Huskers Fall in 10 Innings

College Station, Texas --John Infante’s RBI double in the bottom of the 10th inning broke a 4-all tie, as Texas A&M evened the weekend series with No. 10 Nebraska with a 5-4 victory Saturday afternoon.

The Aggies (23-15-1, 5-9 Big 12) trailed 4-3 heading into the bottom of the ninth, but plated the tying run with two outs before Infante’s double to center off reliever Ryan Bohanan one inning later snapped Texas A&M’s five-game losing streak.

Justin Pouk’s one-out single off Brett Jensen in the 10th started the Aggie rally before Tony Watson got Coby Mavroulis to ground out, moving the go-ahead run to second. Infante then sent Bohanan’s 1-2 pitch to the base of the wall in center, scoring Pouk from second and sending the 6,326 fans at Olsen Field home happy.

Jensen, who was 5-for-5 in save situations, suffered the loss, allowing two runs in 1.1 innings of relief, as Nebraska (30-7, 7-4 Big 12) lost for the first time in 24 games when taking a lead into the ninth. Clayton Turner, the fourth Aggie pitcher on the day, fired 2.1 shutout innings of relief for the victory, as he struck out one and didn’t allow a hit.

The Huskers struck early against Texas A&M starter Kyle Marlatt, scoring a pair of runs in the first to take a 2-0 lead. With runners on first and second, Brandon Fusilier roped a single into left before Brandon Buckman’s RBI double to right one batter later gave the visitors a two-run cushion.

Nebraska increased its lead to 3-0 in the top of the third on Alex Gordon’s team-high 12th homer of the season. Gordon took Marlatt’s 1-0 pitch over the wall in right for his first round tripper since April 2. The blast was the 37th of his career, moving past Paul Meyers, who had 36 between 1984 and 1986, for sixth on NU’s career list.

The Aggies struck in the bottom of the third, scoring three runs off Nebraska starter Zach Kroenke to knot the score. After a pair of hits and a groundout put runners on second and third, consecutive RBI singles by Cliff Pennington and Andrew Baldwin pulled the Aggies within 3-2. Texas A&M then tied the score on Austin Boggs’ run-scoring grounder to second.

The Huskers came right back in the top of the fourth, chasing Marlatt, who allowed four runs on eight hits, but didn’t factor into the decision. A leadoff single by Jeff Christy and a one-out walk to Jesse Boyer put runners on first and second before Joe Simokaitis slapped a single between third and short, scoring Christy with NU’s fourth run.

Nebraska, which stranded nine runners, had a golden opportunity in the fifth, putting runners on first and second with no outs, but Robert Ray came out of the bullpen and quickly got out of trouble, as Daniel Bruce lined into a 4-3 triple play to squelch the NU rally.

Kroneke settled down after the third and didn’t allow another hit until Pouk opened the sixth with a single. After a sacrifice moved Pouk to second, Dustin Timm came out of the bullpen and retired the next two hitters to get the Husker starter out of the jam. Kroenke went 5.1 innings, allowing three runs on five hits before leaving with a 4-3 lead, but did not factor into the decision, while Timm retired all eight batters he faced before giving way to Jensen in the ninth.

In the top of the eighth, the Huskers loaded the bases on a double to Ledbetter, a walk to Christy and an infield single by Ryan Wehrle loaded the bases on Ray, but Turner came in and struck out Jesse Boyer to end the rally.

The Aggies rallied in the bottom of the ninth against Jensen on Ryan Hill’s two-out RBI single. One-out singles by Infante and Parker Dalton put runners on first and second before pinch hitter Keith Stein flew out to left for the second out. Hill then tied the game with a bloop singled to center, plating Infante from second to send the game into extra innings.

The teams will conclude the series Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m., as Brian Duensing (5-0, 2.55 ERA) takes the hill for the Huskers.

