Huskers have 'hiccup' performance, lose 5-2 at Creighton
OMAHA – Nebraska (21-14-1) had only one hit in the first four innings and Creighton (15-16) had five singles in the eighth, which ultimately led to a 5-2 Husker loss.
Sophomore pitcher Matt Waldron had another rough outing as he recorded only one strikeout, allowed five hits and one earned run. Waldron has now surpassed his loss total from last year, falling to 2-4 on the season.
“I didn’t get out team ready to play,” head coach Darin Erstad said. “He was very lethargic, just had a lot of balls up in the zone. Again, that’s on me. We are not good enough to roll the balls out there. I wasn’t able to get them there today...
“I need to find a way to get to them quickly here because we don’t have any room for hiccups.”
Creighton pitcher Austin Stroschein (1-0) was only supposed to pitch for two innings, but was left out there for five. He finished with four strikeouts, while allowing five hits and two earned runs.
“I’m fine if they are aggressive,” Erstad said. “It’s the out of control swinging out of hand aggressive. I’m the hitting coach and we haven’t hit and I’ve got to figure it out quickly because it’s not good right now. It’s inconsistent. It’s on me.”
Creighton struck first in the first inning with an RBI single to center field from catcher Michael Emodi. That was followed up in the third when NU sophomore third baseman Angelo Altavilla mishandled a routine ground ball that resulted in another run for the Bluejays.
It looked like Nebraska had a shot at coming back in the eighth inning when senior first baseman Ben Miller hit a high fly ball to center, but it was caught by the warning track and the Huskers failed to record a hit in the final three innings of the game.
“I always feel confident of our guys,” Erstad said. “When there was two outs in the bottom of the ninth, I’m still thinking we are going to comeback. That’s the mindset you have to have. Too many little mistakes by us.”
Nebraska returns to action on Friday at 6:30 pm when it travels to take on the Minnesota Golden Gophers (21-10, 7-2 in Big Ten) at Siebert Field.
“You got to learn from it and bring it every day,” Miller said. “There’s much time left for hiccups like this. From here on out, it’s getting tough, so we need to play our best every day and bring our energy.”