Huskers take two of three from Gophers, but drop Sunday finale

Nebraska fell short of completing its second series sweep on the road in Big Ten play, as the Huskers fell 6-2 at Minnesota on Sunday afternoon at Siebert Field in Minneapolis.

Nebraska (30-16, 12-6 Big Ten) scored two runs on seven hits, while Minnesota (21-21, 7-11 Big Ten) totaled six runs and five hits.

Josh Caron led the Big Red at the plate, going 2-for-4 with a double and two runs scored. Case Sanderson recorded two hits, while Ben Columbus and Cole Evans each tallied a double.

Will Walsh dropped to 4-4 on the year after giving up three runs on four hits in 2.1 innings. Bobb Olsen recorded a pair of outs without giving up a run for the Huskers. Drew Christo tossed two innings, allowing two runs without giving up a hit and striking out four Gophers.

Grant Cleavinger and Kyle Froehlich combined to pitch two innings, while surrendering one run on one hit. Kyle Perry dealt a scoreless eighth inning to round out the action from the NU pitching staff.

Minnesota jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the opening inning with three consecutive hits to begin the bottom of the first. Back-to-back doubles plated the game’s first run, while an RBI single to left doubled the lead for the Gophers.

Evans blooped a one-out double down the right-field line and moved to third on a groundout in the second, but the Big Red couldn’t get Evans home to cut into the deficit.

A one-out solo homer to left-center in the bottom of the third grew the lead to three for the Gophers.

The Husker offense scratched across its first run of the day behind a pair of hits in the fourth inning. Caron opened the inning with a single to left, while Columbus was plunked to put runners on first and second with one out. Evans appeared to cut into the Gopher lead with a run-scoring hit that went over the third-base bag down the left-field line but was ruled foul.

Sanderson drove in NU’s first run of the day, blooping an RBI single to shallow left field to score Caron from second and make it a 3-1 game.

Nebraska tacked on another run in the sixth to come within a run of the Gophers. Caron opened the inning with a double down the left-field line and moved to third on a wild pitch. Tyler Stone lifted a sacrifice fly to right to bring home Caron and make it a 3-2 game.

The Huskers continued the threat in the inning after the Big Red had the bases loaded following Columbus’ double down the right-field line and walks to Sanderson and Dylan Carey, but a flyout to right prevented the Huskers from plating the tying run.

Minnesota added three runs on one hit in the sixth to grow the lead to 6-2. A walk and hit batter, followed by a wild pitch had runners on second and third with no outs for the Gophers. An RBI groundout and a sacrifice fly to center scored the first two runs, before a solo homer to center made it 6-2 through six innings.

The NU offense was retired in order in the seventh and eighth innings to maintain the four-run advantage for Minnesota.