Huskers drop second straight series to Creighton

In what has been dubbed the "Nebraska Classic", the Nebraska Cornhuskers (22-14) traveled north on I-80 to take on the Creighton Bluejays (23-8) in the season-long series rubber match.

Hits came few and far between tonight as the two teams combined for a total of only nine hits and not pushing a run across until the bottom half of the fourth. Only two more runs were scored the rest of the way between the two with Creighton coming away with the series win 2-1.

The scoreless tie was broken in the bottom of the fourth following a two-out single to left field. After Husker reliever Ben Klenke walked a batter and hit another, Creighton left-fielder Jared Wegner lined a ball between the shortstop and the third basemen, scoring Jordan Hovey from second base, giving Creighton the early 1-0 lead.

Nebraska was finally able to put a run up on the board in the sixth after a pair of lead-off singles from Spencer Schwellenbach and Aaron Palensky. After a wild pitch advanced Schwellenbach to third base, a sacrifice fly from Gunner Hellstrom scored Schwellenbach and tied the game up at one run apiece.

The Bluejays were able to answer in the bottom of the sixth and it proved to be the turning point in the game. Senior pitcher Mike Waldron came out of the bullpen strong for Nebraska, retiring the first five batters he faced. However, batter No. 6 for Waldron proved to be the biggest difference of the game as clean-up hitter Jack Strunc took the first pitch he saw to deep left field for a solo HR, putting the Bluejays ahead for good.

Aside from a line drive ground-rule double to left field in the third inning from Palensky, there really weren't any sparks coming from the Husker bats tonight. Early on, the Husker batters were able to put some nice balls in play but were unable to consistently rack up any hits.

As the game wore on, the bats continued to get colder. Between the sixth and eighth inning, Creighton pitchers retired seven straight Huskers, pushing this game more and more out of reach for Nebraska.

Head coach Darin Erstad thought the bats looked good early in the game but, overall, isn't pleased with the quality of at-bats that he has been getting from his team as of late. "I think we've gotten out of our hot zone a little too much," Erstad explained. "Early on I thought we were squaring some balls up and were in that zone but I thought we chased a little bit too much. It's one of those times in the season where, collectively, we're just not stringing hits together."

A line drive from Angelo Altavilla that barely curved foul almost made this game interesting in the ninth after Joe Acker reached first base on a walk, but a few bad decisions at the plate while facing a struggling pitcher cost the Huskers in the end.

At first glance, holding your opponent to only two runs on five hits seems like a solid day for the pitching staff. However, a string of scares late in the game showed just how far the bullpen pitching needs to come for the Huskers to continue to stay close to the top of the Big Ten standings.

Ethan Frazier made his first start of the season for the Huskers tonight and did what he was supposed to do. Frazier went 2.2 IP, not allowing any runs and only giving up two hits and Erstad was pleased with how Frazier bounced back. "It was great. He had what we thought was going to be a career-ending shoulder injury a couple years ago," Erstad recalled. "I'm so proud of him with all the work he's put in to come back and it was great to see him go out there and pound the zone."

Aside from the strong start from Frazier, the bullpen was only a few pitches away from letting this game really unravel. Waldron started off very strong in his outing tonight but a home run to left field was the difference in the game.

Following Waldron on the mound were freshmen Kyle Perry and Shay Schanaman who combined for only 23 pitches, only throwing a total of six strikes and allowing three walks. Perry and Schanaman didn't allow any runs but it very easily could've gotten out of hand if not for the pitching changes.

The Cornhuskers return to Hawks Field this weekend for a three-game conference series against the Illinois Fighting Illini.

First pitch on Friday is set for 7:35 p.m. and will be televised on the Big Ten Network. Saturday's game is scheduled for 2:05 p.m. and can be seen on NET while Sunday's game, scheduled for 11:05 a.m., will be stream on BTN Plus with a subscription.