Nebraska baseball falls 5-3 to Creighton in I-80 rivalry series opener

Nebraska baseball’s win streak came sudden end in a 5-3 loss to rival Creighton at Charles Schwab Field on Tuesday night.

The Bluejays jumped out to a 5-0 lead and outhit the Huskers 11-7 in CU’s ninth victory over Nebraska in the past 11 meetings. Head coach Will Bolt’s Huskers are now 20-6 on the season and 3-2 in midweek contests. Meanwhile, Creighton’s 21-4 start is its best since the 1986 season.

“After about the first half of the game, I called them up and said, ‘Hey, it couldn’t have gone much worse than the beginning of this game,'” Bolt said. “We started getting it going a little bit. But, we had a runner at third with less than two outs and we don’t put the ball in play. We’ve been picking each other up throughout the year when that happens and we just didn’t do it tonight.”

Here’s more on Nebraska’s first loss since March 13.

Join HuskerOnline today and get your first month of a premium subscription for just $1!

Creighton struck first with a two-run bomb in the second. Hogan Helligso took Nebraska starter Will Walsh to left and deposited his first home run of the year in the Bluejay bullpen. The southpaw rallied to prevent further damage, but the long inning ultimately chased Walsh, who was relieved by Ty Horn to start the bottom of the third.

After the Huskers failed to capitalize on multiple situations in which they had runners on first and second with no outs, Creighton extended its lead in the fourth.

Caleb Clark took the hill with a runner on first and one away, and promptly hit the first batter he faced on a 3-2 pitch. Then a run scored on the left-hander’s throwing error. Tucker Timmerman was the next to take the ball and a Nolan Sailors single added two more runs to make it 5-0.

Nebraska made a major push in the sixth. The Huskers opened the inning with three straight hits, including a RBI double from Cole Evans that put NU on the board.

Then the Bluejays made their second pitching change of the inning and turned to Shane Curtin. Creighton’s top reliever slammed the door allowing just one more run in the inning and striking out a pair of Huskers.

Trailing 5-2, the Huskers kept the pressure on in the seventh. Cayden Brumbaugh’s two-out triple and a infield single from Riley Silva pulled NU within two. Nebraska went down in order in the eighth and in the ninth, put a runner on second with two outs before Brumbaugh went down on strikes for the final out.

Tommy Lamb earned the win for the Bluejays while Mason Koch, who closed out the game 2 1/3 innings of scoreless work, collected the save.

The Huskers took a step back at the plate

To find where things went awry for the Huskers, one doesn’t have to look much further than the batter’s box according to NU’s skipper. Bolt said Nebraska was horrendous offensively on what he considered a good day to hit.

Creighton spotted the Huskers an error and runners on first and second in both the second and third. No runs for Nebraska at either inning’s end.

“The things we’ve done so well this year as an offensive group, and as a team in general, we didn’t do today,” Bolt said. “Just didn’t have enough grit at the plate. Too many strikeouts, didn’t move the ball, the things we’ve cleaned up as the year has gone along. It was a really disappointing effort from that standpoint.”

The Huskers finished 2-for-13 (.154) with runners in scoring position.

Bolt said Brumbaugh was a major spark off the bench when he entered the fray in the sixth. His hits in that frame and the seventh jumpstarted the only innings in which Nebraska scored. For his part, Brumbaugh said he didn’t feel the team’s offensive struggles came from chasing runs early.

“They came out and they were spinning a lot of curveballs, a lot of off-speed,” Brumbaugh said. “We’re on the heater. That’s our approach. We were a little jumpy at times, yes, but I don’t think we were chasing runs necessarily. They definitely got us off of it so, they did a good job tonight. That’s not okay on us but, we’ll fix it. I have a lot of confidence in our team so I think we’ll be fine.”

Nebraska’s 14 strikeouts tied for the most in the season. It’s the third time the Huskers reached that mark. The last instance came in NU’s 8-6 win over Wichita State on March 12.

What’s next for Nebraska baseball?

Nebraska baseball continues conference play against Ohio State this weekend in a three-game set at Haymarket Park. Brett Sears is the Huskers probable start and lefty Landon Beidelschies is likely for the Buckeyes. First pitch of the sereis opener is set for 6:05 p.m. CT.

All three games can be heard on the Huskers Radio Network and will be streamed on Big Ten Plus.