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Huskers fall in season opener
 Christensen |  Lubach |
Chad Christensen was 3-for-4 for the Huskers and Tanner Lubach hit a home run in his Husker debut, but the NU offense could not match the Roadrunners' attack.
Bakersfield totaled 15 hits, led by Tyler Shryock's 5-for-5 outing. CSUB's 4-5-6 hitters produced seven hits and four RBIs.
Nebraska's California road trip continues Saturday with a trip to Goodwin Field for a doubleheader with No. 22 Cal State Fullerton. The first game between the Huskers and Titans is set for 4 p.m. CT and it will be streamed for free live on BigWest.TV.
The Huskers are 0-2 all-time against the Titans, with the teams' last meeting coming in the first round of the 2001 College World Series.
The Huskers threw the first punch, plating a pair of runs in the top of the first on three hits.
Michael Pritchard led off the game with a bouncing single up the middle but was erased on a fielder's choice bunt attempt by Rich Sanguinetti. Christensen followed with a single, and Sanguinetti advanced to third base. Kash Kalkowski kept the hits coming and drove in Sanguinetti to give NU a 1-0 lead. Associate head coach Will Bolt then dialed up a double steal that moved Christensen to third and Kalkowski to second for Pat Kelly, who worked a full-count walk to load the bases for Josh Scheffert. The senior from Lincoln did his job and lifted a sacrifice fly into left center field to plate Christensen and push NU's lead to 2-0.
Nebraska was held to just six hits and two runs over the final eight innings, including Lubach's leadoff homer in the fourth.
Down 5-2, the Huskers were in position to cut into CSU Bakersfield's lead in the top of the third when they loaded the bases with one out following a second full-count walk to Kelly, but CSUB starter Jeff McKenzie buckled down and kept NU off the board. The lefty sent down Scheffert and Austin Darby swinging to end NU's threat.
Nebraska scratched across a run in the top of the eighth following a pair of doubles from Kelly and Darby off of Hayden Carter, who came into the game in the top of the seventh, but NU could not get anything else going, leaving CSUB with a 7-4 lead.
The Roadrunners added a pair of runs in the bottom of the eighth to complete their scoring.
R H E ------------------------------------------- Nebraska............ 200 100 010 - 4 9 0 CSU Bakersfield..... 231 001 02X - 9 15 1 -------------------------------------------