Nebraska baseball limped back to Lincoln on Sunday, dropping the finale of the Frisco College Baseball Classic 9-6 to Kanas State.
The search for answers at the plate continued for Nebraska despite the three-run loss, as the Huskers managed four runs in the final two innings to clean up the final margin of victory a bit.
Husker pitching was largely in-effective early on, allowing Kansas State to run out to a five-run inning in the opening frames before stretching the lead to 8-1 in the sixth inning.
The last time Husker pitcher Jackson Brockett faced K-State, it ended in an individual no-hitter last season. On Sunday, Brockett allowed a pair of doubles in the first inning that plated a run, and a two-out single after a pair of walks that put the Huskers in a two-run hole.
Brockett took the loss, throwing 2.0 innings, striking out four, while allowing three hits and two earned runs.
Nebraska cut into K-State’s 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second, scoring a run on a wild pitch by K-State left-hander Lincoln Sheffield, who kept the Huskers handcuffed across his 6.1 innings of work. Sheffield allowed two earned runs and struck out seven hitters in just 79 pitches.
In the fourth, Lincoln native AJ Evasco hit a wind-aided two-run homer off Nebraska reliever TJ Coates, and Keegan O’Connor followed with a 488-foot blast that put K-State ahead 5-1.
The Wildcats tacked on a run in the fifth and two in the sixth against the Husker pitching staff, which used six pitchers and issued eight walks in Sunday’s finale.
Nebraska scored a pair of runs in the eighth and two in the ninth. Dylan Carey knocked an RBI double in the eighth and Hayden Lewis followed with an RBI groundout. A two-run inside the park homer by freshman Devin Nunez in the ninth completed the scoring for the Huskers.
Nunez was a rare bright spot at the plate for the Big Red this weekend, finishing the trip to Texas 7-for-14 with 3 RBI.
Nebraska heads home with a busy week awaiting — weather permitting. Nebraska heads to Omaha to take on the Mavericks on Tuesday and has its home opener Wednesday against South Dakota State before welcoming Washington to Lincoln for the start of Big Ten play over the weekend.
