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Oklahoma City - Andrew Brown singled home Brandon Buckman with the game-winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning, as the No. 14 Nebraska baseball team knocked off top-seeded Texas Saturday at the AT&T Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City and advance to the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship Game Sunday.
Tony Watson, who came on in relief of starter Johnny Dorn, picked up his second victory of the tournament and 10th overall this season with 5.1 innings of scoreless baseball in a masterful performance. Watson (10-1) scattered four hits and fanned four without a walk, avenging his shortest outing of the season against Texas in April.
Brett Jensen then picked up his 13th save of the year by recording the last four outs in order for the Huskers to punch Nebraska's ticket to the Big 12 title game for the second straight year. Jensen has recorded the save in all three of NU’s Big 12 Tournament wins this weekend.
With the victory, Nebraska improved to 42-14 on the season and 3-1 on the year against the two-time defending national champion Longhorns. The Huskers also remained unbeaten in the 2006 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship game, running their overall Big 12 Tournament winning streak to eight games.
Texas, the Big 12 regular-season champions, dipped to 40-19 overall and were eliminated from the tournament. Nebraska will take on Kansas, a 4-3 winner over Missouri Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. in a game televised nationally by Fox Sports Net.
Along with the pitching heroics of Watson and Jensen, who combined to shut down the hot-hitting Longhorns for the final 7.2 innings on Saturday, Buckman, Ryan Wehrle, Nick Jaros and Nick Sullivan provided big hits for the Husker offense.
Sullivan delivered NU's single biggest blow of the day with his three-run home run to dead center field in the bottom of the second inning to erase UT's 2-0 lead and give Nebraska a 3-2 advantage. For Sullivan, it was just his second home run of the season, as the redshirt freshman, making his first start since May 9, drove in a career high three runs in the win.
The Huskers continued the rally with two more runs in the inning to claim a 5-2 lead against Big 12 Pitcher of the Year Kyle McCulloch. After a Jake Mort ground out, Nick Jaros singled and Ryan Wehrle doubled home Jaros to give NU a 4-2 lead. Then Buckman stepped to the plate and delivered an RBI single to push the Husker advantage to 5-2.
But Dorn could not stop the Longhorn bats, as Texas rallied to tie the game with three runs in the third.
The two teams remained tied at five through six innings, before Texas reliever Austin Woods started the seventh inning on the hill and was greeted by a sharp single off the bat of Buckman, who went a perfect 3-for-3 on the day. Buckman advanced to second on a wild pitch before Brown laced a sharp single to Drew Stubbs in center field and Buckman scored without a throw to give NU a 6-5 lead. For Brown, the lone Texas native on the Husker roster, it was his second game-winning hit of the week.
Woods took the loss for the Longhorns in relief to fall to 4-3 on the season.
The Huskers continued the rally as Bryce Nimmo singled on a sacrifice bunt attempt and after a pitching change, Jake Opitz bunted the ball back to UT pitcher Joseph Krebs who misplayed the ball. With the bases loaded an nobody out, Jeff Christy struck out looking on a full-count pitch before Sullivan hit into an inning-ending double play to keep the NU lead at one run.
Watson then ran into trouble in the eighth. After recording the first two outs, Chais Fuller singled for the Longhorns and Hunter Harris then reached on an error when a late flip from Buckman at first base to Watson covering resulted in Watson missing the bag with his foot.
Enter Jensen, who retired Nick Peoples on his first pitch before mowing down the Longhorns in the ninth, including a strikeout of Carson Kainer on an 0-2 pitch to end the game.
For the game, Nebraska's offense pounded out 12 hits, including three from Buckman and two each from Jaros, Wehrle and Opitz.
Nebraska's Championship Game contest with either the Tigers or Jayhawks will be televised live on Sunday by Fox Sports Net with first pitch set for 1 p.m. The Huskers are 9-0 this season in televised games after their win over Texas on Saturday.