No. 5 Nebraska took advantage of six Texas A&M miscues and eight free passes to rally for a 13-10 victory and a doubleheader sweep of the fifth-ranked Aggies on a Sunday afternoon before 7,653 fans at Hawks Field.
A&M lost only its second Big 12 series of the year?-and first since March?-while falling to 42-10 and 19-5 in conference play. The Huskers improved to 38-9-1 and 17-6-1. NU took the first game of the twinbill, 9-8, with a five-run ninth inning rally.
?We didn?™t do anything to deserve to win today,? A&M coach Rob Childress said. ?It?™s about executing the routine, especially defense and throwing strikes, and we definitely didn?™t do that. Those are things we have to learn from. This is a great weekend for us to pick ourselves up and learn from our mistakes. But, at the same token, you have to give Nebraska credit. They have a very good team, extremely competitive, and have as good a pitching staff as we?™ve seen all year, hands down.?
Leading by one entering the sixth, A&M would score four to bump their lead to 9-4. The big blow in the inning was a two-out, three-run home run to left by Jose Duran?-his fifth of the season.
The Huskers began their comeback in the bottom half of the sixth, when center fielder Bryce Nimmo greeted A&M reliever Scott Migl with a two-run triple into the right field corner. Third baseman Jake Mort followed with an RBI groundout to second to pull Nebraska back within two.
After a one-out RBI single by Aggie catcher Kevin Gonzalez in the seventh made the score 10-7, Nebraska sent nine to the plate in the bottom of the inning and tied the game at 10?-all without the benefit of a hit. The Huskers would use two hit batsmen, a walk, a wild pitch and a passed ball, sandwiched around an infield ground out, to plate the three runs. Shane Minks, who faced the final four batters in the frame, fanned catcher Mitch Abeita with the bases loaded to keep the game deadlocked.
Three unearned runs in the bottom of the eighth would prove the difference in the contest. After the go-ahead run scored courtesy back-to-back one-out errors, designated hitter David Stewart and Nimmo each added RBI singles to make the score 13-10.
A&M would threaten in the ninth, bringing the tying run to the plate with two outs against Mike Nesseth, but could not score.
Minks (4-1) suffered the loss, allowing four hits and three unearned runs over 1 2/3 innings. He walked two and struck out one.
Nesseth improved to 4-1 on the season. He allowed one hit in 2 2/3 shutout innings while walking two and fanning five.
Duran, Kyle Colligan, Darby Brown and Brodie Greene all had two hits in the game. Duran who drove in a team-high four runs extended his hit streak to a team season-high 22 games.
?This team has been incredibly tough all season, and expect nothing else out of them in this last week of the regular season,? Childress said. ?We?™re all in this together. We?™re all very disappointed, but we?™ll pick ourselves up, get better and learn from this weekend. I?™m looking forward to getting back on the field on Tuesday.?
Texas A&M returns to action Tuesday when the Aggies head to the Metroplex to face UT Arlington. First pitch at Clay Gould Ballpark in Arlington is set for 6:30 p.m. and the game will air locally on WTAW-AM 1620.