Huskers Stifled on Sunday

Nebraska couldn’t overcome an early deficit, as the Huskers wrapped up the Frisco College Baseball Classic with a 9-6 loss to Kansas State on Sunday afternoon at Riders Field.

The Huskers (4-6) scored six runs on nine hits and an error, while K-State (6-5) compiled nine runs, 10 hits and an error.

Dylan Carey led NU at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a double, home run and two RBI. Devin Nunez was 2-for-5 with an inside-the-park homer and drove in two runs. Cayden Brumbaugh, Cael Frost, Rhett Stokes and Will Jesske recorded one hit apiece.

Jackson Brockett allowed two runs on three hits with four strikeouts and a pair of walks in two innings to drop to 0-1 on the year. TJ Coats surrendered three runs, two earned, on two hits and a trio of walks in 1.1 innings of work.

Drew Christo gave up three runs on a pair of hits and two talks in two innings, while Luke Broderick allowed one run on two hits in 1.2 innings out of the bullpen. Casey Daiss tossed 1.2 scoreless innings, allowing just one hit in his season debut for the Huskers. Jalen Worthley made his fourth appearance of the season, retiring the lone batter he faced.

A pair of doubles in the top of the first gave the Wildcats an early 1-0 advantage in the opening frame. Nebraska responded with singles from Nunez and Brumbaugh in the bottom of the first, but the Big Red couldn’t get the tying run home.

Two walks combined with a two-out RBI single in the top of the second doubled the lead to 2-0 for K-State. The Huskers answered with a run of their own in the bottom half of the inning to keep the K-State lead at one through two innings.

Stokes singled to left field and stole second, before moving to third on a groundout and coming home on a wild pitch to score NU’s first run of the afternoon.

Back-to-back homers from the Wildcats in the top of the fourth added three runs to the lead for K-State.

K-State stretched the lead to 6-1 in the fifth after taking advantage of a leadoff walk with a two-out RBI single through the right side.

The Wildcats extended the lead to seven when a one-out RBI double into the left-center alley, followed by an RBI single to left had K-State out front 8-1 through six innings.

Carey began the bottom of the seventh with a 365-foot solo homer to left, trimming the deficit to 8-2. Stokes reached on an error, and Jesske followed with a double down the left-field line to put runners on second and third with one out, but the NU offense couldn’t plate any more runs to cut into the deficit.

A leadoff solo homer into the left-center berm gave the Wildcats a 9-2 advantage in the top of the eighth inning.

The Huskers plated a pair of runs behind two hits in the bottom of the eighth to make it a 9-4 game going into the final inning. Brumbaugh reached on a fielder’s choice, before Frost ripped a single to center to put runners on first and second with one out for the Big Red.

Carey smacked an 0-1 pitch down the left-field line for an RBI double to score Brumbaugh, while an RBI groundout by Hayden Lewis brought home Frost and cut the deficit to five.

Joshua Overbeek was plunked with one out in the bottom of the ninth, before Nunez lifted an inside-the-park home run off the left-center wall to bring the Big Red within 9-6.

Nebraska travels to Omaha for a midweek matchup at UNO on Tuesday, March 4 at Tal Anderson Field. First pitch between the Huskers and Mavericks is set for 5 p.m.