Darin Erstad has said time and again this season that good pitching, timely hitting and solid fielding would give the Huskers a chance in every game, and that proved true again in a pivotal series opener on the road against Iowa on Friday night.
Despite having that chance, the Hawkeyes used a walk-off base hit in the bottom of the ninth to defeat Nebraska 3-2.
"It's going to come down to who makes plays," the Nebraska coach said. "That's what those games will boil down to."
Matt Waldron continued his dominance on the season as the senior hurled 7 2/3 innings of two-run baseball, striking out six batters and scattering eight hits throughout.
"He's a workhorse and that's just what he is," Erstad said. "His stuff was still good until the very end. We had a couple of chances to score some runs for him ... but we didn't get it done."
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Waldron gave way to Robbie Palkert in the bottom of the eighth inning, and the junior managed to avoid trouble in the eighth. In the ninth, however, Tanner Wetrich led off with a single for the Hawkeyes.Â
After a sacrifice bunt failed, Justin Jenkins stole second base with two outs, and in the ensuing at-bat, Zeb Adreon laced the walk-off single to right field for the win.
The Iowa pitching staff was up for the task of dueling with Waldron. Cole McDonald threw six innings, allowing two runs on six hits and striking out four. Then, the bullpen entered and held the Huskers scoreless for the final three innings.
The Huskers' timely hitting took place in fourth, as Mojo Hagge and Cam Chick picked up RBI base knocks to give the Huskers a 2-1 advantage. Waldron allowed a run in the third inning on back-to-back base hits.
Both of the RBI base hits for NU came with two outs in the inning. That was the lone time in the game Nebraska came up clutch in a key moment, as the Huskers left nine runners on base the rest of the game.
The Hawkeyes evened the score at two in the sixth inning, using three hits to get a run across. Waldron did well in that inning and throughout the game to limit the damage and avoid big innings.
Chick picked up two hits, while Hagge and Jaxon Hallmark each swiped bases for the Huskers.