Unbelievable!
This Nebraska Cornhusker team has fought and scratched all season when they are down and have treated their fans to some incredible wins, including some walk-off wins that have made the drive home quite a bit happier. None of them compare to what happened tonight!
Total pandemonium broke out in the bottom of the tenth inning when Mac Moyer laid down a picture-perfect bunch that pitcher Sax Matson threw past first baseman Adrian Lopez toward the rightfield corner. Rhett Stokes, who previously,
reached on a walk, never slowed down once he saw the bunt down and charged all the way around the bases to score the winning run. Oh, what a ballgame! Nebraska 8, USC 7.
It didn’t start out that way. In fact, casual fans may have left the game before Nebraska got back in the game on this chilly night. Those who have followed the team all season knew they didn’t dare!
Southern Cal’s Mason Edwards is one of the premier pitchers in college baseball this season. He had a 6-0 record and a 1.35 ERA coming into the game. That went along with 95 strikeouts in 53.1 innings pitched. He was every bit as good as advertised tonight against the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Fortunately for the boys from Lincoln and their dedicated fans, his night was done after seven innings.
In fairness to the Cornhuskers, they roughed up Edwards more than he had been up to this point in the season. The eight hits they got off him was the most he had given up all season, and they got a couple of runs in the sixth inning when Case Sanderson led off the inning with a single and scored two batters later on a Jett Buck double. Drew Grego also doubled to score Buck and after six innings it was 5-2 SC.
The Trojans grabbed those two runs back quickly as scored twice off Kevin Mannell in the top of the seventh on a two RBI single by Kevin Takeuchi.
Edwards’ night was over after seven complete innings having struck out 12 Cornhuskers and throwing a total of 105 pitches. Down 7-2, there was a window now for the Cornhuskers, but it was pretty narrow as it was just two innings. Fortunately, Nebraska crashed through that window thanks to some timely hitting, some incredible bounces, and USC errors.
After Drew Carey struck out for the third straight time in the game to open the bottom of the eighth, Jett Buck smoked his second double of the game off freshman reliever Gavin Lauridsen. The rookie seemed a little rattled and walked designated hitter Will Jesske. Drew Grego then reached on a fielder’s choice to put two on with two out. Up came a resurgent Joshua Overbeek who smashed a three-run homer to the right-centerfield berm. That cut the lead to 7-5.
Ty Horn came on to pitch the top of the ninth and sat the Trojans down in order with a strikeout and two ground outs to Carey at shortstop. His fire gave the fans, and his teammates hope for a big ninth inning.
Coach Andy Stankiewicz had gone to his closer, Adam Troy, to get the last out of the eighth inning striking out Jeter Worthley. He was set to face the heart of the Nebraska lineup in the ninth, writing the perfect script for the drama that had unfolded.
For Case Sanderson and Drew Carey, it was time for the dudes to be dudes. Both of them were 1-4 on the night and both of them had struck out three times. Both of them are very capable of hitting balls to the gap or over the wall. What happened over the course of the next nine pitches had to be seen to be believed.
Sanderson hit a hard grounder back up the middle that skipped off the mound and then hopped into centerfield as SC’s shortstop tried to field it. He then advanced to second on a wild pitch by Troy. Carey then hit one that the second baseman booted for an error, sending Sanderson to third. They didn’t have big hits, but they put the bat on the ball and Carey represented the tying run.
With runners on the corners and no outs, Jett Buck muscled a fly ball to right field that was deep enough to allow Sanderson to tag and score. 7-6 Trojans.
Preston Freeman came in to hit in Jesske’s spot and walked. Freeman, the winning run, was on first base and Carey stood on third. Troy was definitely feeling the pressure at this point and threw yet another wild pitch. Carey crossed the plate and the game was tied! Freeman hustled all the way to third on the wild pitch and got around the tag to put the winning run 90-feet from the plate.
That brought up Overbeek, who had homered the previous inning, to face Troy. Stankiewicz saw his closer struggling and in the middle of the at-bat, and brought in a lefty to face Overbeek. Overbeek switched to the other batter’s box, but Sax Matson got him looking on two pitches. The damage was done though, and the game was tied 7-7.
In came J’Shawn Unger for the tenth inning. He did not disappoint the raucous crowd as he struck out all three Trojans he faced and let out a roar on the last one to match the crowd!
That set the table for the Stokes walk, Moyer bunt and Matson’s wild throw, resulting in the Nebraska dugout emptying to chase down Stokes and Moyer to celebrate in centerfield. Ball game!
While this year’s version of the Southern Cal Trojans is not known for its offense, they tried to put the game out of reach early on. With the wind blowing out to leftfield, they took advantage of a struggling Cooper Katskee, making his first Friday appearance of the season. With one out in the top of the first, catcher Isaac Cardena sent a blast over the wall near the party porch to put his team up 1-0.
Even though he’s a slow starter, Katskee was not himself tonight as he missed big and left pitches over the plate where the Trojans put the barrel on the ball. They scored two in the second inning when they started off with three straight hits, a couple of singles wrapped around a double and increased their lead to 3-0 and sending seven batters to the plate.
Edwards used a successful recipe, throwing a first pitch strike and then moving breaking pitches around the strike zone. In one stretch, he struck out six consecutive Cornhuskers, with none of the Cornhuskers taking a swing at the first strike.
He was good, but he didn’t go the distance and Nebraska made the bullpen pay. What’s wild is that those relievers from Southern Cal are very good as well. And, the coaching staff used their three best, so hopefully that bodes well for the Cornhuskers for the remainder of the weekend.
The job done by Jalen Worthley in the middle three innings cannot be lost in everything else that happened tonight. He shut down the Trojan offense facing only ten batters and took the momentum away from the boys from SoCal to give the Cornhuskers a chance to get on course. To see him pitching well in recent weeks is a good sign as the team continues the second half of the season.
It is yet to be seen how the teams will respond to the result tonight, but with the weather improving over the course of the next couple of days, Nebraska fans should pour into Haymarket Park to find out. This is the second heavyweight bout for Nebraska in as many weekends and after tonight, they have picked themselves up off the mat. You can bet that round two will be a battle as well.
Carson Jasa will take the mound for the Big Red at 2:00 tomorrow against Grant Govel. Both pitchers are carrying a 7-0 record and both have a 2.13 ERA. Looks like it will be another good one!
Notes:
- It sounds like Ty Horn will be in the bullpen the rest of the season. He may also be that guy that starts a game in a long tournament run if needed. He has been very effective in this new role the last two games, and having only thrown 11 pitches tonight, he will be available again this weekend.
- Mac Moyer and Jett Buck both had three hits tonight against tough pitching. Moyer’s bunt was a beauty in the tenth inning. Buck also had a pair of doubles and two RBI.
- After getting six hits off Cooper Katskee, USC only got three more hits in the game. Jalen Worthley, Ty Horn, and J’Shawn Unger did not give up a hit.
- While tonight’s win was huge, Nebraska has to win at least one more this weekend to keep hope alive to host a regional. Nearly as important is to stay at toward the top of the conference standings as with a new tournament format there is a huge advantage to finish the season in the top four.
