FROM PRESS RELEASE
AUSTIN, Texas — The No. 13 Texas Longhorns let a 4-0 lead slip away and dropped a 14-4 decision to No. 19 Nebraska in Big 12 Conference baseball action Friday evening at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.
For the seventh consecutive game, Texas scored in the first inning. Travis Tucker tripled to rightfield and scored on a wild pitch to break the scoring seal.
The Longhorns tacked on two more runs in the second inning. With two outs, Russell Moldenhauer singled through the right side of the infield, Pat McCrory walked and David Hernandez chopped an infield single to third base to load the bases. Michael Torres singled up the middle to drive in a pair, inflating the cushion to 3-0.
Texas added one more run in the third inning. Jordan Danks hit a leadoff double down the leftfield line and Brandon Belt plated him with a double to rightfield, staking the Horns to a 4-0 lead.
The Cornhuskers trimmed the lead to 4-1 with a run in the fourth. Bryce Nimmo was hit by a pitch, moved to second on a wild pitch, advanced to third on a groundout and scored on a double down the rightfield line by D.J. Belfonte.
Nebraska claimed the lead with four runs in the fifth. With one out, Mitch Abeita was hit by a pitch and Nick Sullivan singled to put runners at the corners. Craig Corriston doubled down the leftfield line to drive in a pair. Keith Shinaberry relieved UT starter Kenn Kasparek and walked Nimmo. Shinaberry was pulled for Brandon Workman who allowed a pinch-hit single by Johnston to load the bases and a two-run single by Ben Kline to give the Cornhuskers a 5-4 lead.
The Huskers added one run in the sixth and four each in the seventh and eighth to put the game out of reach.
Shinaberry (1-1) was saddled with the loss for Texas. He allowed one run, walking the only batter he faced. Kasparek allowed four runs on five hits and three walks while striking out four over 4.1 innings.
Johnny Dorn (3-0) earned the win for Nebraska. He allowed four runs on seven hits and one walk while striking out one over five innings. Dan Jennings retired all 12 batters he faced over the final four innings to pick up his first save of the season. He logged four strikeouts.
Torres stretched his consecutive game hit streak to 11 games and had two of UT’s three RBI.
Johnston went 3-for-3 with a double, two runs and two RBI. Kline went 3-for-5 with one double, one run and three RBI. Belfonte, Opitz, Abeita, Sullivan and Corriston each logged two hits apiece as Nebraska posted a season-high 17 hits.
Texas and Nebraska return to action on Saturday with a 6 p.m. contest at UFCU Disch-Falk Field. The game will be televised on Fox Sports Net.
POSTGAME QUOTES
HEAD COACH AUGIE GARRIDO
On the game: This is what baseball can do. It can take you from the penthouse to the outhouse on a very fast elevator ride. This game really got away from us. Nebraska did a great job of barreling up the ball and hitting it. Once they got the momentum they never let go of it. I thought Nebraska played very, very well.
CF JORDAN DANKS
On the game: I said it a couple of days ago that we were going to need to come out here and play our ‘A’ game because they were going to bring theirs. It just seemed that today they were hitting the ball well and we weren’t. It’s just something that we need to put behind us, and come out here ready to play tomorrow.
RHP KENN KASPAREK
On the game: Nebraska always brings a good team and they’re really competitive. We saw that tonight. We jumped on them early with the four runs, but they came back battling.
To see the rest of the pictures of the game go to my ALBUM
