Winners win.
There were not many people at Siebert Field that believed that going into the top of the ninth anyone except the Minnesota Golden Gophers were going to walk away with a win. They had a 6-1 lead and Nebraska had two hits, a single by Dylan Carey in the 4thinning and a solo homerun by Jeter Worthley in the 8th.
Most likely the only ones that believed it was going to happen were in the third base dugout. Perhaps a few of the parents that have followed this team throughout the season might
have felt that way as well as they have had a front seat to this magical season. But most of the people in the ballpark did not.
With the exception of a little trouble in the fourth inning, Minnesota righthanders Isaac Morton and Joe Sperry had basically shut down the potent Cornhusker offense. Morton, a junior, couldn’t have had a better start to the game, striking out the first six Nebraska batters he faced. He added another K in the third inning but then was pulled from the game after facing Dylan Carey and giving up the first hit for Nebraska for an apparent injury.
The Gophers went to Joe Sperry, who worked through a couple of bases on balls to finish the fourth inning, and then went on to pitch until he was pulled in the ninth inning after giving up a lead-off single to Case Sanderson. Until that point, Gopher pitching was the story of the game.
The Minnesota offense wasn’t bad either up to that point. They struck quickly in the bottom of the second inning off Cornhusker starter Ty Horn on a Charlie Sutherland two-run homer to left-centerfield. They also scratched across a run in the fifth when Jeter Worthley could not coral a third strike pitch in the dirt to Ty Allen, who hustled down to first to beat the throw. He stole second and then move to third on a Sam Hunt sacrifice bunt. After that Jack Bello roped a double into the gap and Minnesota was up 3-0.
They extended the lead to 4-0 in the fifth. Worthley’s homerun made it a 4-1 ball game and for a moment, Nebraska fans were thinking three runs isn’t impossible.
After Horn had thrown 113 pitches and injured his wrist on a hard-hit ball back to the mound, Coach Rob Childress brought in lefty Grant Cleavinger. The big fella hasn’t thrown much this season, but he has been very good when he got a chance. Tonight, that was not the case. Cleavinger, hit the first two batters he faced after being ahead in the count both times. That was the end of his night. Braxton Steward came in and got two outs before Childress brought in Ryan Harrahill for a right-on-right matchup. Ahead in the count to Allen, he gave up a double that scored those two Gophers that Cleavinger had hit. After eight innings, Minnesota was ahead 6-1.
And then the unimaginable took place . . . again.
Case Sanderson hit a single right up the middle off Sperry to lead-off the top of the ninth inning. Minnesota brought in yet another righthander, Brandon Jaenke. He hit Drew Grego to put two runners on base and no outs. Pinch-hitter Max Buettenback struck out swinging and up came Joshua Overbeek, who drove a single to left. Coach Lance Harvell held Sanderson at third leaving the bases loaded.
Jett Buck, who didn’t get the start yesterday for the first time in a long time, stepped in and stroked the third base hit of the inning of Jaenke. That scored Sanderson and bases were still loaded. Minnesota went to the bullpen once again and brought in righty Marcus Kruzan. On his second pitch to pinch-hitter Preston Freeman, he balked, moving all of the baserunners up 90-feet and scoring Grego. The score was now 6-3 Gophers.
At times this season, Nebraska has been an incredible two-out hitting team. That happened again tonight. Mac Moyer worked Kruzan for a walk and then Jeter Worthley came up big again. The freshman from Lincoln East ripped a single that scored Overbeek and Buck to make it a 6-5 game.
Up came Dylan Carey and you just kind of had a feeling that maybe the impossible was possible. Minnesota countered and brought in their first lefthander of the weekend, Will Whelan. That was a bit of a surprise as the book on Carey late in the season was to throw a steady diet of breaking pitchers in the dirt away.
Carey got his pitch and singled through the left side, which scored Moyer and put Worthley on third base. We had a tie ball game and the go-ahead run for the Cornhuskers was 90-feet away from home plate and Case Sanderson up for the second time in the inning. Whelan then threw a wild pitch and the speedy Worthley hustled home and got under the tag by Whelan. Nebraska had an improbably 7-6 lead.
After Whelan struck out Sanderson to end the six-run ambush, J’Shawn Unger was brought in to close it out for the Big Red. Bello popped out to Case Sanderson for the first out and then Unger made a brilliant defensive play of his own as he stabbed a hard-hit ball from Jack Mosh that ripped his glove from his hand. No worries and Unger had plenty of time to pick up the ball and fire it to first for the second out.
Jack Spanier got his first hit of the game, but we left there as Mac Moyer ran down a sharply hit ball by Davis Hamilton in right-center for the final out. Ball game! Nebraska 7, Minnesota 6.
To the casual observer, there were a few of those “what the . . .” moments in this game. Early in the game Nebraska batters were very impatient at the plate. This was especially true in the fourth inning when they let a struggling Joe Sperry off the hook. He’d walked the first two batters he faced to load the bases and the next two Nebraska batters went right after first pitches rather than making him throw some strikes. There were a few more of these, but in the big picture, they do not matter as Nebraska got the win.
Before the ninth inning of the game, there were only two highlights . . . Worthley’s homerun and a brilliant behind the back grab of a ground ball by Ty Horn. That was it! But as it says at the top, winners win, and tonight that is exactly what Nebraska did.
This victory put the number 40 in the win column for the first time since 2005. It was also the first time a Nebraska team has won 22 games in the Big Ten Conference. The win assures them of a second-place finish in the conference and basically a bye to the quarterfinals.
Gavin Blachowicz will take the mound tomorrow for Nebraska in the final regular season game for both teams. Minnesota’s scheduled starter was Cole Selvig, but he started Thursday’s game. The Thursday announced starter was Isaac Morton and he started today. That leaves the Friday announced starter, Marcus Kruzan and he pitched a good chunk of the ninth inning today. Thus, who knows who Minnesota was start. It’s a 1:00 start so make sure you have your sunscreen!
Notes:
- Nebraska had seven hits today, two of them by Jeter Worthley. The team struck out twelve times.
- J’Shawn Unger’s save tonight was his tenth of the season.
- I mentioned Charlie Sutherland and his Bob Dylan walk-up song. There were even a few Gopher fans singing along today. That got me thinking that there was not one Prince song used. Blasphamy!
