• Box score • LJS • OWH • HuskerOnline • NW Athletics • BBS Video • Huskers.com The series • Game 1, 2, 3 | |
Huskers drop series at Northwestern
Evanston, Ill. — A complete game from Northwestern's Zach Morton was too much for Nebraska Sunday afternoon at Rocky Miller Park in a 6-1 loss to the Wildcats. After winning Friday night, the Huskers (19-11, 3-3 Big Ten) dropped the final two games of the three-game series.
Nebraska starter Zach Hirsch gave the Huskers a solid outing over 5.2 innings, as the St. Charles, Ill., native gave up just three runs on seven hits. The Huskers could not get the offense going, with only six hits on the day. Michael Pritchard led the Huskers with a 2-for-3 performance and one run scored.
The Huskers will be back in action at 6:35 p.m. Tuesday at Kansas State. NU will look to sweep the season series with the Wildcats after winning the first two meetings of the year, both at Hawks Field.
Hirsch retired the Wildcats in order in the first, but Jack Havey broke the streak with a leadoff single in the bottom of the second and scored on a two-out double by Colby Everett to give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead. The Huskers nearly threw out Havey at the plate, but catcher Richard Stock could not handle the relay throw.
After the Huskers were sent down in order in the first three innings, Pritchard worked a leadoff walk in the top of the fourth and moved into scoring position at second on a slow grounder up the first-base line by Rich Sanguinetti. Nebraska then caught a break on a wild pitch that allowed Pritchard to move to third with Christensen up. Pritchard then scored on a RBI groundout by Chad Christensen to the second baseman, tying the game at 1-1 through three innings.
Northwestern got the run back and added another in the bottom of the fourth on a two-run homer from Havey after a leadoff walk to Paul Snieder. Hirsch bounced right back and struck out Nick Linne for the first out of the inning, but the Wildcats strung together back-to-back singles to put runners on first and third. Hirsch buckled down to retire Walker Moses on a pop out and struck out Hamilton Wise to end the inning.
Pritchard got the Huskers going in the sixth with a leadoff single and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from Sanguinetti. NU's left fielder was unable to score, though, as Morton retired Christensen and Kash Kalkowski to end the inning.
Northwestern continued to add runs, with three in the seventh on three hits to take a commanding 6-1 lead. Nebraska notched a pair of singles in the eighth and a leadoff double from Stock in the ninth but could not cut into the Wildcats' lead.