Huskers Tame Huskies, 13-3

Surprise, Ariz. – Even though Saturday night’s game at Surprise Stadium was delayed by over three hours, the Nebraska offense came out swinging with 11 runs on nine hits in the first two innings in the Huskers’ 13-3 win over the Washington Huskies to improve to 4-2 on the year.

The Huskers and Huskies were scheduled to play at 8 p.m. (CT), but a 15-inning battle between Indiana and Utah, that the Utes won 5-4, pushed first pitch back to 11:10 p.m.

The three-hour delay didn’t seem to affect the Husker offense, as the entire NU lineup went to the plate in the top of the first and scored five runs on five hits. After Austin Darby struck out to start the game, Nebraska got three-straight singles from Steven Reveles, Michael Pritchard and Pat Kelly, with Kelly driving in Reveles for the first run of the game. Zach Wright then loaded the bases with a five-pitch walk to Blake Headley, which set the table for Austin Christensen to rope a two-RBI double, that was followed by a two-RBI double from Ryan Boldt.

Pritchard’s one-out single extended his on-base streak to 48 straight games, tying him with Luke Gorsett (2006) for the longest streak at Nebraska since 2000.

Nebraska’s offense got even better in the second inning, as NU got 10 at-bats, scoring six runs. The inning was highlighted by an RBI double from Headley and a two-out, two-RBI single from Tanner Lubach that put Nebraska on top, 11-0.

The 11-0 lead was plenty of cushion for Aaron Bummer, who gave Nebraska 6.0 innings in his second start of the year. The junior lefty kept the ball over the plate and gave up seven hits, but just two runs, while striking out a pair.

Washington starter Zach Wright didn’t last through the second, as he exited after 1.1 innings of work, allowing nine runs (eight earned) on seven hits and a pair of walks.

After a two-inning scoring drought, Nebraska added a pair of runs in the fifth. NU took advantage of two errors by third baseman Alex Schmidt along with a RBI single from Headley that increased NU’s lead to 13-0.

The Huskies got on the board in the bottom of the fifth with a pair of runs, started by a one-out single from Chris Baker. Leadoff hitter Braden Bishop drove in UW’s first run of the game with a triple and then scored on a ground-rule double off the bat of Robert Pehl.

The Huskers will be back on the field in under 11 hours, when they finish the weekend against the Utah Utes at 1 p.m. (CT). The game will be played at Goodyear Stadium in Goodyear, Ariz., the Spring Training home of the Cleveland Indians and Cincinnati Reds. Greg Sharpe and Lane Grindle will have the call on the Husker Sports Network, including Huskers.com and the Official Husker App.