Nebraska rallied for four runs in the ninth and added another in the 10th to open its weekend series at College of Charleston with a 6-5 win in 10 innings at Patriots Point on Thursday afternoon in Mount Pleasant, S.C.
Nebraska (5-3) scored six runs on five hits and committed an error, while Charleston (7-1) totaled five runs, eight hits and an error.
Drew Christo got the no-decision after dealing a career-high 6.2 innings. The junior allowed three runs, two earned, on four hits and struck out two Cougars with a walk. Jackson Brockett and Bobby Olsen teamed up to record an out, surrendering a combined pair of runs on three hits. Trey Frahm made his Nebraska debut, pitching 0.2 scoreless innings. Rans Sanders posted his second appearance of the season for the Big Red, striking out the lone batter he faced in the bottom of the eighth.
Kyle Perry recorded two outs in the ninth, while Evan Borst improved to 1-0 on the season after pitching a scoreless inning in relief. Tucker Timmerman replaced Borst and recorded the final out to collect his first career save.
Five different Huskers recorded a hit on Thursday, highlighted by Silva’s two-RBI single. Clay Bradford doubled and scored two runs, followed by Cayden Brumbaugh with a double and a run scored. Josh Caron and Cole Evans recorded a hit and an RBI apiece.
The NU offense went to work early, plating a run in the first inning for the fourth consecutive game. Brumbaugh led the game off with a double to left and moved to third on Silva’s sacrifice bunt. The Huskers took the lead with Caron’s team-leading 12th RBI of the season after the junior ripped a two-out RBI single back up the middle to score Brumbaugh.
A pair of hits and a miscue from the Husker defense allowed the Cougars to snag a 2-1 lead in the third frame. Charleston’s first two hitters reached on a double and a walk, and Christo induced a ground ball for what appeared to be a double play. A muffed catch at second kept all runners safe and scored the Cougars’ first run of the day. A first-pitch RBI single back up the middle gave Charleston a 2-1 advantage through three innings.
Consecutive one-out hits in the bottom of the fourth placed runners on first and third, while Charleston doubled its lead to 3-1 on a sacrifice bunt with five innings to play.
The Cougars tacked on two more runs on three hits in the eighth to grow the lead to 5-1. Back-to-back singles to begin the inning made it a 4-1 game, while a wild pitch later in the inning extended the lead to four.
The Big Red responded with four runs on two hits and a Charleston error in the top of the ninth to lock the game at five. Bradford reached on an error, followed by Gabe Swansen getting hit by the pitch and a single from Evans to load the bases with no outs.
Back-to-back walks to Tyler Stone and Case Sanderson trimmed the deficit in half to 5-3 with no outs. The Huskers tied the game at five after Silva ripped a first-pitch two-RBI single through the right side, plating a pinch-running Bryce Hughes and Evans.
Perry and Borst retired the Cougars in order in the bottom of the ninth to send the game into extra innings.
Bradford’s leadoff ground-rule double to left-center, followed by Garrett Anglim’s sacrifice bunt placed the go-ahead run at third with one out for the Huskers. Evans followed with a high-chopping grounder to third, which allowed Bradford to beat the throw at home for an RBI fielder’s choice to give NU its 6-5 advantage.
A one-out single and a two-out walk had the tying run at second and the go-ahead run on first for the Cougars. Timmerman replaced Borst on the mound and induced a ground ball back to the mound for the third out to clinch Nebraska’s comeback victory on Thursday afternoon.
Nebraska and Charleston continue the weekend series tomorrow at 3 p.m. CT at Patriots Point in Mount Pleasant, S.C. Thursday’s matchup can be seen on FloBaseball, while fans can listen to Dave Gustafson and Ben McLaughlin call the action on the Huskers Radio Network.
