Huskers drop doubleheader to Terps
 Darby |  Headley |  Lubach |
Saturday marked the first time the Huskers have lost both games of a doubleheader since April 27, 2013, when NU dropped a pair of games to Oklahoma State at the TD Ameritrade Park Classic.
One highlight for the Huskers on the day was Austin Darby's one out single in the seventh. It was the 200th hit of Darby's NU career, as he became the 23rd member of NU's 200-hit club.
Senior Kyle Kubat's 36th career start will be one he'll want to quickly forget, as he gave up a career-high six runs (five earned) on a career-high tying nine hits over 4.2 innings. Kubat fell to 4-1 on the year and lost just the fourth game of his career, he is now 19-4 as a Husker.
Maryland starter Tayler Stiles, who was making his fourth start of the year, allowed one run on six hits and struck out eight Huskers over 7.0 innings to improve to 3-1 on the year.
Nebraska (23-9, 3-2 Big Ten) and Maryland (21-7, 6-2) wrap up their three-game series Sunday at 11:05 a.m. CDT. The game will be shown live on BTN2Go and will be shown on tape delay on BTN at 2 p.m.
The Terrapins jumped on Kubat in the first with three runs on four hits, all singles. Kubat had given up three runs in his last three starts combined. Maryland extended its lead to 4-0 in the third when Brandon Lowe led off the frame with his sixth home run of the season.
With just two hits through the first three innings and trailing 4-0, the Huskers got on the board in the fourth with a run on three hits. Tanner Lubach reach on a single and after Luis Alvarado struck out looking, Scott Schreiber and Darby delivered consecutive two-out singles. Darby's single notched the 99th RBI of his NU career. With runners on the corners, Taylor Fish came to the plate looking to cut into the lead even more, but Stiles got a pop out to shallow left field.
Kubat retired the first two UM hitters he faced in the fifth, but then the Terps rattled off three straight two-out singles and Fish allowed a passed ball that pushed UM's lead to 6-1. Following a walk to Tim Lewis, the Huskers turned the ball over to reliever Austin Christensen, who ended the threat with a pop out.
The Terps added in a run in both the sixth and seventh to take a 8-1 lead. After their three hits in the fourth, the Huskers totaled one run on three hits over the final five innings.
R H E ------------------------------------------- Nebraska............ 000 100 001 - 2 8 0 Maryland............ 301 021 10x - 8 11 0 -------------------------------------------
GAME ONE: For just the second time this season, the Nebraska baseball team gave up more than five runs, as the No. 18 Huskers dropped the first game of a doubleheader and their first Big Ten game of the year Saturday to the No. 17 Maryland Terrapins, 8-3.
Saturday's series opener was a pitching matchup between two of the Big Ten's top starters in NU's Chance Sinclair and UM's Mike Shawaryn. Each pitcher gave up three runs, but UM's sophomore right hander won the battle, going 7.0 innings to improve to 7-0 on the year.
Five of NU's seven hits came from Jake Schleppenbach and Blake Headley, with Schleppenbach notching three singles, while Headley drove in all three of NU's runs. Headley end the game with 28 RBIs on the season, which tops is previous single-season best of 27, set last year.
The Huskers got off to a great start with back-to-back singles from Ryan Boldt and Schleppenbach to start the game. Headley then delivered a RBI groundout to put the Huskers on top 1-0. With two down and Schleppenbach on third, Austin Darby nearly drove a ball down the right field line for extra bases, but UM first baseman Justin Morris made a leaping catch to end the inning.
After Shawaryn gave up consecutive hits to start the game, the sophomore right hander retired 14 straight Huskers, before Elijah Dilday broke the streak with a two-out single in the sixth.
The Terps responded in the bottom of the first with three hits off Sinclair, including a pair of two-out singles, to even the game at 1-1. Maryland added to its lead in the fourth with a two-out rally that plated a run and extended its lead to 3-1 in the fifth with a two-out solo home run from Nick Cieri.
Nebraska put together its own two-out rally in the sixth, starting with a single by Schleppenbach. Headley followed with his 11th double of the season and on the play Schleppenbach scored all the way from first to cut Maryland's lead to 3-2. With the tying run in scoring position, Shawaryn got Ben Miller to bounce out, 4-3, to end the NU rally.
The Huskers had the tying run on base in the seventh when Austin Christensen worked a one-out walk, only the eighth walk of the year for Shawaryn in 54.1 innings. Christensen moved to second on a ground out by Tanner Lubach, but was stuck there when Dilday struck out looking to end the frame.
The Terps then blew the game open in the bottom of the seventh with four runs on three hits and a Husker error. The Terps bunted four times in the inning, including a perfectly executed squeeze bunt by Tim Lewis.
Each team scored in the eighth and UM reliever Robert Galligan ended the game with a 1-2-3 ninth inning.
R H E ------------------------------------------- Nebraska............ 101 001 010 - 3 7 2 Maryland............ 100 110 41x - 8 12 1 -------------------------------------------