Nebraska nipped by Tigers at home again

LINCOLN - The heated fifth-inning moment at Haymarket Park on Saturday would have been enough to melt most Nebraska baseball opponents.

But in Missouri, the Huskers were dealing with the nation's hottest team, so guess what?

“They just kept at it,” NU starting pitcher Charlie Shirek said of the Tigers, who got a game-tying two-run homer from Ryan Lollis during the fifth and an RBI single by Evan Frey in the eighth to upend NU 4-3 for their 14th straight victory.

The result, coming a day after Mizzou's 5-1, 11-inning victory, left Nebraska on the short end of a Big 12 Conference home series. Though three of their losses are one-run affairs, at 1-4, the Huskers are off to their worst league start since the 1998 team had the same record.

“This team needs to get over the hump and win a game like this and keep moving on,” coach Mike Anderson said.

His team could take a lesson from how Missouri handled the tension in the fifth that had both dugouts and the 3,557 fans on hand up in arms.

Facing Shirek to lead off the inning, Missouri's John McKee was overruled by home plate umpire Dan Novak that he'd been hit by a pitch. Later in the at-bat, McKee called time out only to be plunked by a curveball that had players from both teams needing to be restrained from doing anything beyond barking at one another.

Amazingly, McKee was hit by a pitch again before Lollis drove a 1-1 pitch the opposite way to left field to become the first player to homer off Shirek this season and pull Missouri into a 3-3 tie.

“We try not to waste any ABs, and I was just up there battling,” McKee said. “It was one of the strangest at-bats I've ever had. ... There was definitely a lot of adrenaline running through my veins and I was just trying to gather myself as much as possible and try to put a good swing on the ball.”

Lollis definitely did that while lofting his second homer of the year.

“It was a called fastball up,” Shirek said. “I just threw the pitch and he got the best of it and got it out of the park.”

The Tigers' good karma had started in the third inning, when Nebraska thought it had gotten out unscathed on a Shirek strikeout of Brock Bond and catcher Mitch Abeita throwing out Frey trying to steal second. Instead, Novak ruled Bond hadn't swung at the 3-2 pitch, leaving the Tigers with runners at first and second, and after McKee singled off the glove of Ryan Wehrle, Lollis produced an RBI fielder's choice grounder.

“We asked to check it,” Anderson said of the 3-2 pitch to Bond, “and couldn't get it checked.”

Meanwhile, Missouri left-hander Rick Zagone, touched for lone runs in each of the first three innings, settled in and became the first pitcher to throw a complete game against NU this season. Zagone allowed just three of his eight hits after the third inning.

“That was our game plan, to be aggressive,” said NU's Jake Opitz, who lined a homer to left in the second inning. “But he stayed in the ballgame and kept throwing strikes.”

Zagone's ultimate reward - his fourth win against no losses - came in the eight when Kyle Mach singled off NU reliever Drew Bowman with one out, moved to second on a fielder's choice and scored on Frey's single to right.

“We talked before we came in here that momentum swings in this series are going to be huge, and we just tried to keep it on our side,” McKee said. “In this case, it went in our favor.”

Now 20-5, but unranked, Missouri is a win away from becoming the first team to sweep a three-game series from NU at Haymarket Park. Today's series finale is set for 1:05 p.m.

Friday's Game

Missouri 5, Nebraska 1, 11 innings

LINCOLN - After being handcuffed by Nebraska starter Tony Watson for 10 innings, Missouri erupted for four runs with two out in the 11th Friday to beat Nebraska 5-1.

Trevor Coleman hit a two-out, two-run single off Erik Bird to break a 1-1 tie after the Tigers had loaded the bases against Zach Herr (2-2).

Jacob Priday followed with an RBI single off Bird, and Aaron Senne greeted reliever Dan Jennings with a run-scoring base hit.

The Tigers (19-5, 1-0 Big 12) extended their win streak to 13 games and won for the first time in eight games against Nebraska since 2005.

Watson gave up one unearned run and kept the Huskers (12-8, 1-3) in the game while they struggled offensively against Aaron Crow and Kyle Gibson (2-3). Watson, who threw 130 pitches, scattered three hits and walked three in the longest outing of his career.

Nebraska had runners reach third base in the ninth and 10th innings but couldn't push across a run.

Missouri led 1-0 in the fifth after Coleman doubled into left field, took third on a wild pitch and scored on an error by catcher Matt Abeita.

Nebraska tied it in the seventh. Jeff Tezak doubled down the right-field line and scored on Craig Corriston's one-out single. The Huskers might have scored more, but Andy Gerch was thrown out trying to stretch his leadoff double into a triple.

Crow, who carried a no-hitter into the fifth, allowed four hits in eight innings. He walked one, hit two and struck out five before giving way to Gibson.