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baseball Edit

Huskers lack focus in ugly 7-1 loss to Nicholls State

Jake Schleppenbach had two hits but the rest of the lineup was mostly quiet.
Jake Schleppenbach had two hits but the rest of the lineup was mostly quiet.
Tyler Krecklow

Any momentum Nebraska snagged from its extra-innings win over Kansas State Tuesday and Derek Burkamper's gem Friday vanished inside Haymarket Park Saturday afternoon.

The Huskers took an early lead but fell apart thereafter as Nicholls State delivered paper cut after paper cut, eventually knocking off Nebraska 7-1. Darin Erstad didn't have a problem with his players' energy, even going as far as to say the dugout had a party atmosphere before the contest.

But focus? That was mostly absent in the listless effort.

"If you don't prepare, you'll get your butt whooped, and that's what happened, Erstad said. "We just got outcompeted. They played very well and we got out-pitched... We want to pitch to pitch and execute and we didn't do that today."

The Colonels put the leadoff batter on base in six of the final seven innings and had 13 hits. NSU had just two extra-base hits and only walked twice, but it was more than content to move runners station to station, putting constant pressure on Nebraska hurlers.

"That's why you have to get ahead," Erstad said. "Once they get a lead, that's what they do. We get in that situation and we have to be able to control the game. They'll give you a ton of free outs with infield bunts. If we just take care of the baseball, we get free outs. But we weren't able to do that and threw wild pitches and gave them free bases without outs."

And the pitchers didn't respond well. Jake McSteen lasted just 5.0 innings, allowing five runs on eight hits. Robbie Palkert helped stop the bleeding with three solid innings, but any hopes of a comeback disappeared when Zack Engelken gave up two runs in the ninth.

Things looked promising early on as Jake Schleppenbach gave Nebraska a 1-0 lead with a clutch, two-out RBI single in the second. But the Colonels fought back immediately, scoring twice in the top of the third to take the lead for good.

Meanwhile the Huskers' offense just never seemed to get into gear. Cole Stapler handcuffed Nebraska throughout his first career complete game, allowing just eight base runners and throwing 119 pitches.

The Huskers had just one base runner advance past first after the second inning and put the leadoff man on base just once.

"Their guy was throwing a cut fastball and we had no answer for it," Erstad said. "Obviously our guys weren't picking it up. They were jamming us all day long. We didn't have that on the scouting report."

Nebraska and Nicholls State will meet at 1 p.m. tomorrow for the series finale.

Around the horn

***During his pregame appearance on the Husker Sports Network, Erstad said Jeff Chesnut, who was hit in the head by a line drive Tuesday, was available to pitch. The senior didn't make an appearance, but the fact that he's available is encouraging.

***McSteen has failed to pitch longer than 5.0 innings in each of his last four starts.

***The Huskers fell to 18-5 when scoring first.

***The attendance was 3,829.

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