Husker Baseball Opens Series with 8-5 Win Over Rutgers
Nebraska took the lead with Riley Silva’s go-ahead two-RBI single in the bottom of the fifth and never looked back, as Huskers shut out Rutgers in the final seven innings to clinch an 8-5 win in the series opener at Hawks Field at Haymarket Park on Friday night.
Nebraska (13-17, 3-7 Big Ten) scored eight runs on 13 hits, while Rutgers (14-16, 4-6 Big Ten) totaled five runs and 12 hits.
Dylan Carey was 2-for-3 with three RBI and a run scored, while Riley Silva had a 2-for-4 night with two RBI and a run. Cayden Brumbaugh had two hits and scored twice, while Hogan Helligso drove in a pair of runs with a 1-for-2 effort.
Case Sanderson and Joshua Overbeek put together two-hit performances, while Max Buettenback and Cael Frost had one hit apiece.
Will Walsh moved to 4-4 on the season after allowing five runs on nine hits with three walks and two punchouts in five innings of work. Drew Christo tossed 2.2 shutout frames, while Luke Broderick picked up his fifth save of the season with 1.1 scoreless innings of relief.
Rutgers plated two runs on four hits in the top of the first to jump out to a two-run lead. A pair of singles and a walk loaded the bases with no outs, while an RBI single down the left-field line broke the scoreless tie. The lead doubled to two with a two-out RBI single to right with runners on first and second.
Nebraska responded immediately with five runs on six hits to hold a 5-2 lead through the opening frame. Silva was hit by the pitch, while a fielder’s choice from Brumbaugh and a walk to Tyler Stone loaded the bases for the Big Red with one out.
Carey provided the first punch for the NU with a two-RBI single to left field, scoring Silva and Brumbaugh. A single from Buettenback loaded the bases back up, before Frost’s RBI single to left plated Stone to give Nebraska a one-run lead.
Helligso capped the first-inning outburst from the Big Red with a two-RBI single to left field that brought home Buettenback and Carey.
The Scarlet Knights scored three runs with two outs in the top of the second to lock the game at five. A four-pitch walk set up Ty Doucette’s two-run homer into the visitors' bullpen in right field. The Scarlet Knights followed the homer with a double into the left-center alley, before an RBI single to left field tied the game at five.
Overbeek reached on a fielder’s choice, while a double down the left-field line off the bat of Sanderson had runners on second and third with one out for the Huskers in the bottom of the fifth. Silva broke the deadlock, lacing a 1-1 pitch through the left side for a two-RBI single to give the Big Red a 7-5 lead through five innings.
Christo blanked the Scarlet Knights in the sixth, seventh and part of the eighth inning to maintain Nebraska’s two-run advantage. Broderick replaced Christo with two outs in the top of the seventh and induced a groundout to shortstop to send a 7-5 lead into the bottom of the eighth inning.
The Huskers tacked on an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth to extend the lead to 8-5. Brumbaugh reached on a single to second, where the two infielders lost the ball in the lights. The Edmond, Okla., native stole second and moved to third on a flyout, before Carey lifted a sacrifice fly to deep center to plate Brumbaugh for NU’s eighth run of the night.
Broderick worked around a one-out single in the top of the ninth to hold off the Scarlet Knights and preserve Nebraska’s 8-5 win on Friday night.
Nebraska and Rutgers continue the weekend series tomorrow afternoon at Hawks Field at Haymarket Park. First pitch between the Huskers and Scarlet Knights is set for 2 p.m. on B1G+.