A weird sequence of pitching duals, missed opportunities and NCAA travel rules ended Nebraska's game against Indiana in a 1-1 tie on Sunday afternoon in Bloomington, Ind.
The game marked NU’s first tie since the 2009 season.
Due to NCAA travel curfew rules, the game had to be cut short after the 11th inning. The NCAA requires proper time for the student-athletes to catch their flight, get settled and be ready for class on Monday morning.
It was an interesting scenario, however, as head coach Darin Erstad explained during his post-game radio show on the Husker Sports Network.
“We had a flight an hour-and-a-half later in the day,” Erstad said. “It got changed on us after we bought the tickets, so it moved it up and made it a tighter time.”
Both offenses struggled to produce early in the game, as the first hit in came off of a leadoff double by NU's Luke Roskam to left center in the top of the third. That was followed by three straight Husker outs.
After back-to-back two-out singles, senior first baseman Ben Miller recorded a third straight base hit and Nebraska (15-10-1) was able to jump out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the sixth.
Junior utility Jake Meyers continued his stellar play, as he recorded five strikeouts, four of which coming in the first two innings. Meyers ended the day with 5.1 IP, one earned run and gave up six hits.
Indiana (14-11-2) was able to bounce back, as it recorded back-to-back one-out singles that allowed sophomore Logan Sowers to knock in an RBI double and knot the game at one.
“It’s what he does, he gave us a chance to win,” Erstad said of Meyers. “You get one on the board and you’re thinking alright, here we go. It was a battle. Both teams had a couple chances, but nobody was able to get it done.”
Things did not look good for the Huskers in the bottom of the ninth, as sophomore pitcher Jake McSteen allowed Indiana to get a runner on second with one-out.
But freshman Mojo Hagge continued his impressive start with an incredible sliding catch in left field and then had the presence of mind to throw the ball to second to record the double play.
Neither team could get anything going in extra innings, as NU and the Hoosiers each recorded one hit in the tenth and zero hits in the eleventh.
Nebraska's players seemed confused that the game was over after the eleventh inning until Erstad informed the players of the draw.
“You go pitch to pitch, you don’t talk about it with the players,” Erstad said. “I never want the integrity of the game to get spoiled. I’ll leave it at that.”
The Huskers will have Monday off before they take on the Creighton Bluejays (8-14) on Tuesday at 6:35 p.m at Haymarket park.
