Huskers Sweep Twinbill against Houston Baptist

Nebraska received strong pitching performances from Casey Hauptman and Michael Mariot, as the Huskers swept Houston Baptist by scores of 10-2 and 8-1 Saturday afternoon at Hawks Field.

Hauptman set career bests for strikeouts (eight) and innings (seven) in the opener, as he scattered five hits for the win before he was upstaged by Mariot in the nightcap. Mariot tossed a one-hit shutout, fanning four en route to becoming the first Husker since 2004 to fire a one hitter.

“I liked them all,” Anderson said about the Huskers’ efforts on the mound in both games. “I thought Michael (Mariot) was great because of the intent he had and the rhythm and pace he showed. You could see it. That is the best performance he’s had because of him determination. You could see it in his face and in his motions. He had a purpose.”

The arms were fortified by a Husker offense that belted six homers on the day, including two by Adam Bailey, who went 5-for-8 with four RBIs and three runs scored, and two by Cody Asche, who also drove in four runs in the twinbill. With the wins, Nebraska improved to 6-7 on the season and has won three straight contests.

In the opener, the Huskers struck early, scoring in each of the first three innings to stake Hauptman a 6-0 lead. After Bailey’s sacrifice fly plated DJ Belfonte in the first, Nebraska extended the lead with three runs in the second.  Patric Tolentino was hit by a pitch before Josh Scheffert’s single put runners on first and second with no outs. Two batters later, Kyle Bubak plated Tolentino with an RBI single, but the ball went past HBU center fielder Viron Hackney, allowing Scheffert to score and Bubak to reach third on the play. Belfonte then laid down a perfect suicide squeeze to score Bubak and make it a 4-0 game.

Bailey opened the third with his third homer of the season, a solo shot to center before Tolentino’s two-out single kept the rally going. Scheffert’s second hit of the day put runners on the corners for Cooper, who legged out a run-scoring infield single to cap the early outburst for NU against starter Dalton Schafer.

Houston Baptist (4-8) regrouped with single runs off of Hauptman in the fourth and fifth innings, getting an RBI double from Kolby Arnst, who went 3-for-4 in the opener, and a solo homer by Derek Smith to make it a 6-2 game.  Hauptman, making his first start since last April, scattered five hits and improved to 1-2 on the season.

The score would remain that way until the Huskers chased Schafer with four runs in the seventh. After Tyler Farst walked, Asche gave the Huskers breathing room with a solo homer to center to extend the lead back to six runs. NU had runners on the corners with one out before Bubak’s grounder was misplayed for an error to push across one run before Belfonte’s sacrifice fly accounted for the Huskers’ final run.

Nebraska finished with 12 hits on the day, as Belfonte, Bailey, Scheffert and Cooper all enjoyed multi-hit efforts in the win.

Mariot was the story in the nightcap, as the junior right-hander from Southlake, Texas, allowed only one hit, a third-inning single off the bat of Jake Gonzalez, in Nebraska’s first-ever one-hitter at Hawks Field. Mariot, whose longest career outing was seven innings, needed only 95 pitches in the complete-game, fanning four, as only one runner reached scoring position all afternoon.

Nebraska got on top early in the nightcap, as Scheffert’s two-out RBI single scored Bryan Peters to give the hosts a 1-0 lead. Peters singled with one out, moved to third on Adam Bailey’s single and scored as Scheffert found a hole between first and second for the run. Bailey had three hits and drove in two runs in the nightcap.

The Huskers then found some power in the third inning, belting three homers as part of a four-run outburst to extend the lead to 5-0. NU had homers from DJ Belfonte, Adam Bailey and Cody Asche all in a five-hitter sequence, chasing the Husky left-hander, who allowed five runs on seven hits over 2.2 innings.

That would be more than enough for Mariot, as he was in the midst of  setting down 24 of the next 25 hitters he faced after walking Paul Prestera to open the contest.

Nebraska extended the lead in the fifth on Scheffert’s sacrifice fly before tacking on two more runs in the seventh on Chad Christensen’s pinch-hit homer and an RBI single from Asche, who went 2-for-4 with two RBIs.

The Huskers will go for the sweep tomorrow afternoon, as freshman Tom Lemke (2-0 3.65 ERA) makes his Hawks Field debut. First pitch is set for 1:05 p.m. and the game will be carried on selected Husker Sports Network affiliates and on Huskers.com.