Huskers Come Up Short Against Buckeyes in Game 2

Columbus, Ohio – The Nebraska baseball team (14-13, 2-3 Big Ten) dropped the second game of the Ohio State series by a 7-4 margin at Nick Swisher Field at Bill Davis Stadium on Saturday afternoon to set up a rubber match between the squads on Sunday.

Junior righty Matt Waldron, who made his fifth start of the season, went 6.0 innings and recorded six strikeouts while giving up five runs. Mike Waldron threw 1.2 innings and Andrew Abrahamowicz came in for 0.1 inning from the NU bullpen.

Mojo Hagge doubled in the leadoff spot for the Huskers in the top of the first, but remained stranded after three consecutive outs. Ohio State scored one run in the first after a leadoff double.

Angelo Altavilla reached on a one-out hit-by-pitch in the top of the second, but was caught stealing NU’s lone baserunner in a scoreless inning. The Buckeyes managed a pair of singles, but left both runners on base as Waldron struck out two batters.

The Huskers and Buckeyes each went down in order in the third inning. NU went down in order in the fourth. Ohio State scored three runs in the bottom of the fourth. Jacob Barnwell homered to left field with two baserunners on to extend OSU’s lead to 4-0.

Nebraska scored two runs in the top of the fifth to trim the deficit to 4-2. Zac Repinski drew a leadoff walk and scored on Jaxon Hallmark’s one-out RBI triple. Hallmark scored on a wild pitch that struck the umpire before flying into the stands. Ben Klenke doubled, but remained stranded. The Buckeyes scored one run on two hits in the fifth to extend its lead to 5-2.

Schreiber homered to center field as NU’s lone run in the sixth inning. It marked his team-high eighth home run of the season and 34th of his career to enter Nebraska’s top-10 career home runs list. Schreiber, Curtis Ledbetter and Rich King are tied for ninth with 34 home runs each. Ohio State managed one baserunner in the bottom of the sixth, but left him on base.

The Huskers scored one run to cut the Buckeye lead to 5-4. Altavilla singled in the leadoff spot and advanced to second when Hallmark walked. Mike Addante sacrificed, but Ohio State’s third baseman committed a throwing error, which brought in a run. Schreiber was intentionally walked to load the bases, but the Huskers couldn’t add any more runs. OSU scored one run on three hits in the bottom of the seventh to make the lead 6-4.

NU went down in order in the top of the eighth. Ohio State added one run on one hit in the bottom of the eighth, but left two runners on base. All three Husker batters in the top of the ninth were retired.

Sunday’s series finale between the Huskers and Buckeyes is set for 11:05 a.m. (CT).