Huskers Top Aggies, 5-3, in Big 12 Opener

Oklahoma City, Okla. ? Nebraska used an opportunistic offense and strong pitching performances from Tony Watson and Matt Foust to knock off No. 11 Texas A&M, 5-3, at the Big 12 Championship Wednesday afternoon at the Bricktown Ballpark.
 
Watson (6-4) allowed two runs over 5.1 innings of work to pick up his first win since April 29. The left-hander got out of several early jams, as the Aggies left runners in scoring position in each of the first six innings against Watson and in seven of nine inning overall. Foust earned his seventh save by going the final 3.2 innings, highlighted by a bases-loaded strikeout of Blake Stouffer in the eighth to preserve NU’s 4-3 lead at the time.

Nebraska (30-23) pounded out eight hits and plated single runs in five different innings ? including a trio of sacrifice flies - en route to its third consecutive victory. DJ Belftonte and Craig Corriston ? the top-two hitters in the Nebraska lineup ? combined to go 4-for-7 and score four of the Huskers’ five runs.

Belfonte matched his season high with three hits and scored twice, while Craig Corriston reached safely on three of his four plate appearances and also scored a pair of runs. Andy Gerch drove in a pair of runs, including a two-out RBI single in the first that gave the Huskers the lead for good off Texas A&M starter Clayton Ehlert (1-1).

Blake Stouffer went 3-for-5, while Brandon Hicks, Ben Feltner and Craig Stinston had two hits each for Texas A&M, which dropped to 41-16 overall.

The Huskers got on the board in the bottom of the first, getting a two-out RBI single from Gerch to take a 1-0 lead. Belfonte led off the game with a bunt single and moved into scoring position after Corriston was hit by a pitch from Ehlert. Two batters later, Gerch made it a 1-0 game with a run-scoring single up the middle to score Belfonte.

Nebraska pushed across another run in the bottom of the third inning on a sacrifice fly from Jake Opitz. A leadoff walk to Corriston and a single by Andrew Brown put runners on first and second. With one out, Gerch was hit by an Ehlert offering to load the bases before Opitz greeted reliever Matt Ueckert with a sacrifice fly to the corner in left, scoring Corriston with the Huskers’ second run.

Ehlert (1-1) allowed two runs on four hits over 2.1 innings to take the loss.

Watson took a shutout into the fifth when the Aggies got on the scoreboard with Blake Stouffer’s RBI single. Ben Feltner reached on a fielder’s choice, stole second and scored as Stouffer lined a base hit to left.

The Huskers quickly got the run back in their half of the fifth, pushing across a run to extend their lead to 3-1.
Consecutive singles by Corriston and Brown and an error loaded the bases with no outs. Gerch then lofted a sacrifice fly to left to score Corriston and give NU a 3-1 lead.

Texas A&M closed to within 3-2 in the sixth, as Josh Stinson scored Craig Stinson with a ground out. Consecutive singles by Craig Stinson and Kyle Colligan and a sacrifice bunt put two Aggies in scoring positions and chased the Husker starter after 5.1 innings. Foust got Stinson to ground out and then struck out Parker Dalton to end the threat.

NU took a 4-2 lead in the bottom of the sixth, as Bryce Nimmo walked and eventually scoring on a sacrifice fly from Corriston.

Texas A&M got to within 4-3 in its next at-bat, as Craig Stinson’s sacrifice fly scored Brandon Hicks, who walked, moved to second on Stouffer’s third hit of the day and reached third after a walk to Luke Anders. The Aggies had a golden opportunity in the eighth, as a two-out walk and consecutive singles from Hicks and Ben Feltner loaded the bases for Stouffer, who is second in the Big 12 with 71 RBIs. Foust fell behind 3-0, but fought back and struck out the All-Big 12 performer to escape unharmed.

The Huskers got an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth, as Belfonte singled with one out, moved to second on a walk before two straight balks on Aggie reliever Travis Starling allowed Belfonte to score NU’s fifth run.

Nebraska continues Big 12 Tournament action Thursday evening, as they take on Kansas State. First pitch is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. and the game will be carried across Nebraska on the Husker Sports Network.

Nebraska Notes:
*-With today’s win, Nebraska improves to 28-8 all-time at the Big 12 Tournament and 24-5 at the Bricktown Ballark
*-With his two RBIs today (his eighth multi-RBI game of the season), Andy Gerch has driven in 20 of his 29 RBIs this season with two outs.     
*-Nebraska’s three sacrifice flies is a season best and the first time NU has had three sacrifice flies in a game since accomplishing the feat against KSU on March 31, 2006.
*- DJ Belfonte’s three hits against Texas A&M ties a season high, matched three other times, most recently against Oklahoma State on April *- Belfonte leads NU with 18 multi-hit games this season.
*-With today’s win, Tony Watson improves to 22-7 all-time, moving into a tie for sixth place on NU’s career wins list. He is now tied with Cliff Foust (22, 1977-1980)
*- Matt Foust now has a team-high seven saves, which is tied for sixth on NU’s single-season list. Foust and the Huskers now have 19 saves on the season, tying for fourth nationally (also USC). NU’s 19 saves this season is second on single-season team lists.