Three Nebraska pitchers, led by Nate Fisher, combined to hold No. 21 Baylor to one hit in a 2-0 victory Saturday in Waco, Texas.
The Bears' only hit was a single that came with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning.Â
Fisher, a senior left-hander from Yutan, pitched eight innings of no-hit baseball before hitting the leadoff batter in the ninth inning.
"You always say it starts on the mound, but Nate Fisher, that was as good as I've ever seen him pitch in four-plus years here," NU coach Darin Erstad said on the Husker Sports Radio Network. "And you could really see it in warmups. … Boy, he just had some kind of rhythm going."
Fisher was perfect through 5.1 innings. Baylor's first base runner came with one out in the sixth on Fisher's first walk of the game. A Nebraska error followed, but Fisher escaped the jam unscathed. The lefty allowed just two other base runners, hitting batters in the seventh and ninth innings.
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Fisher's line: eight innings pitched, zero hits, one walk, six strikeouts. The 6-foot-1, 205-pounder heeded the No. 1 rule of pitching at Nebraska, Erstad said: keep the ball down in the strike zone.
"How many times have I said that over the last couple years where, 'Oh, he's up a little bit and he gets hit,'" Erstad said. "When he's down, it all starts in (Fisher's) back. And when Nate gets a feel for that, he's really sharp. if he can repeat that, look out."
Baylor's (9-4) only hit came off the bat of preseason second-team All-American Davis Wendzel, who flipped a clean single into right field off Robbie Palkert with two outs in the ninth.
Palkert came on in relief of Fisher, and induced a double play. Freshman Colby Gomes closed it out by getting a fly ball to right.
It was the first combined one-hitter for Nebraska since March 6, 2013. Nebraska (6-6) came within one out of the program's first combined no-hitter since April 16, 2013, against Arkansas.
NU's last individual no-hitter was on April 5, 1981, when Anthony Kelley tossed one against Oklahoma in a seven-inning game. The Huskers have never had a nine-inning individual no-hitter.
A Baylor offense that came into this weekend's series fourth in the country in batting average and 20th in runs per game has managed four runs on nine hits through two games against NU pitching.
Nebraska finished with eight hits, all singles. NU scored single runs in the fourth, when Luke Roskam's sac fly scored Colby Gomes, and in the ninth on Spencer Schwellenbach's single that scored Joe Acker.
The Huskers will go for the sweep Sunday. First pitch is set for 12:05 p.m.
--Chris Basnett