Husker Comeback Falls Short

Lincoln – Nebraska’s ninth-inning comeback fell just short, as Kansas evened its series with Nebraska with a 7-4 decision Saturday afternoon at Hawks Field.

The Huskers (18-17, 5-9 Big 12) trailed 7-3 heading to the bottom of the ninth, but two walks and a Bryan Peters single off of reliever Colton Murray loaded the bases with no outs. Murray retired the next two hitters before Kale Kiser’s RBI single to right made it a 7-4 game and brought Adam Bailey coming to the plate as the potential go-ahead run. Bailey, who leads the Big 12 in both homers and RBIs, could not provide the heroics in front of a season-high crowd of 6,027, striking out on a 1-2 pitch to end the contest.

“Adam is the guy we wanted up in that situation,” Nebraska Coach Mike Anderson said. “He didn't have a good day, but I'd put him up there again. The kid made a good pitch.”

Kiser matched his career high with three hits, going 3-for-5 with two runs scored, as he accounted for three of the Huskers four runs on the day. Peters also two hits, as the pair combined for five of Nebraska’s seven hits.

Kansas’ Cameron Selik turned in a strong pitching performance for the victory, allowing one earned run over seven innings, fanning four to improve to 5-3 on the season.

“You have to give credit to their guy,” Anderson said. “He pitched well. We had seen him on tape, and it was very similar to what we saw.”

Brandon Macias keyed the Jayhawks (21-14-1, 4-6-1 Big 12) attack, going 2-for-3 with a homer, three RBIs and scored three times, as the Jayhawk shortstop belted a three-run homer off of Nebraska starter Khris Tate in the second inning to give Kansas the lead for good.

One-out singles by Jake Marasco and James Stanfield started the rally before Macias lined a three-run shot to left center for his first round tripper of the season.

Nebraska got one of the runs back in the fourth, as Kiser doubled to center and scored on a sacrifice fly by Chad Christensen, but Kansas came right back with a run in the top of the fifth, as Macias singled and eventually scored on Robby Price’s RBI single, as Price also finished with three hits on the day.

Tate took the loss, allowing four runs on six hits over 4.1 innings to fall to 2-2 on the season.
KU extended the lead to 7-1 in the sixth with three runs, highlighted by Jimmy Waters’ solo homer, as three Husker walks, a wild pitch and an error led to two KU runs.

Nebraska chipped away at the lead bottom of the sixth, putting runners on second and third with two outs, before an error by Macias allowed one run to scored before Cody Asche’s RBI single made it a 7-3 game.

One inning later, the Huskers ran into back luck as a disputed call ended a great scoring chance. With two outs and runners on second and third, Kiser hit a ball that went past KU first baseman Brett Lisher, but Price made a heads-up play at second, getting the ball and tossing to Selik covering the bag, as Kiser was called out on a bang-bang call to end the rally.

The Huskers will go for the series win again tomorrow, as freshman Tom Lemke looks for his fifth win of the season. KU will throw freshman right-hander Tanner Poppe in the finale, scheduled for 1:05 p.m. The game will be carried on the Husker Sports Network and televised by NET Television.