HUSKER BASEBALL: Nebraska Comes Up Short In Weekend Series At Iowa

Nebraska’s Brice Matthews. (Courtesy of Nebraska Athletics)

IOWA CITY–(NU Athletics Apr. 23)–The Nebraska baseball team fell 6-1 in the series finale at Iowa on Sunday afternoon at Duane Banks Field in Iowa City, Iowa.

The Huskers (21-14-1, 7-5 Big Ten) scored one run on four hits, while the Hawkeyes (29-10, 7-5 Big Ten) totaled six runs on 10 hits and two errors.

Will Walsh dropped to 2-2 on the season after surrendering three runs on three hits and three walks in 1.1 innings of action. Kyle Perry pitched the next three innings, allowing three runs on four hits with a strikeout. Shay Schanaman tossed 3.2 scoreless innings for the Big Red and gave up three hits, while collecting a pair of walks and strikeouts.

Brice Matthews led the Huskers at the plate, going 2-for-4 with a solo home run for his team-leading 14th homer of the season. Casey Burnham went 1-for-3, while Max Anderson was 1-for-4 on Sunday.

Matthews began the game with a leadoff 373-foot solo homer over the wall in left, becoming the first Husker to lead off a road game with a homer since Cam Chick at Baylor on Feb. 15, 2020.

The Huskers had baserunners in each of the first two innings, but both innings ended with a double play on a strikeout and batter’s interference.

Iowa jumped out to a two-run lead with three runs on three hits in the second inning. A two-RBI triple off the wall in right by Cade Moss had the Hawkeyes out front, before Ben Wilmes added to the lead with a sacrifice fly to center.

Nebraska had two Huskers reach in the fourth as Gabe Swansen was hit by pitch, and Garrett Anglim drew walk but couldn’t cut into the deficit.

The Hawkeyes tacked on three more runs in the fifth to grow the lead to 6-1. Brennen Dorighi led off the bottom of the fifth with a solo blast down the right-field line, while Sam Hojnar’s RBI single up the middle doubled the lead to four. Hojnar plated Iowa’s final run of the inning on a wild pitch.

NU looked to trim the Hawkeye lead in the top of the sixth after consecutive one-out singles from Burnham and Anderson, but the next two Huskers were retired via a strikeout to keep it a 6-1 game.

The two teams exchanged scoreless innings for the final three frames to clinch the 6-1 win for the Hawkeyes on Sunday.

Nebraska returns to play in a midweek matchup at Omaha on Tuesday, April 25. First pitch between the Huskers and Mavericks is scheduled at 7 p.m. at Tal Anderson Field.