Nebraska baseball fell to Purdue 5-4 in a game that featured a rain delay of over two hours. The Huskers led by one in the seventh going into the delay and maintained their advantage until the final pitch of the game.
Coming off its largest come-from-behind victory since 2010 on Thursday, Nebraska was one out away from taking the series on Friday and giving itself a chance to sweep Purdue on Saturday. Then, everything changed with one swing.
With a runner on second and one out in the bottom of the ninth, junior left-hander Jalen Worthley got junior outfielder Eli Anderson to fly out to left. Then, senior infielder Brandon Anderson flipped the game on its head and ended it in one swing. The Huskers’ 4-3 lead turned into a one-run loss as Anderson hammered the first pitch he saw over the fence in left-center.
Head coach Will Bolt said the four errors they made were the difference in the game.
“I know it came down to one swing there at the end, but there’s also a fifty-fifty play there in the ninth inning that didn’t go our way,” Bolt said.
Nebraska senior outfielder Riley Silva took a strike to lead off the game, then was hit by the second pitch he saw.
After senior third baseman Josh Overbeek flew out to center, junior second baseman Cayden Brumbaugh dropped a bunt down in an attempt to at the very least move Silva into scoring position. Although, he did more than that and reached first before the throw.
With two on and less than two outs, senior outfielder Gabe Swansen stepped up and smashed a single through the left side to bring home Silva.
Junior outfielder Robby Bolin hammered a double to lead off the top of the third. A sacrifice bunt by Silva put Bolin 90 feet away, but Overbeek struck out and Brumbaugh flew out to end the frame with the junior still standing on third.
Bolt said the offense was inconsistent throughout the game.
“I thought offensively, it was pretty choppy,” Bolt said.
A leadoff single in the bottom of the third ended with the Boilermakers’ junior catcher Sergio DeCello standing on third following two throwing errors by the Huskers. Two batters later a sacrifice fly knotted the game at one.
“We were just not focused enough to play good defense,” Bolt said. “It came back to bite us.”
After Nebraska failed to respond in the top of the fourth, senior infielder Logan Sutter — the only player in the Big Ten conference with more than 20 doubles and double-digit home runs — drilled his 15th long ball of the year over Silva’s head in straight away center and the wall to give Purdue a 2-1 advantage.
Senior catcher Hogan Helligso singled to lead off the top of the fifth, and Bolin smacked the next pitch in the frame through the right side. With two-on and nobody out, Silva lined out to left on the first pitch he saw, but the ball traveled deep enough for Helligso to tag and score.
Horn exited the game after putting up a zero in the bottom of the fifth with the score tied at two. He gave up two runs, only one of them earned, over five innings of work.
“I thought we had collectively a really good performance on the mound,” Bolt said.
Senior left-hander Will Walsh took over for him in the bottom of the sixth and put up a zero. Then, Nebraska took its first lead since the third inning.
Junior shortstop Dylan Carey took the first pitch he saw in the top of the seventh right back up the middle for a base hit. Then, freshman designated hitter Devin Nunez drove a 1-0 pitch over the wall in right-center to give the Huskers a two-run lead. The two-run shot was Nunez’s fourth of the year and first since the final game of the Washington series on March 9.
Walsh issued back-to-back walks to start the bottom half of the seventh. Then — after a throwing error by Helligso put a runner on third — junior outfielder Brandon Rogers hit a sacrifice fly to left, and Purdue drew within one before the rain hit.
After a delay of more than two hours, senior relief pitcher Casey Daiss took the ball for the Huskers with two on and one out. Daiss induced two groundouts to get Nebraska out of the seventh with its lead still intact.
Daiss put up another zero in the bottom of the eighth, but pitching coach Rob Childress turned to Worthley for his first appearance since April 19, to slam the door. He failed to do so and the Huskers lost in walk-off fashion.
“If we want to win the series, we’ve got to play together for three facets of the game, and today it was only one,” Bolt said.
Nebraska moved to 27-27 on the season and 14-15 in conference play with the loss. The Huskers will face Purdue at 1 p.m. on Saturday with a chance to take the series.
