Huskers Complete Sweep of Lobos, 9-5

Lincoln ? Cody Neer had a career-high four hits, while Nebraska used a six-run sixth inning to top New Mexico, 9-5, Wednesday afternoon at Hawks Field.

Neer, who had six hits in the last two games to raise his average to .312, went 4-for-4 with an RBI and scored twice, as the Huskers (21-23-1) pounded out 15 hits in picking up their fourth win in the last six contests.

 “He did a lot of good things,” Nebraska Coach Mike Anderson said of Neer’s first four-hit day as a Husker. “He went the other way and had a lot of at-bats that were versatile. That’s been a good sign that he’s seeing it that way.”

Nick Sullivan, Ben Kline and Jeff Tezak had two hits apiece, while Tyler Farst homered and drove in two runs.

The Huskers trailed 4-1 before striking for six runs on seven hits off of four New Mexico pitchers to take the lead for good.  After a leadoff triple by DJ Belfonte, Neer made it a 4-2 game with an RBI single to center before Nick Sullivan’s single put runners on first and second. Kale Kiser laid down a perfect bunt for a single, but Lobo reliever Gabe Aguilar’s throw was down the line in right, allowing Neer to score to pull the Huskers within a run. Jeff Tezak then tied the game with a ground out before Jake Mort executed a perfect suicide squeeze to score Kiser with the go-ahead run. Boomer Collins reached on an infield single to keep the rally going before Tyler Farst greeted reliever Clinton Cox with a two-run homer to left, capping the Huskers six-run outburst.

“I thought about the fourth inning on we got some things going,” Anderson said, as the Huskers had 13 of their 15 hits after the third inning. “From the fourth inning on, we really had some good at bats after we weren’t doing well at the beginning. I’m proud of our kids for making an effort and fighting back. We pieced together a pitching performance that ended up getting the job done, I’m proud of that.”

Sophomore Casey Hauptman (4-5) was the beneficiary of the Huskers’ outburst, as he allowed one run over three innings to pick up his fourth victory of the season. Hauptman, Eric Rose and Erik Anderson combined to allow just two runs over 5.1 innings of work against a team that led the nation in hitting entering the week.

Aguilar (2-1), who had allowed one earned run in 13 appearances, took the loss, as he allowed a pair of runs in 0.2 innings of work for New Mexico (31-14), which has dropped its last three contests.

Early on, the Huskers fell behind as the Lobos scored twice in the first and another in the third off of starter Michael Mariot. In the first, Ryan Honeycutt drove in the first run with a sacrifice fly before Kevin Atkinson made it 2-0 with an RBI single. Brian Cavazos-Galvez made it a 3-0 lead, as he opened the fourth with a solo homer to left.

The Huskers got on the board in the fifth, loading the bases with two walks sandwiched around a Tezak double. Kenny Toves came in and allowed only one run, as a passed ball plated the Huskers’ lone run of the inning.

The Lobos got the run back in the sixth on Hauptman, as Mike Brownstein, who went 3-for-3 on the day drove in Justin Howard with an RBI single to make it 4-1 before Nebraska answered in its half of the frame.

Nebraska, which scored in its final four at-bats, tacked on single runs in the seventh and eighth, getting a run in the seventh, as Neer singled and eventually scored on a passed ball. One inning later, Kline came through with a two-out RBI double to score Mort and make it a 9-4 game.

Rafael Neda made it a 9-5 game in the ninth, as he led off the inning with a homer, but Anderson held New Mexico off the scoreboard to help the Huskers complete the series sweep.

Nebraska returns to action this weekend, as the Huskers play host to Missouri. Friday’s first pitch is set for 6:05 p.m. and the game will be carried across Nebraska on the IMG Husker Sports Network and on Huskers.com