It was a blustery, overcast day at Haymarket Park which saw Illinois defeat Nebraska in the rubber match, despite a late rally by NU. Some of the emotions from Illinois’ Friday night 8-1 blowout victory and Nebraska’s 4-3 walk-off win on Saturday appeared to carry over into Sunday’s game.
Tensions flared in the bottom of the second after Husker infielder Cam Chick had appeared to hit into a double play but that initial verdict was overturned after NU head coach Darin Erstad peeled out of the dugout, who argued that Illini starting pitcher Cyrillo Watson had impeded Chick from getting to first base.
Watson had run over to cover first from the mound but Illini first baseman Kellen Sarver was already standing on the bag. As Watson watched the play unfold, his right leg appeared to be squarely in the base path, interfering with Chick’s ability to get on base. After Erstad got his point across to the umpires, they sided with Erstad and overturned the call.
Incensed with the ruling, Illinois head coach Dan Hartleb tore out of the visiting dugout for an explanation. It wasn’t the last time he’d come running out to the field to talk to the umpires as the very next inning, another play caused some controversy.
With one out and two men on, Michael Massey smacked a double into left field that brought in Michael Michalak easily from second base. However, when Ben Troike came rounding third, an excellent relay from the Huskers got the throw in time to tag him out at the plate. Troike protested to the umpires, which prompted Hartleb to come running from the dugout to show his displeasure with the bang-bang call.
The next batter would pop out, ending both the inning and Illinois’ potential for an early multi-run advantage. The stalemate had been broken though, as Illinois led it 1-0 after three.
The 20 to 30 mph winds to the southeast blowing in didn’t stop Illinois from building onto their lead in the fourth inning on a two run blast to right field to make it 3-0.
Nebraska starter Reece Eddins didn’t last much longer after that. He was pulled in the top of the fifth with one out and runners on the corners. In 4.1 innings pitched, Eddins allowed three runs on three hits and walked two batters.
Shay Schanaman worked out of the jam to prevent any more runs coming across but NU had their work cut out for them in the innings ahead.
Things would only get worse for the Big Red. In the sixth, freshman short stop Spencer Schwellenbach twisted around to attempt a difficult catch on a ball that just drifted into the outfield, but it bounced off his glove to plate a run and put the Illini up 4-0.
Nebraska did get a run across in the sixth off the bat of Mojo Hagge, but they began their comeback in earnest in the seventh though. With the bases loaded and two outs, Joe Acker hit an RBI single that scored two. One at bat later, Chick brought in Luke Roskam on another single to tie it up at 4-4.
But the veritable death blow came in the top of the ninth for Nebraska. With two outs and freshman Colby Gomes in the circle, Sarver crushed a double into deep center just over the head of Acker to get two runs across the plate and retake the lead for Illinois, 6-5. That would be the final score of the game, as Illinois took the series two games to one.
“(He) just tried to get that breaking ball down,” Erstad said following the game. “It stayed up a little bit and the guy smashed it. We had the momentum and they stole it right away.”
It was a bitter pill to swallow for the Huskers, who had no answer for the Illinois pitching staff until it was too late.
“Mentally I thought they were taking it to us,” NU head coach Darin Erstad said of the Illini. “They showed their experience. They came in for the kill. We fought it off and almost pulled it out.”
The mental battle won’t leave the Huskers when they’re off the field this week, as finals await for most of the players. Because of that, Erstad urged his team not dwell on how they came up short this weekend on Friday and Sunday.
“What they cannot let happen now though is sulk tonight, feel down about the series, and forget the focus about what it is to be a student-athlete because it’s game on.”
With the loss, Nebraska is now 23-16 on the year overall and 12-6 in the Big 10. Next up for the Huskers, they’ll need to take on another team from Illinois, the Northwestern Wildcats, for a three game series in Evanston. Coverage for all of those games can be found on KLIN.
(Photo – Kenny Larabee)
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