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Late-rally by Northwestern State dooms Huskers in 6-2 loss

Nebraska (10-8) had the early offense to make this game seem like it would be a blowout, but a late rally by Northwestern State (11-7) secured the Huskers fate in a 6-2 loss on Saturday afternoon.

Senior pitcher Luis Alvarado had been off to a great start this season, he has been a catalyst for what is a young pitching core, but he didn’t bring his best stuff on Saturday.

Alvarado got off to a great start as he struck out one and got out of the first inning throwing only nine pitches. Meanwhile, the Husker offense came out firing as senior first baseman Zac Repinski and junior third baseman Angelo Altavilla hit back-to-back singles to get NU in scoring position. Senior outfielder Scott Schreiber continues his hot hitting streak as he recorded a RBI-single to give Nebraska an early 1-0 advantage.

Nebraska was able to plate another run in the second inning. Sophomore left fielder Mojo Hagge broke out of his hitting slump to hit a RBI single up the middle to score sophomore utility Luke Roskam to extend the lead 2-0.

Nebraska was able to take advantage of Demon junior starting pitcher Nathan Jones as he surrendered eight hits, two runs in 19 batters faced. Jones was replaced in the fourth inning with pitcher Danny Hlad and NU’s scoring offense went south.

“It’s about who grinds more and who takes care of the baseball better,” head coach Darin Erstad said. “They brought the reliever in and he did a really nice job of mixing pitches.”

It wasn’t the lack of scoring chances that the NU offense went quiet, they left a combined five runners on-base during the third, fourth and fifth innings. Freshman outfielder Jaxon Hallmark was caught trying to steal home off of a Demon wild pitch, but Erstad didn’t mind the attempt.

“He’s just trying to make a play, it’s an aggressive mistake, but I can handle those,” Erstaid said. “He probably didn’t get the greatest jump, but again, he’s trying to make a play. I’m okay with that.”

The Demons weren’t going to shy away from the Huskers. Northwestern State was able to lead-off the fourth inning with back-to-back singles. After the NU defense forced a double-play, the Demons junior left fielder Austin Stegall was able to smash a RBI-single up the middle to cut its deficit 2-1.

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Alvarado was steady for five innings before he was subbed out. Alvarado’s line was 5 IP, 7 H, 1 R/ER, 3K in only 71 pitches. Junior pitcher Nate Fisher came in to replace Alvarado.

“(Alvarado) threw quite a few pitches last week when we have an extra day of rest, but he’s going to have one less day of rest going into conference play next week.” Erstad said.

Fisher was able to hold the Demons at bay in the sixth inning, but Northwestern State would battle back in the seventh. Sophomore shortstop Caleb Ricca lead-off the inning with a single and would steal to second base. That’s when junior third baseman Sam Taylor came up and hit a RBI double to center-field to tie the game up at two.

The damage wasn’t done there, as a fielding error by NU junior Alex Henwood allowed NSU’s Taylor to score the lead-changing run. The Demons would go on to score three in the bottom of the ninth and the Huskers couldn’t respond.

Fisher didn’t bring his best stuff in the ninth inning as he led the inning off with hitting a batter. He followed that up with allowing three hits. Fisher’s line ended with 3.2 IP, 7 H, 2 ER and zero strikeouts. He falls to 1-3 on the year.

What was surprising about Saturday’s game was the fact that Nebraska recorded 14 hits, but all of them were singles. Four of the nine Husker hits from Wednesday’s game against Northern Colorado were multi-base hits including Schreiber’s two homeruns.

Nebraska is 0-4 in series-opening games this season and is a key to help turn the season around.

“Winning the first game of the series is something we’ve struggled with,” Hagge said. “The ability to come back and punch a team right back has really showed a lot for our team. If we can get the ability to come out the first day and do that then I think we can be a really threatening team.”

The Huskers return to action on Sunday at 11:05 a.m. as they take on Northwestern State in the series finale. Senior Matt Warren (5.03 ERA, 19.2 IP, 15 K) will get the start for Nebraska. He’ll be taking on Ridge Heisler (1.27 ERA, 28.1 IP, 27 K). You’ll be able to catch the game on BTN Plus or listen to it on the Huskers IMG Sports Network.

“It’s just executing when we need too. We’ll see how things go tomorrow, come out with a fire,” Hagge said.

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