The Nebraska baseball team fell 5-3 on Sunday afternoon in the series finale against No. 17 TCU at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. The Huskers loaded the bases with two outs in top of the ninth but had their ninth-inning rally fall short in a bang-bang play at first base.
Nebraska scored three runs on 10 hits with no errors, while TCU had five runs on nine hits and committed an error.
Starter Dawson McCarville fell to 0-1 on the season after allowing five runs on eight hits in four innings. McCarville walked a pair and struck out three TCU hitters. Emmett Olson pitched the final four innings in relief, allowing only one hit and striking out two.
Griffin Everitt led the Huskers at the plate, going 3-for-5 with a run scored. Brice Matthews went 2-for-4 with a double, home run, an RBI and two runs. Leighton Banjoff added two hits and an RBI, while Colby Gomes, Josh Caron and Garrett Anglim recorded one hit apiece.
TCU began the scoring in the bottom of the first with an RBI single by David Bishop. The Horned Frogs appeared to double the lead in the next at-bat when Gray Rodgers flied out to center to score the runner from third, but Cam Chick gunned down Bishop advancing to second before the runner touched home to end the first with a double play.
Matthews opened the second with a double down the left line on the first pitch he saw before Banjoff roped an RBI single to center, scoring Matthews and tying the game at one in the third.
The Horned Frogs got the run back in the bottom of the third after Brayden Taylor drew a walk and Rodgers hit a two-out RBI double down the left field line to plate Taylor.
TCU hung three runs on three hits in the fifth to expand its lead to 5-1 in the fifth. An RBI single through the right side for Luke Boyers and Taylor’s RBI double down the right field line stretched the lead to three, while an RBI groundout by Rodgers concluded the scoring in the fifth for the Horned Frogs.
Matthews blasted an 0-1 pitch over wall in left field to trim the TCU lead to 5-2 in the seventh. Nebraska tacked on its third run of the game in the eighth when Everitt singled to center and later came around to score on Cam Chick’s sacrifice fly to left.
Back-to-back singles by Caron and Anglim put runners on first and second with no outs in the top of the ninth for the Big Red. With two outs, Banjoff reached safely at first to load the bases after his hit ricocheted off the pitcher and landed behind the mound where no Horned Frog infielder could get to it in time. With two outs and the bases loaded, Everitt hit a slow-chopping ground ball to third and appeared to beat the throw at first by the charging third baseman by half a step but was called out on the play to clinch the 5-3 win on Sunday for the Horned Frogs.
Nebraska returns to Arlington next weekend for four games at UT Arlington, including two games each against the Mavericks and Northwestern State. Next weekend’s schedule includes non-traditional doubleheaders on Friday and Saturday. The Huskers and Northwestern State meet at 11 a.m. on both days before the Big Red end each day against UT Arlington at 3 p.m.
