Dylan Carey clutch, Brett Sears shoves and Huskers take season opener over Baylor Bears

Brett Sears shoved, Dylan Carey was clutch, and the Nebraska baseball team shut the door on Baylor, securing its first win of the year with, 4-1, in Friday afternoon’s season opener at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas.

In the same ballpark where, less than four months ago, Corey Seager came up with perhaps the most clutch hit in Texas Rangers history – a game-tying two-run bomb in the bottom of the ninth to send an eventual Rangers victory in Game 1 of the World Series to extras – the Huskers’ Carey showed the Rangers’ Corey that he has some ice in his veins as well. (Albeit on a much smaller scale and stage, of course.)

Carey, who finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs, delivered a pair of two-out, go-ahead doubles on Friday – one in the sixth and one in the eighth. Nebraska took a 2-1 lead into the ninth on the back of Carey’s offense and got a strong start from Brett Sears, who allowed just one earned run on three hits with no walks and seven strikeouts in 5.1 innings (72 total pitches).

A three-man bullpen effort closed it out for the Huskers as Tucker Timmerman earned the win after allowing two hits in 1.2 shutout innings. Kyle Perry got his job done as a setup man with a shutout eighth inning, and closer Casey Daiss allowed a leadoff single before sitting down three in a row for the save.

The Huskers added a pair of insurance runs in the top of the ninth inning with Garrett Anglim’s leadoff, pinch-hit solo job followed by Cayden Brumbaugh’s RBI single to score Riley Silva and provide Daiss with a three-run cushion.

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Carey first gave the Huskers a 1-0 lead in the top of the sixth inning by pushing a drive to right-center and scoring Brumbaugh, who had advanced to second on a single and wild pitch.

After Baylor’s Hunter Simmons matched Carey right away with an RBI double of his own in the bottom of the sixth, the Husker sophomore stepped to the plate in the eighth, again with two outs and a runner in scoring position and delivered … again.

Carey drilled an awkward-angled fly ball to mid-left field, and the ball tailed away from Baylor left fielder Wesley Jordan before lasering down and landing in the outfield to plate Silva.

Silva scored two of the Huskers’ runs while Carey and Brumbaugh combined for four of Nebraska’s five hits. Those two performing at the plate, plus Anglim as a pinch hitter, helped the Huskers negate 14 strikeouts in the season opener (10 of which came off the hand of Baylor starter Mason Marriott, who went 5.2 innings and allowed just one earned run on one hit).

It was a welcome start for the Huskers and their three-game swing at the Shriners Children’s College Showdown. The invitational is hosted at Globe Life Field, where the Huskers have experience but had been unable to secure a win in their previous trip with a three-game sweep at the hands of TCU in 2022.

So, Nebraska was able to put that mini skid to bed and win its first game at the MLB venue today, and now its stiffest challenge of the three-game weekend is on the way. Nebraska faces No. 21 Texas Tech tomorrow (3 p.m. CT) with left-handed pitcher Will Walsh taking the mound.

The Huskers will then wrap things up with a 10:30 a.m. pitch against Oklahoma on Sunday with lefty Caleb Clark on the bump.