Nebraska BSB: Huskers beat Charleston behind 2nd straight 9th-inning rally
Will Bolt's club sealed a second straight series win on Saturday night as Nebraska baseball took down College of Charleston, 5-4, under the lights in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina.
And, once again, the Huskers were the Comeback Kids, pulling out a second consecutive one-run win over Charleston behind a second straight ninth-inning rally.
On Thursday, Nebraska climbed back from a four-run deficit in the ninth inning in Game 1 against Charleston, tying the game with the four runs coming via two singles, two walks, a hit batsman and one runner reaching on an error before ultimately winning, 6-5, in the 10th inning.
In Saturday's Game 2 of the series, Nebraska trailed 4-1 through seven innings. But, once again, the Huskers showed they don't have a detectable heartbeat during the intense pressure-cooker moments. This time, they only needed nine innings to get it done.
The Huskers chipped away in the eighth inning led by Josh Caron kicking things off with a single and advancing to second on a wild pitch. Cole Evans then drew a walk before Dylan Carey and Ben Columbus drove them both in with back-to-back RBI singles.
Nebraska stranded runners on the corners when Garrett Anglim flew out to end the inning.
All that did was set up a second consecutive come-from-behind win in the ninth. And, once again, it was the small-ball approach that got the job done for Nebraska, which drew four walks and tallied 13 total hits (13-for-35 to finish with a .371 team batting average on the night) with 12 of those coming on singles and the other a double.
That's how the Huskers started the ninth-inning rally, getting the job done on three singles, a stolen base and a sacrifice fly.
Cayden Brumbaugh led off with a single, Riley Silva followed with a single and stolen base to put runners at second and third. Caron followed with the game-tying RBI single, and Tyler Stone gave Nebraska the lead with a go-ahead sac fly.
Casey Daiss then shut the door on Charleston by recording a fly out and strikeout, working around a two-out double and ultimately inducing a game-ending pop fly.
All of that was set up after Charleston put Nebraska in an early two-run hole. The Cougars' Kevin Madden reached base on an error to lead off the bottom of the second, but Nebraska starter Brett Sears erased the error by emptying the bases on a strikeout and a pickoff of Madden.
After issuing a two-out walk, though, Sears gave up a two-strike home run on a 1-2 count to Cole Singsank to give Charleston a 2-0 lead in the second.
That was pretty much the only moment of vulnerability on the night for Sears. The Huskers' top arm produced a second consecutive quality start by going six innings, allowing two earned runs on just two hits with one walk and seven strikeouts on 91 total pitches.
That performance came a week after a six-inning, two-hit shutout while earning a win over Grand Canyon. He opened the season with 5.1 innings of work against Baylor, allowing just one run on three hits with no walks allowed.
We'll need to start calling him Seven Sears, too. The Western Illinois transfer and second-year Husker has fired exactly seven strikeouts in each of his three starts and has surrendered just two walks (one each against GCU and Charleston). Sears has given up just three earned runs on seven total hits with 21 strikeouts and two walks so far this season.
Sears' performance, outside of the early two-run bomb, helped keep Nebraska within striking distance as Charleston starter Jake Brink was locked in early on the other side. Brink faced nearly the minimum over innings 2-4, going three up, three down in the second and fourth and sandwiched the stranding of a runner on second in the third inning.
Nebraska left four runners on base through five innings and still trailed 2-0 despite having five hits and Sears having allowed just one hit. Evans' RBI single in the sixth, however, got the Husker bats going a bit by cutting the deficit to 2-1. Charleston's Luke Wood responded, though, with a two-run single in the bottom of the seventh for a 4-1 lead that set up Nebraska's team heroics over the final two innings.
The comeback officially clinched a second straight series win for the Huskers (6-3) as this officially became a best-of-three on Friday.
Nebraska was initially scheduled for a four-game road series against the Cougars (7-2). However, after Nebraska staged its intense four-run rally in the ninth inning to eventually take Game 1 in extras on Thursday, Game 2 between the two clubs on Friday was canceled due to weather. There are no plans to make up the game.
Nebraska's win on Saturday, then, gives it a 2-0 advantage over Charleston ahead of Sunday's finale (12 p.m. CT). The victory also gives the Huskers (6-3) their fifth win in six games following a 1-2 start as they took down Grand Canyon, 3-1, in a four-game series last weekend.
They will be hoping to make it a road sweep on Sunday, looking to pull out the brooms behind Game 3's likely starter in LHP Will Walsh (0-0, 5.19 ERA) who will likely go up against Charleston RHP Aidan Hunter (1-0, 0.00 ERA). That was the initial Saturday matchup for Game 2, but the rotations were pushed back one game after the cancellation, so Friday's starters Sears and Brink got the nods.
The initial pitching matchup for Sunday's Game 4 was set to be Nebraska LHP Caleb Clark (0-0, 6.75 ERA) vs. LHP Connor Campbell (2-0 0.66 ERA).
That finale can be streamed live with a subscription fee at FloBaseball, or you can listen live on Huskers Radio Network with Dave Gustafson (play by play) and Ben McLaughlin (color) on the call.
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