No. 12 Huskers Fall to Texas Tech, 10-7

Lincoln ? Josh Brady had two hits, including a two-run go-ahead triple in the sixth inning, as Texas Tech snapped Nebraska’s nine-game winning streak with a 10-7 win over the Huskers at Hawks Field Saturday afternoon.

Trailing 7-6, Brady, who went 2-for-4 with three RBIs, tripled off the wall in center just beyond the reach of NU center fielder Colin Shockey, scoring Cameron Blair and Dallas Braden and giving Texas Tech (19-12, 2-5) an 8-7 lead.

The Huskers (24-6, 6-2 Big 12) had 10 hits, including three by Curtis Ledbetter, who drove in a pair of runs, and two each by Shockey and John Grose, but were held scoreless over the last four innings. Adam Fry fanned six in 3.2 innings of one-hit relief for his first save, preserving the win for Steve Gooch (4-0), who allowed one run in two innings of relief.

"Give Texas Tech a lot of credit," Nebraska Coach Mike Anderson said. "They outplayed us today, and we didn’t have an answer in the final four innings. Their kid (Fry) did an excellent job and that was the difference today."

Texas Tech tacked on a pair of runs in the ninth on RBI singles by Jose Delgado and Madison Edwards for the final margin, as NU went down in order in the ninth.

The Huskers jumped to a 4-1 lead after three innings on a two-run homer by Jake Mullinax, his sixth of the year, in the first and RBI singles by Alex Gordon and Ledbetter in the third, but could not hold the lead.

The Red Raiders came back with five runs in the fourth to chase starter Phil Shirek in his shortest start of the year. The first seven Texas Tech hitters reached base to open the frame, as Ryan Andrews coaxed a bases loaded walk off Shirek before reliever Brad Furnish’s wild pitch put Tech within 4-3. Cooper Fouts and Dallas Braden added RBI singles before Brady’s sacrifice fly put the Red Raiders up 6-4.

The Huskers came right back in the bottom of the fourth, scoring twice to tie the score. A one-out single by Grose and a double to Braden Keith put runners at second and third for Shockey, who chased Braden, who went 3.1 innings on the hill, with a two-run single to left, knotting the score at six.

Ledbetter would give the Huskers a short-lived 7-6 lead in the bottom of the fifth with an RBI single to score Gordon, who walked and advanced to second on a ground out.

The Red Raiders would take the lead one inning late on Brady’s two-out triple off reliever Dustin Timm, who dropped to 1-1 with the loss. Timm struck out four in four innings, the longest outing of his career, but was saddled with the loss.

The two teams will conclude the series Sunday afternoon at 1:05 p.m., as southpaw Justin Pekarek (4-0, 4.71 ERA) takes the hill against Red Raider right-hander Michael McGowan (2-1, 3.33 ERA).

 

Box score (NCAA) Nebraska Baseball Texas Tech at #12 Nebraska Apr 10, 2004 at Lincoln, Neb. (Hawks Field) Texas Tech 10 (19-12,2-5 BIG 12) Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB Avg. ------------------------------------------------------------ Blair, Cameron ss........ 3 2 1 0 0 0 3 3 0 .328 Braden, Dallas p/dh...... 3 1 2 1 1 0 0 0 0 .450 Fuller, Cody ph/cf...... 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 .244 Mask, Michael cf......... 4 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 .328 Brady, Josh 1b........... 4 1 2 3 0 0 4 0 2 .367 Haney, Josh 3b........... 5 2 3 0 0 0 2 0 3 .342 Delgado, Jose 2b......... 4 1 1 1 1 3 3 1 0 .298 Edwards, Madison rf...... 5 1 2 1 0 0 1 0 1 .337 Andrews, Ryan lf......... 4 1 0 1 1 2 3 0 0 .309 Fouts, Cooper c.......... 5 1 2 1 0 0 11 3 0 .254 Gooch, Steve p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - Fry, Adam p............. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - Totals................... 38 10 13 8 4 7 27 7 8 Nebraska 7 (24-6,6-2 BIG 12) Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB Avg. ------------------------------------------------------------ Shockey, Colin cf........ 5 1 2 2 0 2 2 0 1 .337 Bruce, Daniel rf......... 3 1 0 0 1 1 3 0 0 .269 Gordon, Alex 3b.......... 3 2 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 .376 Mullinax, Jake 2b........ 3 1 1 2 1 0 2 2 0 .380 Ledbetter, Curtis 1b..... 4 0 3 2 0 0 7 1 0 .301 Simokaitis, Joe ss....... 4 0 0 0 0 1 0 2 2 .314 Smith, Al dh............. 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 .250 Boyer, Jesse ph/dh...... 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .303 Grose, John c............ 4 1 2 0 0 2 8 0 1 .190 Keith, Braden lf......... 4 1 1 0 0 2 3 0 0 .339 Shirek, Phil p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - Furnish, Brad p......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - Timm, Dustin p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 - Becker, Jeremy p........ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - Jensen, Brett p......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 - Totals................... 33 7 10 7 4 10 27 6 4 Score by Innings R H E ------------------------------------------- Texas Tech.......... 001 502 002 - 10 13 0 Nebraska............ 202 210 000 - 7 10 1 ------------------------------------------- E - Grose, J.(2). LOB - Red Raiders 8; Huskers 4. 2B - Haney(11); Fouts(3); Gordon, A.(11); Ledbetter, C(5); Keith, B.(2). 3B - Brady(2). HR - Mullinax, J.(6). HBP - Blair 2. SH - Bruce, D.(7). SF - Brady(5). SB - Blair 2(11); Braden(1). CS - Shockey, C.(4); Ledbetter, C(2); Smith, A.(1). Texas Tech IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP ERA -------------------------------------------------------- Braden, Dallas...... 3.1 7 6 6 3 3 15 19 72 4.96 Gooch, Steve........ 2.0 2 1 1 1 1 6 7 30 6.67 Fry, Adam........... 3.2 1 0 0 0 6 12 12 52 5.09 Nebraska IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP ERA -------------------------------------------------------- Shirek, Phil........ 3.0 3 5 4 4 1 12 17 55 2.67 Furnish, Brad....... 0.1 2 1 1 0 0 3 4 16 3.44 Timm, Dustin........ 4.0 4 2 2 0 4 15 16 70 2.55 Becker, Jeremy...... 0.2 0 0 0 0 1 2 2 5 1.35 Jensen, Brett....... 1.0 4 2 2 0 1 6 6 21 1.69 Win - Gooch (4-0). Loss - Timm, D. (1-1). Save - Fry (1). WP - Fry(2); Furnish, B.(2); Timm, D.(1). HBP - by Shirek, P. (Blair); by Furnish, B. (Blair). Inherited runners/scored: Gooch 1/0; Fry 1/0; Furnish, B. 3/3; Timm, D. 3/1; Becker, J. 1/0. Pitches/strikes: Braden 72/37; Gooch 30/18; Fry 52/34; Shirek, P. 55/27; Furnish, B. 16/8; Timm, D. 70/47; Becker, J. 5/4; Jensen, B. 21/17. Umpires - HP: Chris Coskey 1B: Mike Droll 3B: Andy Eaves Start: 2:05p.m. Time: 3:01 Attendance: 3606 Shirek, P. faced 4 batters in the 4th. Game: NU30