Nebraska vs Texas A&M (Apr 16, 2005)

• Box score (NCAA)

Box score (NCAA) 2005 Nebraska Baseball #10 Nebraska at Texas A&M Apr 16, 2005 at College Station, TX (Olsen Field)

Nebraska 4 (30-7,7-4 Big 12)

Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB ------------------------------------------------------ Boyer, Jesse rf/lf....... 4 0 2 0 1 1 6 0 3 Simokaitis, Joe ss....... 5 1 1 1 0 0 0 3 1 Gordon, Alex 3b.......... 4 2 1 1 1 0 1 2 0 Fusilier, Brandon lf..... 5 0 1 1 0 1 2 0 2 Nimmo, Bryce cf......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Buckman, Brandon dh...... 5 0 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 Ledbetter, Curtis 1b..... 4 0 1 0 1 0 10 1 0 Bruce, Daniel cf/rf...... 5 0 1 0 0 0 2 0 2 Christy, Jeff c.......... 3 1 1 0 1 0 6 0 0 Opitz, Jake 2b........... 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 0 Wehrle, Ryan 2b......... 2 0 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 Kroenke, Zach p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Timm, Dustin p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Jensen, Brett p......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Watson, Tony p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 Bohanan, Ryan p......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals................... 39 4 11 4 4 3 29 9 9

Texas A&M 5 (23-15-1,5-9 Big 12)

Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB ------------------------------------------------------ Sebek, Todd lf........... 4 1 1 0 0 1 4 0 0 Stein, Keith Jr. ph/lf.. 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Hill, Ryan dh............ 5 0 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 Pennington, Cliff ss..... 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 4 0 Baldwin, Andrew rf....... 5 0 1 1 0 1 5 0 4 Boggs, Austin 3b......... 5 0 0 1 0 0 0 3 1 Pouk, Justin c........... 4 1 3 0 1 0 3 0 0 Mavroulis, Coby 1b....... 4 0 0 0 0 2 9 0 2 Infante, John cf......... 5 1 2 1 0 0 4 1 1 Dalton, Parker 2b........ 4 1 2 0 0 0 4 3 1 Marlatt, Kyle p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Nicholson, Kyle p....... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Ray, Robert p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Turner, Clayton p....... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals................... 41 5 11 5 2 6 30 12 10

Score by Innings R H E --------------------------------------------- Nebraska............ 201 100 000 0 - 4 11 2 Texas A&M........... 003 000 001 1 - 5 11 1 ---------------------------------------------

Note: 2 outs, 1 runner LOB when the game ended.

E - Gordon, A.(5); Opitz, J.(3); Pennington(4). TP - Aggies 1. LOB - Huskers 9; Aggies 10. 2B - Buckman, B.(9); Ledbetter, C(11); Infante(8). HR - Gordon, A.(12). SH - Mavroulis(2). SB - Pennington(15); Baldwin(2); Pouk(1).

Nebraska IP H R ER BB SO AB BF ----------------------------------------------- Kroenke, Zach....... 5.1 6 3 3 1 4 23 25 Timm, Dustin........ 2.2 0 0 0 0 1 8 8 Jensen, Brett....... 1.1 4 2 2 1 1 8 9 Watson, Tony........ 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 Bohanan, Ryan....... 0.0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1

Texas A&M IP H R ER BB SO AB BF ----------------------------------------------- Marlatt, Kyle....... 3.1 8 4 4 2 1 18 20 Nicholson, Kyle..... 0.2 1 0 0 1 0 3 4 Ray, Robert......... 3.2 2 0 0 1 1 11 12 Turner, Clayton..... 2.1 0 0 0 0 1 7 7

Win - Turner (2-2). Loss - Jensen, B. (1-2). Save - None. PB - Pouk(6). Inherited runners/scored: Timm, D. 1/0; Watson, T. 1/0; Bohanan, R. 1/1; Nicholson 2/0; Ray 2/0; Turner 3/0. Umpires - HP: Pat Spieler 1B: Wes Hamilton 3B: Ken McQueen Start: 2:07p.m. Time: 3:08 Attendance: 6326 Nicholson faced 2 batters in the 5th. Game: NU37