Huskers Edge Bison with Long Ball and Solid Relief Pitching

Cam Chick and Griffin Everitt homered and the Husker bullpen pitched 5.1 scoreless innings in Nebraska’s 4-3 win vs. North Dakota State at Hawks Field on Wednesday night.

Nebraska (14-21) scored four runs on seven hits and an error, while NDSU (21-12) had three runs with seven hits and an error.

Starter Dawson McCarville pitched the first 3.2 innings, allowing three runs on five hits and a pair of walks. CJ Hood made his 13th appearance on the season, tossing 1.1 hitless innings in relief to earn his first collegiate win. Chandler Benson, Tyler Martin and Corbin Hawkins pitched the next 2.2 innings, while Braxton Bragg threw the final 1.1 innings and posted four strikeouts to pick up his fourth save on the season.

Everitt led the Huskers at the plate, going 2-for-3 with a double, home run and two RBI. Chick reached base in all four plate appearances with a solo home run and being hit by the pitch three times. Chick is the first Husker to homer in three consecutive games since Scott Schreiber in 2018 and is the first Husker to be hit by the pitch three times in a game since Kale Kiser vs. Oklahoma State on April 3, 2011.

Josh Caron had a double and Garrett Anglim and Max Anderson tallied a single each to round out the hitting for the Husker offense.

North Dakota State plated the game’s first run in the second after Cadyn Schwabe’s RBI single up the middle scored Jack Simonsen.

The Huskers responded in the bottom half of the inning when Everitt lifted the first pitch over the wall in right to lead off the second for Nebraska with a solo homer to tie the game.

The Bison answered with a hit by pitch, followed by a two-run blast by Druw Sackett to left to give NDSU a 3-1 lead in the third. 

Chick brought the Huskers back within one with a two-out solo shot to center in the third, his sixth of the season. Back-to-back singles by Anglim and Anderson put runners on first and second, before Everitt smacked an RBI double down the right field line to bring home Anglim and Anderson to give the Huskers a 4-3 lead after three innings.

NDSU threatened in the seventh with runners on first and third with two outs, but Hawkins replaced Martin on the mound and drew a flyout to right on an 0-1 pitch to hold the one-run lead for the Huskers.

Bragg took the mound with two outs in the eighth and struck out the four Bison hitters he faced to secure the 4-3 win for the Big Red on Wednesday night.

Nebraska steps back into conference play this weekend, as the Huskers venture to Bloomington, Ind., for a three-game series at Indiana on Friday-Sunday, April 22-24.