Huskers show inexperience in 11-4 loss against Oral Roberts
Oral Roberts (12-6) have been on a tear offensively over the last three games and they kept that going against the Huskers (11-9) on Tuesday night in a 11-4 loss.
Nebraska’s Mike Waldron has been a streaky pitcher to start the year. After a couple good appearances, he struggled on Tuesday. Oral Roberts was able to get a two-out double in the first inning and that’s when sophomore infielder Spencer Henson was able to hit a RBI-single to make it a 1-0 Oral Roberts lead.
“We leave pitches up when we are trying to throw breaking balls down to guys that chase pitches,” head coach Darin Erstad said during his postgame show on the Husker Sports Network. “Then a couple walks that help that start stuff. We talk about free passes all the time. We limit those, we have a chance.”
Waldron was switched out in the second inning for freshman pitcher Andrew Abrahamowicz after Waldron allowed three more runs in. Waldron finished with 1.1 IP, allowed five hits, five earned runs and two walks. Abrahamowicz allowed one more run in the second as NU trailed 5-0 after two.
Nebraska was able to battle back in the fourth inning as they used two sac-flies from Angelo Altavilla and Luke Roskam to get back a pair of runs. They trailed 5-2 at the end of four.
Abrahamowicz was sharp for two innings, but then the Golden Eagles offense erupted in the fifth inning. They got bases-loaded with no outs and didn’t squander their chance to increase their lead. They were able to put up six more runs in the fifth inning. The inning was capped off by a three-run homerun from Henson.
Nebraska was able to take control of some walks in the sixth inning and were able to use a sac-fly to make it a 11-3 game. The Huskers were able to put up another run late in the game thanks to a RBI-single from freshman Gunner Hellstrom.
Ultimately, Oral Roberts’ starting pitcher Taylor Varnell made it difficult for the Huskers offense in the first six innings. He finished with 6 IP, allowed five hits, three earned runs and struck out eight.
NU was only able to convert one run on two bases-loaded opportunities. They also walked nine Golden Eagle batters and only struck out six. Nebraska used five different pitchers including two freshmen.
“This game will find your inexperience,” Erstad said. “We need to find a way to throw strikes on a consistent basis and not give up free outs.”
Nebraska showed some signs of life, but ultimately Oral Roberts showed more hunger, grit and focus in the first game. One of the weirder things of the season happened during the game on Tuesday as Erstad opted to bring in junior Matt Waldron in to pitch in the seventh inning. Many people were expecting Waldron to start Wednesday and now the door remains open as to who might start.
Nebraska returns to action tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. The game can be watched on the ORU Sports Network and can be heard on the Husker IMG Sports Network. The starting pitchers have not been announced yet.
“You harp on the attention to detail, but it’s been our issue this year. It’s one of those things we’ll need to get cleaned up pretty quickly,” Erstad said.
INJURY UPDATES:
According to the Husker Sports Network: Pitcher Reece Eddins threw a bullpen session before the game on Tuesday. He is inching closer to a return.
Pitcher Jake McSteen is going to start playing catch as he continues to rehab from an earlier season injury.
Catcher Jesse Wilkening is beginning to catch as he continues to rehab a sore shoulder.