rolling pretty good and they weren’t taking a lot of good swings off him,” Nebraska head coach Will Bolt said of Schanaman. “It was a battle right there. A couple foul balls that were nearly caught and you tip your cap there. What a swing in that situation.”

It’s a loss that hurts in more ways than one. Nebraska left the go-ahead run at third base in the top of the ninth and 11 runners overall. The road to Sunday’s Big Ten Tournament championship, and any hope of a deeper postseason run, now hangs in the balance.

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After significant scoring threats from each team were stymied in the first, Nebraska got on the board in the second. Maryland’s Nick Dean hit Josh Caron and walked Ben Columbus to begin the inning. Dylan Carey moved the runners into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt and a RBI groundout from Cole Evans put the Huskers in front 1-0.

Both Dean and Nebraska starter Jace Kaminska settled in from there. Dean retired nine consecutive Huskers between allowing the game’s first run and the start of the fifth inning. Kaminska surrendered a pair of singles in the same stretch and struck out a pair of Terps.

Once the fastball was working, Kaminska got in the groove.

“Early on it was up,” Kaminska said of the pitch. “But then I got the fastball down and I tend to throw a pretty downhill fastball. That’s just the way I guess hitters approach me and I tend to get a lot of flyouts throughout the season.”

Each team managed a leadoff runner in the fifth but Maryland made its count. Nebraska failed to plate Carey after his single started the inning. Meanwhile, the Terrapins got a spark from Kevin Keister who doubled to left and scored on a Matt Shaw RBI single to tie the game 1-1.

Maryland loaded the bases with two outs for Eddie Hacopian who was hit on the shin on a bunt attempt. However, the umpires ruled he offered at the pitch and Hacopian struck out to end the inning four pitches later.

A scoreless sixth inning gave way to a lightning delay in the seventh. Nebraska had a runner on first with one out when the Terps went to the bullpen to get Nigel Belgrave in relief of Dean. One pitch into Belgrave’s outing, the game was stopped.

Over an hour and a half later, the play resumed. A review opened the action in the seventh after Evans grounded into what was called a 4-6-3 double play. Carey was deemed safe at second following a second look but Dave Falco rebounded from a hit batter by striking out Brice Matthews to end the Husker threat.

Corbin Hawkins pitched the Maryland half of the seventh but gave up a leadoff single in the eighth which brought an end to his outing. In came Schanaman who promptly induced a double play and a groundout to end the inning.

Nebraska put runners on the corners with two outs in the ninth after Matthews notched his first hit of the tournament. But, Burnham struck out and the Huskers came up empty.

“I felt like we were a little caught in between offensively tonight,” Bolt said. “Almost the exact opposite of where I felt like we were yesterday. It was a lot of good aggressive swings and taking the borderline pitches. I felt like tonight we were a little too picky. There were some pitches that even were called balls that we can do some stuff with.”

In the tenth, Nebraska stranded another runner and the Terrapins got the big swing they needed. With two outs and nobody on base, Lorusso crushed a 2-2 pitch to left and walked it off for Maryland.

The tall task ahead

There was a lot on the line Thursday night. With a win, the Huskers could earn a valuable day off and put two wins between themselves and a spot in the NCAA tournament.

Instead, the Huskers need four straight wins in three days to keep their season alive. All on the heels of an emotional defeat.

“That’s a game you want to be a part of,” Carey said. “It’s what you dream of. The 1-1 game going into the last inning, do whatever you can to win. It’s a fun game to be a part of and you know, it didn’t go our way today but we’ve got another game tomorrow.”

Now Nebraska has to keep Thursday from snowballing into tomorrow’s elimination game with Michigan State.

“These guys are heartbroken after that game and they invest so much and care so much,” Bolt said. “Those were the words I used with them. It’s gonna hurt and it should hurt for tonight. But, we’ve gotta find a way to win one game. That’s really the only thing we’ve got to think about. Our team has been pretty resilient throughout the course of the year so we’ll be ready to go tomorrow.”

Husker fans made a significant impact

Maryland head coach Rob Vaughn remembers visits to Lincoln from his days catching for Kansas State back in the late ’00s.

“When the ‘Go Big Red’ chants start, you’re literally trying to remind yourself to catch the baseball behind the plate,” Vaughn said. “It’s one of the best crowds in the country and they were electric and they were hanging on every pitch.”

Vaughn sees playing in front of that type of crowd as a positive. It’s why he took his team down to play Ole Miss in Oxford earlier this March. That crowd of roughly 8,000 people got the Terps ready for a similar environment Thursday and potentially other postseason crowds beyond the Big Ten Tournament.

The crowd was an adjustment for Kaminska in the first inning. He said that he had to get used to playing in that atmosphere.

In spite of the game’s long stoppage, Nebraska fans stuck around. Bolt felt like they kicked it up a notch once play resumed.

“I thought it was even rowdier when we came back from the delay,” Bolt said. “It was a unique came because there just wasn’t a lot of scoring so there wasn’t a ton to cheer for. I thought it was electric, especially after the rain delay.”

The fans were a key part in a thrilling game.

“I’ve always loved the Nebraska fans,” Vaughn said. “They’ll give it to you man. They’ll wear you out, but they know baseball. They get it and they cheer for the Huskers hard. It was a fun environment to play in tonight.”

What’s next for Nebraska baseball?

Nebraska faces Michigan State in an elimination game with first pitch is set for 7:00 p.m. Friday evening The game will be televised on the Big Ten Network and fans can listen to the action on the Huskers Radio Network.