Huskers Open A&M Series with 5-4 Win

Lincoln ? Joba Chamberlain matched a season high with 11 strikeouts, while Brandon Buckman went 2-for-3 and drove in three RBIs, as No. 4 Nebraska won its eighth straight game with a 5-4 win over Texas A&M in front of a season-high crowd of 7,318 at Hawks Field Thursday evening.

Chamberlain improved to 5-2 with his second straight win, as the junior All-American allowed one run on four hits over 6.1 innings of work for Nebraska (26-5, 8-2 Big 12). The right-hander allowed just one runner in scoring position between the second and sixth innings after Texas A&M stranded runners at second and third to end the first. The 11 strikeouts marked the third time this season and the eighth time in his career that Chamberlain has reached double figures in strikeouts.

Behind the bat of Buckman, the Huskers raced out to a 5-0 lead, scoring three in the first and adding single runs in the second and third. NU was forced to withstand a furious Aggie comeback, as Texas A&M (19-18, 3-10 Big 12) scored twice in the ninth off Husker closer Brett Jensen and had the tying runner on second before Jensen fanned Josh Stinson to end the game and earn his seventh save.

"Any win is a good win when you are playing conference baseball," Anderson said. "Conference wins are very important, and we need to continue to find a way to wins games like these. We're playing baseball, and I'm happy with that."

Buckman got the Huskers going in the first with a three-run homer off Texas A&M starter Jason Meyer for his 11th homer of the season. In that inning, Bryce Nimmo and Ryan Wehrle drew walks before Buckman, the only Husker with at least two hits, sent a 1-2 pitch off the foul pole in right to give the Huskers a 3-0 lead.

In the second, the Huskers pushed the lead to 4-0 on Jake Mort’s RBI double. Jeff Christy led off the inning with a single and moved to second on Jake Opitz’s sacrifice before Mort ripped a 3-2 pitch to the base of the wall in left center, easily scoring Christy from second.

Nebraska pushed across another run in the third, plating a run on three straight singles, capped by a run scoring single by Andrew Brown, With one out, consecutive hits by Buckman and Luke Gorsett put runners on first and second before Brown sent a 1-1 offering back up the middle, plating Buckman with NU’s fifth run.

Meyer took the loss, allowing all five runs on six hits over 3.1 innings of work to drop to 1-1 on the year.

Chamberlain took a shutout into the seventh, but ran into trouble, allowing a walk and a single to put runners on first and second with no outs. Parker Dalton bunted Chamberlain’s offering where Jeff Christy fired to third to get the lead runner in what would be Chamberlain’s final pitch of the night. Two batters later, Jose Salazar’s RBI single off Jared Cranston put the Aggies on the board.

The Aggies took advantage of a Husker defensive lapse in the eighth, as Jake Vasquez reached on a fielding error and moved to second on a base hit by pinch hitter Kyle Colligan. Two batters later, pinch hitter Anthony Vasquez made it a 5-2 game as he singled to center off of reliever Zach Herr, setting the stage for the ninth.

Jensen opened the ninth by hitting Blake Stouffer before an Austin Boggs single two batters later put runners on first and second. Jose Vasquez then hit a shot to first, which was misplayed by Buckman, allowing Stouffer to score. Jensen struck out Colligan for the second out, but Craig Stinson’s RBI single made it a one-run game before Jensen fanned Josh Stinson on a 1-2 pitch to end A&M’s comeback hopes.

The two teams will continue the series Friday night at 6:35 p.m., as Tony Watson (5-0, 1.89 ERA) takes the hill for NU against Austin Creps (3-2, 1.46 ERA). The game will be carried across the state on the Pinnacle Sports Network and on Huskers.com.