Huskers lose final game of Baylor series 10-3

The Nebraska baseball team couldn't secure a series sweep against Baylor on Sunday afternoon as the Huskers dropped its final game 10-3.

Both teams started out slow, going scoreless through the first inning. Baylor's bats heated up in the second, though, as the Bears brought two runs home to take the early lead.

Nebraska found its grove in the top of the third inning with a base hit from sophomore infielder Jaxon Hallmark to get things going. Baylor's freshman pitcher Anderson Needham struggled to find his strike zone, walking two Husker batters home before being replaced at the mound by sophomore pitcher Jimmy Winston. But the Huskers weren't done, as junior catcher Luke Roskam was credited with an RBI single to give the Huskers the 3-2 lead.

NU recorded one hit in the fourth, but left one runner on base at the end of the inning. It was the Bears who found success in the the second half of the inning, recording one run to tie the game at three. Baylor's hot bats were the least of the Huskers worries, though, as sophomore left-handed pitcher Connor Curry left the game after sustaining an injury to his arm.

Senior right-handed pitcher Reece Eddins replaced Curry on the mound, but faced struggles of his own allowing Baylor to score six runs off of seven hits through the duration of the fifth inning to give the Bears an 8-3 advantage. Freshman right-handed pitcher Shay Schanaman made his way to the mound, getting the Huskers out of the inning without allowing any more damage.

The Huskers and the Bears were both quiet through the sixth with neither team adding runs.

NU continued to struggle on the offensive side of the ball in the seventh, with three up, three down to end the top half of the inning quickly.

It didn't get much better for the Huskers, as the Bears added two more runs against senior right-handed pitcher Paul Tillotson. After 1.2 innings pitched, Tillotson was relieved by senior pitcher Mike Waldron who finished out the day for the Huskers. Waldron didn't allow any more runs and the Huskers lost Game 3 by a deficit of seven.

The loss drops Nebraska to 6-7 on the year.

Heading into the third inning the Huskers trailed Baylor 2-0, their first deficit of the three-game series. That changed with the first hit of the game for NU coming from Hallmark to get a man on base. The Huskers success continued with several walks and two more base hits to bring three runners home and take the 3-2 lead.

But Nebraska couldn't keep the momentum going, as the team's bats went silent. NU only recorded one more hit throughout the duration of the game. The Huskers finished the day with three runs off of four hits, its last coming in the fifth inning. NU also left nine runners on base.

Nebraska struggled both on the mound and in the outfield as the Bears recorded six runs during the fifth inning. Reece Eddins couldn't find a rhythm allowing seven hits over the span of 1.1 innings pitched. The Huskers also struggled defensively as a sloppy play by Joe Acker gave the Huskers their first error of the day. Both Eddins and Acker were pulled off the field in the middle of the inning, and were replaced by freshman pitcher freshman right-handed pitcher Shay Schanaman and freshman outfielder Blake Peterson

Connor Curry made his second career start for the Huskers, his first coming against Cal Poly in 2017. Curry allowed Baylor to get on the board first allowing two runs in the second inning. The sophomore, who's struggled with injuries in the past, suffered an injury in second half of the fourth, pointing to his elbow before walking to the dugout.

Reece Eddins replaced Curry at the mound and struggled over 1.1 innings pitched. The senior pitcher allowed six runs off of seven hits in the fifth before being retired and replaced by Shay Schanaman who got the Huskers out of the inning.

Paul Tillotson made his way to the mound at the start of the sixth inning, striking out two batters and keeping the Bears from adding any runs. Tillotson came back out for the seventh inning and allowed two runs off of four hits.

Mike Waldron relieved Tillotson and the Huskers escaped the inning on a fly out. Waldron reappeared in the eighth and only allowed the Bears one hit to keep the score at 10-3 to get out of the inning.

The Huskers look to play their home-opener this week against New Mexico State. The first game of the series is set for 6:35 p.m. at Haymarket Park and will be played weather permitting.

Nebraska has already had one home game canceled and two postponed so far this season, but hope to play the series against the Aggies this weekend.