After an eighth-inning delay in Saturday night’s game between Nebraska (43-15) and Ole Miss (38-21) forced a postponement to Sunday, the Huskers could not mount a comeback against the Rebels as they fell 6-3 in Game 2 of the Lincoln Regional at Haymarket Park.
Momentarily, Nebraska had a spark of momentum after a pinch-hit two-run home run by Max Buettenback in the bottom of the eighth inning, though it quickly dissolved when an onslaught of rain and lightning forced the tarp onto the field and pushed the remainder of the contest to Sunday at noon CT.
Senior left-hander Jalen Worthley came on for an efficient ninth inning, where he worked around a leadoff walk before striking out the next three hitters to pave the way for the bottom of the Huskers’ order.
What started with the makings of a comeback against Rebels’ right-hander Landon Waters was soon erased, as Nebraska’s first two hitters singled to start the inning before senior second baseman Rhett Stokes grounded into a double play to end the rally and lead to the Huskers’ first loss of region play.
Instant Big Red reactions from Nebraska’s delayed defeat:
Offensive struggles peak as Nebraska strands bases loaded in the sixth
Scoring opportunities were scarce against South Dakota State on Friday afternoon, and the same can be said against Ole Miss’s top-tier SEC-caliber arms. But just because they were scarce doesn’t mean they didn’t present themselves.
The key moment against the Rebels came in the bottom of the sixth inning. Freshman catcher Jeter Worthley flew out to start the inning on a play where center fielder Hayden Federico ranged well to his left to track down the first out. Additional competitive swings followed from the middle of the order, and the Huskers loaded the bases after Rabe hit designated hitter Will Jeske with a high fastball.
Regardless of starting pitcher Taylor Rabe’s miscues, the Rebels decided to keep the dominant arm in the game. The move paid off against a Nebraska lineup that couldn’t buy a big hit, and Rabe retired the next two hitters and stranded the bases loaded in the bottom of the sixth.
It was an opportunity the Huskers squandered, and one that led to more frustration in the top of the seventh inning when Nebraska’s arms walked five hitters in the inning.
Head coach Will Bolt went to three different bullpen arms in the frame, ranging from junior Tucker Timmerman, senior Caleb Clark and sophomore Pryce Bender, but none could stop the bleeding as NU walked the bases loaded and then walked in two more runs before Bender induced a groundout to end the inning.
The two-inning stretch encapsulated Nebraska’s struggles on the evening.
Horn rises against Rebels in stellar start
Time and time again, Ty Horn has made it abundantly clear he is a big-game starting pitcher.
Despite the loss, the junior did what he needed to for Nebraska to have a chance on Saturday night. When he has needed to step up for a rotation that’s had its fair share of inconsistencies, he rose to the occasion.
There’s certainly no other pitcher on Nebraska’s roster that pitches with the same adrenaline-filled intensity that Horn does. That emotion was evident in the first inning, when he struck out two with a fastball that touched 97 mph.
The success continued well throughout the night, as the right-hander mixed his changeup and slider effectively to throw five scoreless innings against the Rebels. And while he worked around a two-out walk, Horn’s fastball velocity dropped into the low-90s for much of the top of the fifth.
It was a precursor for what would come in the sixth, when Horn returned to the mound against the middle of the order and struggled after earning the first two outs of the inning, before Federico singled to center to put runners on the corners.
Things didn’t get much better for Horn, who proceeded to surrender a deep two-run double in the right-center field gap to shortstop Owen Paino, and then walked catcher Austin Fawley in a grueling 10-pitch at-bat.
The walk ended his night at 5.2 innings and 120 pitches, and Ole Miss added another run before the inning ended to close the book on Horn, who allowed three earned runs and struck out nine on the evening.
Buck takes Rabe deep for Huskers’ only offense early
Coming into the night, the story of the evening revolved around the high-powered offenses between the Rebels and the Huskers, on a day that had already seen Arizona State’s home-run heavy lineup explode for 17 runs against South Dakota State.
But some factors broke this narrative, even with an Ole Miss lineup that ranked inside the top 20 with 100 home runs this season. A big reason for that was the wind; at first pitch, Haymarket Park howled with a wind that changed directions while it gusted up to 25 mph. The bigger reason for the night’s slow start was the arms on the mound.
Rabe took the mound across from Horn, and to say it was a strong start to his outing would be an understatement. The sophomore was brilliant over the first three innings, flashing a fastball that regularly sat at 98 mph and balancing it with a slider to keep the Huskers off-balance.
The first time through the order, it worked. The right-hander sequenced his pitches to near-perfection, striking out three and allowing just one hit over the first three innings. But similar to Friday’s game, the Huskers jumped onto the scoreboard in the fourth.
The inning didn’t start well for Nebraska, as Rabe struck out junior first baseman Case Sanderson in a full count to start the inning before retiring junior Jeske on three pitches to bring Jett Buck to the plate.
Like his swing in yesterday’s eighth inning, the senior left fielder laced a ball to the opposite field, going with a 96 mph fastball on the outer-half for a solo shot that ended up in the Rebels’ bullpen.
Despite the big swing, it was just the second hit of the evening at the time for the Huskers, who struggled to get anything going as Rabe went on to throw six innings without allowing another run.
The loss moves Nebraska into the loser’s bracket, and it will take on Arizona State at 2 p.m. Sunday. The Huskers’ most likely starter is sophomore Gavin Blachowicz, who will face a Sun Devils offense that ranked inside the top 10 in home runs this season. If Nebraska wins, it will play Ole Miss again this evening at 7 p.m.