Huskers Survive Late Rally, Win 6-5

San Luis Obispo, Calif. – After dropping yesterday’s game 3-2 on a walk-off single, the Nebraska baseball team (11-10, 0-0 Big Ten) took the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader by a score of 6-5 over the Cal Poly Mustangs (8-14, 0-0 Big West).

The Huskers held a 6-3 lead entering the ninth, but the Mustangs scored twice and had the tying run at second base with two outs with yesterday’s walk-off hero Nick Meyer at the plate. Meyer hit a hard liner off of Luis Alvarado, but Jake Meyers tracked it down in center to finish the win.

With 11 total hits over the first two games of the series, the Huskers recorded nine hits in game three of the series, including a season-high six doubles.

Meyers, who caught the final out also started on the mound and picked up his fourth-straight win, improving to 4-1 on the year. With two games on Saturday, Meyers gave the Huskers a much-needed 8.0-inning outing. The lefty allowed three runs on four hits and two walks, while matching a career-high with five strikeouts. Meyers has now gone at least 6.0 innings in each of his last three starts, including a complete-game shutout of Western Carolina on March 12.

Meyers entered the game with 21.2 straight shutout innings and extended the mark to 25.2 innings after he sat the Mustangs down in order in the fourth. The streak came to an end in the fifth when Scott Ogrin hit two-run home run after Bradlee Beesley started the frame with a double.

The Mustangs had the game’s first baserunner when Elijah Skipps worked a leadoff walk in the bottom of the second, but they couldn’t cash it in. Cal Poly had its leadoff man on again in the third when Alex McKenna registered the game’s first hit, a single, but again Meyers retired the next three Mustangs to keep the game scoreless.

Cal Poly starter Bobby Ay made quick work of the Huskers the first time through the lineup, retiring nine straight Huskers to start the game. Mojo Hagge broke the streak with a leadoff walk in the fourth, but then was caught stealing on a well-time pitchout. With the bases empty Angelo Altavilla, Meyers and Scott Schreiber belted three straight doubles, giving the Huskers a 2-0 lead. Luis Alvarado then reached on a dropped fly ball and the Huskers had runners at second and third with one out, but Ay escaped more damage with a foul out and a fly out.

Ay needed only 27 pitches to get through the first three innings, but labored in the fourth and needed 33 to get through the frame.

Brison Cronenbold started the fifth by hitting NU’s fourth double of the game and he later scored on a two-out RBI single off the bat of Altavilla, extending NU’s lead to 3-0. The Mustangs got on the board in the bottom of the inning with Ogrin’s two-run homer. The Mustangs would get the tying and go-ahead runs on base in the inning, but Meyers stranded both.

With the lead down to one run, the Huskers plated three runs in the top of the sixth. Reliever Craig Colen took over and failed to get an out for the Mustangs. Schreiber led off with his second double of the game and NU quickly had runners on the corners following a single by Alvarado. Freshman Luke Roskam stepped in and dropped a RBI double into the left-field corner, his second double of the season and NU’s sixth of the game. Cal Poly made another change, bringing in reliever Austin Dondanville, who got the first out of the inning with a foul out. Cronenbold stepped in and picked up his third RBI of the season with a sacrifice fly to right field. With No. 9 hitter Brady Childs up it looked like Dondanville would get out of the frame when he induced a groundball, but a throwing error by second baseman Brett Binning allowed Roskam to score, pushing NU’s led to 6-2. Childs was then caught stealing to end the frame.

Cal Poly got a run back in the bottom of the sixth, cashing in a leadoff hit-by-pitch. Meyers hit Skipps to start the frame, who was soon on third following a 3-4-3 ground out and a single. Orgin was able to plate Skipps with a sacrifice fly, cutting NU’s lead to 6-3.

After giving up two runs in the fifth and a run in the sixth, Meyers retired the Mustangs in order in both the seventh and eighth innings.

Alvarado retired the first batter in the bottom of the ninth, but then loaded the bases with a walk, a single and a hit-by-pitch. A single by McKenna plated a run and then a sac fly plated another, putting the tying run at second and the winning run at first. Meyer put a good swing on a pitch, but Meyers tracked it down in center to seal the win.

Game two of today’s doubleheader is scheduled to start at 6:30 p.m. (CT).