neb at creighton(game 1) webcast!

[KansasHusker]

I forgot to mention Buckman had a 2 home run game...

[Blackshirt]

Rock on!

 

Chix dig the long ball. Trust me, I know from experience.

[Jarred04]

me and my roomie didn't know if we wanted to go up to omaha or not for the game. we decided to, and im glad we did. It was a great game, and buckman's second homer was outrageous! I hate to use that old line but "it was gone as soon as it left the bat." It was HUGE.

[Eric the Red]

LJS

 

You knew this was no ordinary Tuesday night baseball game. Creighton and Nebraska had their closers pitching in the seventh inning. It was almost as easy to tell that the contest also included an extraordinary ending. It was written in the grinning face of the Huskers’ Mr. Unexcitable, Brandon Buckman.

 

Buckman, a senior first baseman, provided the late drama for the 12,276 spectators in Rosenblatt Stadium as he stroked a towering, tie-breaking solo home run to right field with one out in the ninth inning to fuel sixth-ranked NU past the No. 21 Bluejays 6-4.

 

“This might’ve been one of the biggest hits of my career,” said Buckman, who pulled a 1-0 curveball from Creighton’s left-handed junior Scott Reese that barely stayed inside the right-field foul pole and landed to the right of the right-field bleachers.

 

Buckman’s second homer of the game and eighth of the season ended a stretch of 15 scoreless innings for Reese. It also gave NU senior closer Brett Jensen the only support he’d need, as the preseason All-American retired seven of the eight batters he faced to earn his fourth win.

 

“The key is not hooking the ball, and I was able to hit it square,” Buckman said. “It was a hanging curve. Normally, you look for fastballs, but that last at-bat all he threw me was curves.”

 

Nebraska had allowed a 4-0 lead after four innings to turn into a 4-4 headknocker.

 

The Jays got the tying run, which was unearned because of a throwing error by shortstop Ryan Wehrle, when former Husker Chase Odenreider hit an RBI single past second off right-handed freshman Erik Bird with two outs in the seventh.

 

With runners at the corners, Nebraska then went to the right-handed Jensen, who bailed out his club by striking out Chad Ogden on three pitches.

 

“They had momentum,” NU coach Mike Anderson said. “I thought the game was on the line there. That’s why we have Jensen.”

 

Buckman put the Huskers back in charge after Reese started the ninth by retiring Wehrle on a flyball. NU tagged on an insurance run when Luke Gorsett singled, moved to second on a fielder’s choice and scored on senior catcher Jeff Christy’s two-out single to right.

 

Jensen, who had worked around pinch-hitter Mark Wellwood’s bloop leadoff single past third baseman Jake Mort in the eighth, had to face the heart of the Creighton lineup in the ninth. But he got No. 3 hitter Zach Daeges to pop up to Wehrle, struck out Chris Gradoville and then ended things by getting Odenreider on a slow comebacker.

 

“This is a rivalry,” said an excited Jensen. “We’re going to get their best, and they’re going to get ours. It’s a big win for us.”

 

Buckman had helped give NU a 2-0 lead in the second, as he led off the inning with a single up the middle. Creighton starter Tony Bilek hit the next batter, Gorsett with a pitch, and with two outs also plunked Andy Gerch. That lack of control proved costly when Mort lined a 1-1 delivery into left for a two-run single.

 

Buckman made it 4-0 in the third with a two-run shot off lefty Pat Venditte that landed in the upper section of the right-field bleachers.

 

Creighton (18-7) got three runs back in the fifth on consecutive one-out RBI singles from John Nowaczyk and Daeges and a two-out single by Odenreider — all off NU starter Charlie Shirek.

 

The Bluejays tied the game in the seventh. Nowaczyk singled off reliever Jared Cranston, and Daeges tried to bunt him over. Mort got a good enough bead on the ball to record the out at second, but Wehrle’s relay to Buckman at first went wide of the bag and into the NU dugout to allow Daeges to reach second.

 

Nebraska then called on Bird, who got Gradoville on a fly ball to right but gave up the single to Odenreider.

 

Nebraska (21-5) heads to Missouri for a three-game weekend series. The Huskers and Tigers are tied for second place in the Big 12 Conference standings.

[Foppa]

I just noticed we slipped to being ranked 8th now...

That shouldn't be a surprise. Losing to N. Colorado and getting blown out by KU (Albeit they are much improved) definitely did not help.

 

I'm ok with seeing these slips early. Get the kinks worked out and the pitching rotation settled this time of year.

 

NU will be ok.