Texas takes advantage of NU miscues

LINCOLN - If Texas pitcher Joseph Krebs hadn't been so unlucky in the first inning, Nebraska wouldn't have earned any runs against him in Haymarket Park on Sunday afternoon.

Of course, if Husker second baseman Jake Opitz had held on to make a leaping grab of a liner hit by Jordan Danks, the fourth-ranked Longhorns wouldn't have scored in a decisive four-run second.

And then, maybe the 4,823 would have been left with more to do over the final seven innings than have their energy sucked away by Texas' 6-2 victory.

“You look at the size of this field, and you know the distance between the mound and home plate and you look at the distance between the bases, and it ends up still being a game of inches,” Augie Garrido said after his Big 12 Conference-leading club beat NU for a second straight day. “Unbelievable.“

Actually, it's not that hard to believe.

Texas (33-12, 14-4) has won all six of its Big 12 series this season, and, to Nebraska coach Mike Anderson, looks like a team that is on a path to wind up back in Nebraska come June.

“That's an all-body team. They look great in their uniforms, and they play like that, too,” Anderson said after the Longhorns took a series from the Huskers for the third time in four seasons after having dropped the previous five to them. “They've got strong pitching and their offense gets things done. They deserve to be at the top of the country, rankwise.“

The Longhorns' Kyle Russell boosted his National Player of the Year candidacy by stroking a two-run, first-inning homer for the second straight day. But shortstop Michael Demperio made two errors in the bottom half to allow Andy Gerch to drive a two-run, two-out single through the mound to tie the game.

It didn't stay that way long.

Texas got a single by Nick Peoples to start the third, and after a sacrifice, Travis Tucker reached on an infield hit that failed to advance Peoples. NU starter Matt Foust then retired Demperio on a fly to left field before Danks lined a 3-2 pitch that tested all of Opitz's vertical jump.

When the ball squirted out of his glove, the floodgates opened. Peoples scored on the play, and Chance Wheeless followed with an RBI single to knock Foust from the game. Russell then greeted Luke Wertz with an RBI double to right field before the Longhorns got their fourth run of the inning when first baseman Andrew Brown couldn't find the handle on a bouncer hit by Bradley Suttle.

“Didn't squeeze it when it hit my glove,” Opitz said. “It's not a routine play, but it's a play you've got to make.

“If you give any good team extra outs, they'll make you pay for it.“

While Wertz would go on to throw 71/3 shutout innings to extend his stretch of not giving up a run to 142/3, Texas' outburst allowed Krebs to shake off his first inning.

By the time the right-handed senior left the game with one out in the seventh, an effort that represented the longest outing of his career, he'd allowed only one base runner past first after the initial inning.

“It was a lot easier to throw it down the middle and not worry about a solo home run,” Krebs said. “I walked a lot of people today, but you try to make them put it in play with the lead.“

Krebs, who has been Texas' Sunday starter since the opening Big 12 series, issued four walks but gave up only four hits. Over his last four outings, he's allowed just four earned runs.

“I kept the ball down pretty well, (got) a lot of ground balls,” he said.

Following its big second inning, Texas' largest obstacle came when a rain shower caused a 40-minute delay after the top of the third. Had the rain continued and made the game unplayable before five innings had been completed, it would have been canceled and the teams would have walked away from the weekend each with a win and a loss.

Unfortunately, Nebraska (now 23-17 and a sixth place 8-10 in the Big 12) didn't have that kind of luck going for it Sunday.

“We've been through a lot this year so far, and we've just got to keep grinding, keep fighting,” Opitz said. “It's not a huge step back. We've got a couple games midweek (against North Dakota State) to work on things and get it going again.”

n Briefly - Nebraska right fielder DJ Belfonte didn't play Sunday after bruising an index finger while making a diving attempt at a catch in Saturday's game. Anderson hopes Belfonte will be ready to return for this weekend's home series against Kansas State.