Burnham’s Four Hits Leads Huskers to 12-1 Win

Casey Burnham went 4-for-4 at the plate and drove in three runs to lead Nebraska to a 12-1 run-rule win in eight innings over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in game one of Saturday’s doubleheader in Abilene, Texas.

The Huskers (15-8-1) scored 12 runs on 13 hits and an error, while the Islanders (13-15) recorded one run, five hits and three errors.

Emmett Olson improved to 5-1 with his fourth quality start of the season. The southpaw pitched six strong innings, allowing one run on four hits and strikeout four Islanders. Corbin Hawkins tossed the final two innings, giving up just one hit.

Burnham fell a home run shy of the cycle in his four-hit performance, tallying two singles, a double, a triple, three RBI and three runs. Brice Matthews was 2-for-4 with three RBI and two runs, while Dylan Carey went 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles, an RBI and a run scored. Max Anderson had a 2-for-5 performance with a two-run homer, while Gabe Swansen, Ben Columbus and Cole Evans tallied one hit each.

Olson worked around a one-out double in the first, while Swansen made a wall-crashing catch in left field in the second to keep the Islanders off the board through two.

The Huskers plated the game’s first run in the third with one hit and an error. Burnham reached on a one-out bunt single down the third-base line and advanced to third on the plate with a two-base throwing error. In the next at-bat, Matthews lifted a 1-2 pitch deep to right for sacrifice fly, scoring Burnham for his team-leading 37th RBI on the season.

Nebraska blew the game open in the fourth with six runs on six hits and a pair of Islander errors to jump ahead 7-0. A pair of infield singles by Anderson and Columbus, followed by a sac fly to left by Josh Caron doubled the lead for the Big Red to 2-0.

Fischer reached on an AMCC error to put runners on first and second, before Evans drilled an RBI single up the middle to score Columbus and make it 3-0. Burnham followed with a two-RBI triple down the right-field line, while RBI singles from Matthews and Swansen gave the Huskers the 7-0 lead.

Three consecutive hits to begin the sixth expanded the lead to 9-0 for the Big Red. Burnham led off with a double to left for his third hit of the game, while Matthews lined an 0-2 pitch to left for an RBI single. In the next at-bat, Dylan Carey smacked a double off the wall in left-center to plate Matthews.

Texas A&M-CC scored its first run on two hits in the bottom of the sixth. A leadoff double and a one-out RBI single through the left side plated the Islanders’ first run and placed runners on first and third. Olson struck out the next two batters to elude any damage.

The Huskers got the run back in the next half inning. Evans drew a four-pitch walk and stole second, before racing home on Burnham’s RBI single through the right side.

NU tacked on two more runs in the eighth to grow the lead to 12-1 with a two-run homer over the wall in center by Anderson to clinch the run-rule victory.