Husker Comeback Falls Short in 8-5 Setback

Charleston, S.C. ? Third-ranked Nebraska pounded out 15 hits and put the tying runner at the plate in each of the last three innings, but could not capitalize in an 8-5 loss to The Citadel Saturday afternoon at Riley Park. 

Andy Gerch, Ryan Wehrle and Andrew Brown had three hits apiece, as the Huskers (2-1) out-hit the Bulldogs, 15-10, but stranded 13 runners on base, including six over the final three frames. Brown paced NU with a 3-for-4 effort, including his first career homer, while Wehrle and Gerch both went 3-for-5 in a losing effort.

The Citadel (2-1) overcame a 4-2 deficit with a four-run fifth inning and built the lead with single runs in the seventh and eighth frames after NU pulled to within 6-5 after Brandon Buckman’s first round tripper of the year. Chris Swauger paced the Bulldogs’ efforts with a 2-for-3 outing with three RBIs and two runs scored, while Matt Matulia homered and scored twice in the win.

Justin Smith earned the victory for the Bulldogs, allowing one run over three innings in relief of starter Ryan Owens, while Link Saunders notched the save with a scoreless ninth, as he struck out pinch hitter Nick Sullivan with two on to end the game. The Huskers had opportunities in the previous two innings, putting runners on second and third with one out in the seventh and getting back-to-back two out hits in the eighth before the Bulldogs thwarted the rally.

Nebraska Head Coach Mike Anderson said the Huskers’ failed to match The Citadel’s intensity, one day after knocking off nationally ranked North Carolina State.

“They wanted the game more than us today,” Anderson said. “We stepped on the field against a team that wanted to beat us, and that is something we need to adjust.  I think it is part of the learning process. We showed some good signs when we fought back from being behind early, although I wanted to see more off that in the later innings.”

Husker starter Johnny Dorn (0-1) took the loss for the Big Red, allowing six runs over 4.1 innings of work.

The Citadel jumped to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second, as the Bulldogs manufactured a run and then got a solo homer from Matulia. Dorn hit Weathers to open the frame before he eventually scored on Swauger’s sacrifice fly. One batter later, Matulia sent a 2-0 offering from Dorn over the fence in right for his first homer of the year to spot the hosts a two-run cushion.

The Huskers chipped away at the deficit in the second, as Brown opened the frame with an opposite field homer to right on Owens’ first offering, cutting the Bulldog lead to 2-1.

Nebraska struck for three runs in the fourth, capitalizing on a pair of Bulldogs errors to take a 4-2 advantage. Luke Gorsett and Brown opened the frame with back-to-back singles, while a wild pitch moved both runners into scoring position. Nick Jaros then tied the game with an RBI single to right, but Graham Crouch misplayed the hop, allowing Brown to score from first and Jaros to advance into scoring position. Jeff Christy then lofted a fly ball that Crouch dropped, allowing Jaros to score on the play and giving the Huskers a two-run cushion lead.

Dorn, who settled down after a shaky first, ran into trouble in the fifth, as the Bulldogs scored four times to take a 6-4 lead.  Dorn issued a one-out walk to Weathers before surrendering a single to Matt Arnold to put runners on the corners. Swauger then made it 4-3 with an RBI double before Dorn intentionally walked Matulia to load the bases. Southpaw Dan Jennings came into to face left-handed hitting Zach Brown, but balked in the tying run before Brown’s RBI single to left gave the Bulldogs a 5-4 lead. Sonny Meade then made it 6-4 for the hosts, plating Matulia with a ground out

Nebraska threatened in the seventh, as Buckman’s one-out solo homer pulled the Huskers within 6-5. The Huskers continued to rally, as a single by Gorsett and a Brown double put runners on second and third with one out, but could not capitalize as Justin Smith stuck out Jaros and got Jeff Christy flew out to center, ending NU’s rally.

The Bulldogs got the run back in the bottom of the seventh, as Swauger belted a one-out solo homer to left off reliever Luke Wertz, and tacked on another run in the eighth on Conrad Kellahan’s RBI single.

