Huskers Drop Finale in Charleston, 7-3

Charleston, S.C. – After Nebraska (1-2) shutout the College of Charleston (2-1) in Friday night’s season opener, the Huskers dropped the next two games of their season-opening series with the Cougars, including a 7-3 defeat on Sunday afternoon at Patriots Point.

Nebraska’s offense was unable to solve Cougar starter Hayden McCutcheon, who tossed 6.0 shutout innings and struck out eight, while allowing two hits and one walk. Nebraska starter Zack Engelken lasted just 1.1 innings, and allowed four runs on two hits and two walks.

Ben Miller produced three of NU’s six hits on the day and drove in two of its three runs. The three hits marked Miller’s fifth career three-hit game. Steven Reveles drove in the other run when he hit his first career home run in the ninth.

The Huskers did get a strong relief outing from redshirt freshman Jake McSteen behind Engelken. McSteen made his first appearance since Feb. 27 of last season after he missed nearly all of 2015 following shoulder surgery. The Great Falls, Va., native tossed a career-high 3.1 innings and didn’t allow a run on two hits.

For the second straight game the Cougars jumped out to an early lead, scoring two runs in the first on a two-run home run from Bradley Jones and two runs in the second on a two-out double from Dupree Hart for a 4-0 lead.

The Huskers put themselves in position to score in the fourth when Jesse Wilkening started the frame by getting hit by pitch and Miller followed with a single. With two on and no out, McCutcheon dug in and notched back-to-back strikeouts before getting Jake Schleppenbach to groundout, 6-3, keeping the Cougars’ shutout intact.

The Cougars added to their lead in the sixth when Hart roped his second two-RBI double of the game and Ryan Brown delivered a sacrifice fly that pushed CoC’s lead to 7-0.

Nebraska ended the shutout in the top of the eighth when Miller came through with a two-out, two-RBI single that drove in Ryan Boldt and Elijah Dilday, who singled to start the inning. Jake Placzek then worked a pinch-hit walk to put two runners on, but reliever Jake Baker notched CoC’s 11 strikeout of the day.

The Huskers added one more run in the ninth on Reveles’ first career home run, but were unable to get anything else.

Nebraska will be back on the road next weekend when it travels to San Diego for the inaugural Tony Gwynn Classic. The Huskers will meet the San Diego Toreros on Friday night at 8 p.m. (CT). Nebraska then plays at 3 p.m. on Saturday against Arizona or Tulane. Sunday’s matchup will be against Kentucky, Bryant, San Diego State or UC Santa Barbara and the time will be decided after Saturday’s games.