Kansas Takes Advantage of Breaks to Beat Cornhuskers 5-3

Gavin Błachowicz pitches a strong five innings in his start tonight. | Nebraska Athletics

Tonight’s game between border rivals had a big game feel from the get-got, and then it got really amped up once Kansas tied the game in the 6th inning and the Jayhawk dugout got really loud and chippy.

At the same time, a lot of venom was coming out of the Nebraska dugout, most of it from the coaches directed toward home plate umpire Joseph Brown.  Some big pitch calls did not go Nebraska’s way, and nothing was done about the behavior coming out of the Jayhawks dugout.

It was that kind of night that reminded vintage fans of those hotly contested games with Creighton during the midweek when John Gross was ready to take on the entire Bluejay team!  And fans were ready to come on to the field to help him out!

Two of the hottest teams in the country showed up at Haymarket Park, both of them second in their conference standings, and both of them having high powered offenses.  Something was going to give.

With both teams swinging the bat very well right now, pitchers were granted perhaps the biggest wish they could have asked for – a steady, strong wind blowing in.  Mother Nature did more to keep the ball in the park tonight than Cornhusker and Jayhawk pitching did, but both staffs were pretty effective as Nebraska only mustered five hits and the Jayhawks six.

Nebraska got on the scoreboard first in the bottom of the second inning as Miken Miller led off with a single.  An out later, Joshua Overbeek singled and Drew Grego walked to load the bases.  Mac Moyer got the third single of the inning to put Nebraska up 2-0.

Gavin Blachowicz had a very good start for Nebraska going five complete innings, giving up only three hits and a run.  The run can be attributed to the wind as Josh Dykhoff hit one up into it to rightfield and Drew Grego miss played it, resulting in a triple.  Dykhoff scored the Jayhawks first run when Dylan Schlotterback singled to cut the lead in half.

Nebraska got the run back when Jeter Worthley led off the bottom of the fifth with a single.  He moved to second on a Case Sanderson walk and to third on a Dylan Carey fielder’s choice.  Miller then drove a deep flyball to centerfield to sacrifice Worthley home.  Nebraska up 3-1.

A turning point in the game came when Ryan Harrahill came in for the Cornhuskers to face Kansas in the sixth inning against the heart of the order, all of them hitting over .300 and 16 home runs between them.

Facing off first against Tyson LeBlanc, Harrahill battled against the shortstop that has hit twelve home runs so far this season, throwing what everyone in the ballpark thought was strike three on a full count except the only one that mattered – home plate umpire Joseph Brown.  Instead, LeBlanc trotted down to first base with a walk.

It seemed to be a matter of time before the Kansas big bats show up, and then the dam broke with Brady Ballinger and Augusto Mungarrieta hitting back-to-back doubles.  That tied the game at 3-3.  Braxton Stewart came on to get the next three batters out.

Kansas scored two more runs in the top of the seventh when Caleb Clark surrendered a one-out walk to Jordan Bach and Cade Baldridge reached first on an Overbeek error.  In came Kevin Mannell, who got an out before Nebraska intentionally walked Ballinger.  Mungarrieta then hit a single down the first baseline that scored two, making it 5-3 Jayhawks.

Neither team scored again and neither team really threatened.  Jalen Worthley and Grant Cleavinger both pitched well for Nebraska in the final two innings, but Jayhawk pitchers saw Cornhusker batters down in order each of the last three innings.

The trash talking and behavior out of the first base dugout was at a different level than what you normally see.  Bench-jockeying has been part of the game forever.  Generally, the umpires shut it down before it gets out of hand, but that didn’t happen tonight.  It was over-the-top, and Nebraska couldn’t really do much other than take it because they were getting beat.

The lost tonight is the first at home for the Cornhuskers this season.  Hopefully this galvanizes them a bit as they have a huge series this weekend against ranked Oregon on the road.  They will have another shot at Kansas in a couple of weeks, but it will be important to put this one behind them.

Notes:

• Nebraska left the bases load twice in the game tonight.  That proved to be huge at the end of the game.  Their two-out hitting didn’t show up tonight either.
• Will Bolt got tossed in the ninth inning.  Frankly, it is surprising that it didn’t happen earlier.  Both coaches complained a lot about pitch calls, but it appeared Bolt was perhaps as angry that the umpires didn’t do anything about the behavior of the Jayhawks players.
• Nebraska’s five hits and eleven strikeouts tonight is not indicative of how this team has played this season.  Credit Kansas pitching for keeping the Cornhuskers from hitting the ball out of the infield in the final three innings.
• Ownership of Haymarket Park needs to send a bill to Lawrence to replace the railing and screen in front of the first base dugout.  Kansas players treated it like playground equipment tonight and did some pretty good damage to it.