The Huskers wrap up the weekend in South Carolina Sunday morning, as they take on Richmond beginning at 10 a.m. (central). Right-hander Charlie Shirek will make his Husker debut, while right-hander Rob Berzinskas will take the hill for the Spiders.

                           #3 Nebraska at The Citadel
                  Feb 18, 2006 at Charleston,S.C. (Riley Park)Nebraska 5 (2-1)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
Mort, Jake 3b............  3  0  1  0   0  0  0  0   0
 Edlefsen, Steve ph/3b...  2  0  0  0   0  0  0  2   0
Wehrle, Ryan ss..........  5  0  3  0   0  1  0  3   0
Gerch, Andy dh...........  5  0  3  0   0  0  0  0   2
Buckman, Brandon 1b......  5  1  1  1   0  2 13  0   3
Gorsett, Luke rf.........  5  1  2  0   0  2  5  0   2
Brown, Andrew lf.........  4  2  3  1   1  1  1  0   0
Jaros, Nick cf...........  3  1  1  1   2  1  1  0   0
Christy, Jeff c..........  4  0  0  0   1  2  2  0   4
Opitz, Jake 2b...........  3  0  1  0   0  2  2  5   0
 Klapperich, Casey ph/2b.  1  0  0  0   0  1  0  1   0
 Sullivan, Nick ph.......  1  0  0  0   0  1  0  0   2
Dorn, Johnny p...........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  2   0
 Jennings, Dan. p........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 Wertz, Luke p...........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0
 Klausing, Jon p.........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 41  5 15  3   4 13 24 14  13The Citadel 8 (2-1)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
Trent Weathers cf........  3  2  1  0   1  1  4  1   0
Matt Arnold 3b...........  4  1  2  0   0  0  1  2   2
Chris Swauger lf.........  3  2  2  3   0  0  1  0   0
Matt Matulia ss..........  2  2  1  1   2  1  1  0   0
Zach Brown 1b............  4  0  1  1   0  0  5  1   0
Sonny Meade dh...........  4  0  1  1   0  0  0  0   0
 Chance Smith dh.........  0  1  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Brady Mashak c...........  2  0  0  0   1  0 13  1   1
Tripp Cappelmann 2b......  4  0  1  0   0  0  0  1   2
Graham Couch rf..........  3  0  0  0   0  0  1  0   1
 Conrad Kellahan ph......  1  0  1  1   0  0  0  0   0
 Joe Hoerter rf..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Ryan Owens p.............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 Justin Smith p..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  1  0   0
 Matt Crim p.............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 Link Saunders p.........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 30  8 10  7   4  2 27  6   6Score by Innings                    R  H  E
Nebraska............ 010 300 100 -  5 15  0
The Citadel......... 200 040 11X -  8 10  2E - Couch 2. DP - CIT 1. LOB - Huskers 13; CIT 6. 2B - Brown, A.; Weathers;
Swauger. HR - Buckman, B.; Brown, A.; Swauger; Matulia. HBP - Weathers. SH -
Arnold; Mashak. SF - Swauger. SB - Weathers; Matulia.Nebraska               IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
Dorn, Johnny........  4.1  5  6  6  4  1 15 22
Jennings, Dan.......  0.0  1  0  0  0  0  1  1
Wertz, Luke.........  3.1  2  2  2  0  1 11 12
Klausing, Jon.......  0.1  2  0  0  0  0  3  3The Citadel            IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
Ryan Owens..........  4.0  9  4  3  0  6 21 21
Justin Smith........  3.0  4  1  1  2  2 12 14
Matt Crim...........  1.0  2  0  0  0  2  5  5
Link Saunders.......  1.0  0  0  0  2  3  3  5Win - J. Smith (2-0).  Loss - Dorn, J. (0-1).  Save - Saunders (2).
WP - Wertz, L.; Owens. HBP - by Dorn, J. (Weathers). BK - Jennings, D..
Inherited runners/scored: Jennings, D. 3/2; Wertz, L. 2/1; Klausing, J. 1/1.
Umpires - HP: Larry Chambers  1B: Mickey Faqua  3B: David Hoffman
Start: 2:47p.m.   Time: 3:15   Attendance: 1474
Jennings, D. faced 1 batter in the 5th