Feb. 18, 2012
 
Huskers fail to close out Zags
 

Peters   Farmer   Kalkowski

Peoria, Ariz. — The Huskers saw the first baseball victory of the 2012 season fall through their hands Saturday night at the Peoria Sports Complex, as the Gonzaga Bulldogs rallied for a 10-8 victory to take game two of the three-game series. The Huskers took an 8-5 lead into the top of the ninth with Tyler Niederklein on the mound, but the Bulldog bats came alive with five runs to steal the win even though Gonzaga had committed seven errors in the game.

Nebraska's offense did its part with eight runs on 12 hits, including two hits each from Michael Pritchard, Kash Kalkowski, Pat Kelly and Bryan Peters. Kalkowski and Peters each knocked in two runs, while junior Kurt Farmer blasted his first home run of the season in the fourth inning to give NU three home runs on the weekend.

One day after pitching against the Huskers, sophomore Marco Gonzales played first base for the Zags and produced a 3-for-5 night with a double and three RBIs. Steven Halcomb and Payden Cawley Lamb also had doubles for the Zags, while Maxx Garrett produced his second extra-base hit of the series with a triple.

The Huskers looked to have all the momentum heading into the ninth inning after adding two insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth to take an 8-5 lead. Pritchard got the offense started with a one-out single and was then driven in by Kalkowski's double. Ty Kildow came in to pitch run for Kalkowski and eventually scored on a two-out single by catcher Richard Stock.

The Zags didn't go away, though, as Billy Moon started the ninth-inning rally with a single and Royce Bolinger followed with a walk. After a flyout by Clayton Eslick, Garrett blasted a triple and the next four Gonzaga batters each produced a hit before NU reliever Ryan Hander got Alex Stanford to ground into a 1-6-3 double play to end the inning.

Rich Sanguinetti gave the Huskers life in the bottom of the ninth when he hustled out of the box and turned a routine single to the right-center gap into a double. Blake Headley then roped a line drive to right center, but Bolinger made a diving catch to rob the freshman. Following a groundout by Austin Darby, senior Kale Kiser lifted a ball to deep centerfield that was caught by Bolinger to finish off the Gonzaga comeback victory.

Nebraska will now look to avoid the sweep Sunday when the two teams meet at 1 p.m. (CT). Left-handed true freshman Kyle Kubat will take the mound for the Huskers and will face Gonzaga senior righty Andy Hunter.

Source: University of Nebraska Athletic Dept.