Husker Rally Falls Short in Loss to Baylor

Waco, Texas ? Baylor used clutch hitting and thwarted No. 23 Nebraska’s ninth-inning comeback for a 2-1 victory in front of 2,647 at the Baylor Ballpark Friday evening

The Huskers (33-17, 10-12 Big 12) were down 2-0 after eight innings before nearly pulling out a win over Bear reliever Abe Woody. Jake Mullinax’s two-out RBI single to right center scored Alex Gordon, who singled with one out and stole second before scoring on Mullinax’s 34th RBI of the season. John Grose was hit by a pitch, putting runners at first and second, but Woody got Colin Shockey to fly out to left, dashing NU’s comeback hopes.

Baylor (24-25, 11-9 Big 12) scored both of their runs ? a first-inning RBI single by Kyle Reynolds and a seventh-inning double by Reid Brees ? with two outs, and made it stand up, as four Bear hurlers held Nebraska to six hits.

Sean Walker (4-5) scattered six hits and fanned four over 6.1 innings, out-dueling Husker ace Zach Kroenke, who pitched well in defeat. Kroenke (7-3) gave up two runs over seven innings, while fanning four in suffering the hard-luck loss.

"Zach gave us a chance to win and hung in there, but we didn’t take advantage of the situations that we had," Nebraska Coach Mike Anderson said.

The Bears took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first on a Reynolds’ RBI single. Brees, who went 2-for-4, doubled to right center with one out before Reynolds drove a 2-2 pitch to center to score Brees two batters later.

Nebraska, which only had two base runners through the first five frames, had a golden opportunity in the sixth, putting runners on first and second with one out after a single by Braden Keith and a walk to Jesse Boyer. The Huskers could not take advantage, as Joe Simokaitis flied out deep to left, while Boyer was thrown out trying to advance into scoring position, snuffing out the Husker rally.

"We made too many critical unforced mistakes," Anderson said. "We didn’t play good fundamental baseball, and we aren’t going to win games on the road playing like that. Our goal was to put the ball in play and make their defense make plays, but we didn’t do a good job of that tonight."

Baylor using a pair of two-out hits to plate their second run in the seventh. Witt reached on an infield single and moved to second on a wild pitch before Brees looped a double down the right field line, scoring Witt with a critical insurance run.

The Huskers and Bears continue the series Saturday evening at 7 p.m., as the game will be carried on the Pinnacle Sports Network and available on Huskers.com

-- Huskers --

The Automated ScoreBook #23 Nebraska at Baylor May 14, 2004 at Waco, Texas (Baylor Ballpark) Nebraska 1 (33-17,10-12 BIG 12) Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB ------------------------------------------------------ Boyer, Jesse lf.......... 3 0 1 0 1 0 2 1 0 Simokaitis, Joe ss....... 4 0 0 0 0 1 2 1 1 Gordon, Alex 3b.......... 4 1 1 0 0 2 0 7 0 Ledbetter, Curtis 1b..... 3 0 0 0 1 1 9 0 1 Mullinax, Jake 2b........ 4 0 2 1 0 0 2 1 0 Grose, John c............ 3 0 1 0 0 0 4 1 0 Shockey, Colin cf........ 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 4 Bruce, Daniel rf......... 3 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 Keith, Braden dh......... 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 Kroenke, Zach p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Becker, Jeremy p........ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals................... 31 1 6 1 2 5 24 12 6 Baylor 2 (24-25,11-9 BIG 12) Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB ------------------------------------------------------ Witt, Paul 2b............ 4 1 2 0 0 0 1 4 0 Brees, Reid lf........... 4 1 2 1 0 1 4 1 0 Griffin, Michael 3b...... 4 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 2 Reynolds, Kyle ss........ 4 0 1 1 0 1 0 2 1 Ford, Josh dh............ 4 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 Bullock, Tyler c......... 3 0 1 0 1 0 5 0 0 Sutton, Drew 1b.......... 4 0 1 0 0 0 10 0 2 Pankratz, Mike rf........ 3 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 Sevigny, Kevin cf........ 3 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 1 Walker, Sean p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Pape, Andy p............ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 LaMotta, Ryan p......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Woody, Abe p............ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Totals................... 33 2 10 2 1 4 27 10 8 Score by Innings R H E ------------------------------------------- Nebraska............ 000 000 001 - 1 6 0 Baylor.............. 100 000 10X - 2 10 1 ------------------------------------------- E - Sevigny(3). LOB - Huskers 6; Bears 8. 2B - Witt(8); Brees 2(14). HBP - Grose, J.. SB - Boyer, J.(12); Gordon, A.(11). Nebraska IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP -------------------------------------------------- Kroenke, Zach....... 7.0 9 2 2 1 4 29 30 120 Becker, Jeremy...... 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 4 4 6 Baylor IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP -------------------------------------------------- Walker, Sean........ 6.1 3 0 0 2 4 20 22 97 Pape, Andy.......... 0.1 1 0 0 0 0 2 2 6 LaMotta, Ryan....... 1.1 0 0 0 0 0 4 4 11 Woody, Abe.......... 1.0 2 1 1 0 1 5 6 20 Win - Walker (4-5). Loss - Kroenke, Z. (7-3). Save - Woody (4). WP - Kroenke, Z. 3(10). HBP - by Woody (Grose, J.). Inherited runners/scored: Pape 1/0; LaMotta 2/0. Pitches/strikes: Kroenke, Z. 120/74; Becker, J. 6/6; Walker 97/62; Pape 6/5; LaMotta 11/9; Woody 20/14. Umpires - HP: Bob Homolka 1B: Doug Williams 3B: Curtis Alexander Start: 7:08p.m. Time: 2:37 Attendance: 2647 Game: NU50