Huskers grab big win over Baylor

LINCOLN - Mike Anderson vowed that there was plenty of appetite left in a Nebraska baseball team that looked sick to its stomach while losing to Baylor 9-2 Friday night.

It took the Huskers one day to prove their coach right.

“We're going to come out and play every day as hard as we can, so no surprise at all,” right-handed junior pitcher Matt Foust said of NU's 10-4 victory before 4,595 in Haymarket Park Saturday afternoon.

In a game that was tied after three innings, Nebraska proceeded to score in four of its last five at-bats, watched Johnny Dorn get out of a jam with runners at the corners in the fifth by striking out Shaver Hansen, and then got four shutout innings from Foust.

The result left the Huskers 26-21 overall, a fifth-place 11-12 in the Big 12 Conference and gave them the chance to be at .500 in the league at the conclusion of a series for the first time all season.

They'll go for that distinction in today's 1:05 p.m. contest.

They will send a pitcher who hasn't allowed an earned run over his last 22 innings, Luke Wertz, to the mound.

“This team will not give in. We're going to keep fighting,” said junior catcher Mitch Abeita, who produced his first three-hit game and raised his average above .300 (.304) for the first time all year.

Junior Craig Corriston and senior first baseman Andrew Brown also had three hits, as NU finished with its highest team total (15) in 11 games.

“You know, the one thing you want to hope for at the end of the year is hope,” said Anderson, who claimed he could sense his club's will to succeed during a Saturday morning breakfast gathering. “They've got hope and they're giving it a crack.

“This day started by how they showed up, what attitude they brought with them. And their attitude is very, very good.“

A little execution on Saturday didn't hurt, either.

NU played its second straight error-free game and turned a double play to end the seventh.

It also produced the decisive run in the fifth when Abeita singled, Brown was hit by a pitch with two outs and Jeff Tezak singled.

Brown, who hit a two-run homer in the second inning, also singled to start the sixth, and after advancing two bases on a wild pitch, scored on a sacrifice fly by Gerch.

Gerch and Jake Opitz would cap the Huskers' attack by hitting back-to-back homers in the eighth.

“It's too easy when they score that many runs,” said Foust, who earned his fifth save to help Dorn notch his 29th career win.