Lightning halts, postpones Nebraska/Creighton baseball game with bases loaded

Drama was building late in a tie game between Nebraska and Creighton. Severe weather guaranteed it won’t be resolved for three weeks.

Thunderstorms in the area forced a delay – and eventual suspension – of the Tuesday evening clash of in-state baseball rivals late in 4-4 affair. The Huskers had loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the seventh inning and the Jays were making a pitching change when umpires called players off the field as thunder rumbled in the distance.

Play is expected to resume when the teams meet in Omaha on May 9 before the originally scheduled 7 p.m. contest.

Nebraska in theory was one batter away from taking its first lead of the night and finishing off a win in an official game. Max Anderson was 3 for 4 to push his batting average to .427 and Brice Matthews swatted his team-leading 14th home run.

A victory would have provided relief to a few frustrating Husker trends – NU is 0-3 against in-state foes this season and has lost seven of its last eight against the Jays dating back to 2018. Creighton walked off NU 6-5 on March 21.

The last time the teams met at Haymarket Park also ended in a suspended game that was never finished. In that instance in April 2022, the Huskers led 1-0 after three complete frames before a lightning delay and severe storms rolled through.

The Tuesday meeting of two squads with RPIs just north of 110 began with Creighton building an early lead with a mix of slump busting and opportunistic moments. Andrew Meggs – in a 5-for-50 (.100) drought – pulled a two-run homer out to left in the top of the third. The Jays made it 3-0 in the fourth on an RBI double down the left-field line by Ben Gbur, who was 7 for his previous 35 (.200).

The visitors extended to 4-1 in the fifth when a Matthews throwing error with two outs set up Nolan Clifford for a run-scoring double to right-center.

CU starter Justin Kleinsorge fired three scoreless frames before Casey Burnham led off the fourth by sending a ball into the wind and over the right-field wall, knocking off the glove of a pursuing Gbur. The homer was the fourth in the five-year career of the speedy Grand Island native spanning 140 games.

Matthews – minutes after his costly high throw in the field – then put a charge into a ball and the Haymarket Park crowd to bring Nebraska within 4-3 in the fifth. The junior cracked his sixth round-tripper in eight games following an Efry Cervantes walk, sending the ball 433 feet to left that was 114 mph off the bat. The junior flexed his arms and side-armed his bat toward the dugout before touring the bags.

Nebraska tied the game with two outs in the sixth. Cervantes doubled to right to set up Cole Evans – briefly with Creighton during the abbreviated 2020 campaign – who pushed an RBI single to right.

Anderson led off the seventh with an infield hit, Garrett Anglim was hit by a pitch and Charlie Fischer drew a walk before the interruption. Six-hole hitter Gabe Swansen was due up.

Big Red starter Kyle Perry went three innings, allowing just the Meggs homer. Corbin Hawkins, Jake Bunz and Shay Schanaman had combined for 2 1/3 scoreless innings before the suspension.

Big Ten-leading Nebraska (21-11-1) resumes league play with a weekend series at Iowa, which fell to Illinois-Chicago 14-3 Tuesday. Creighton (15-14) is home for three games with St. John’s beginning Friday.