Nebraska baseball's season ends with loss to Arizona State

Nebraska baseball’s season ended on Sunday with a loss to No. 3 seed Arizona State, 11-8. The Huskers looked sluggish on defense — committing two errors — and didn't string together enough offense early on in the game.

The Cornhuskers played one inning of the winner’s bracket game with Ole Miss around Noon Central time, dropping that contest 6-3.

Arizona State came out swimming with a solo home run in the bottom of the first. NU responded with one of its own in the third, to tie the elimination game at 1.

But the Sun Devils piled on more offense, following a defensive miscue in their half of the inning. With runners on first and second and one out, second baseman Rhett Stokes fielded a ground ball and tried to turn a double play. Shortstop Dylan Carey couldn’t handle the throw, allowing the runner from second to score. Two batters later, a two-run homer made it 5-1 Arizona State.

Extracurriculars followed. In the fourth inning, Big 12 player of the year Landon Hairston was ejected. He struck out on a called third strike and tossed his bat into the air. After a short conference between the umpires, Hairston was thrown out of the game.

Despite the ejection bringing the Husker crowd back into the game, the Sun Devils responded with a solo home run in the fifth, making it 6-1 ASU. A grand slam in the bottom of the sixth extended the lead out to 10, at 11-1.

The Big Red would fight back with five runs, in an inning that included four straight base hits. That made it 11-6 ASU.

NU continued to show fight into the ninth inning, with a Carey single cutting the deficit to four runs. The tying run came to the plate in left fielder Jett Buck and then again with catcher Trey Fikes. Buck drove in a run on fly ball to right field, which allowed the eighth NU run to tag up and score. Fikes hit a line shot to right field, but it was caught for the final out of the game.

A Nebraska baseball postseason that showed promise ended with a loss at home. It was the first NCAA Tournament Regional hosted by the Big Red since 2008. NU hasn’t been to the Men’s College World Series since 2005.

Hosting a regional meant the world to local baseball fans.

Pamela Thomsen of North Bend, Nebraska, said she loved the atmosphere in game one against South Dakota State. That included the left fielder Buck throwing out a runner at home, with the catcher Fikes applying the tag.

“We sat in the second row, right next to the dugout, over off first base,” Thomsen said, “and it was amazing watching Fikes tag that guy out when Jet threw it.”

Tyler Wessel of Lincoln said hosting a regional got him to invest further into the program.

“I am going to buy season tickets for next year, so this is what this regional means to us, it gets us out here,” Wessel said.

The appreciation was further proven by the remaining Big Red fans cheering and clapping for this memorable team as it left the diamond.

Sunday likely marked the last college game for seniors and Husker veterans like Dylan Carey, Joshua Overbeek and Rhett Stokes. Carey drove in a run on a single to left field for the final collegiate at bat of his career. The senior finished his time in Lincoln with the most doubles in school history.

This team was special is because of their faith, Overbeek said in the postgame press conference.

"I mean, it's so much bigger than baseball, too, to see so many young freshmen step up and help this program," Overbeek said, "to see so many guys bought in from the top down, and to know that we didn't just go out and have a historic season, but there's an eternal impact that we've left on this team."

Carey echoed that.

"I can't really put into words the memories and the time and the opportunities that we've been given as baseball players to play this game," the senior shortstop said, "but also, like Josh said, glorify the Lord."

The Huskers finished the season with a 43-17 overall record.

Head coach Will Bolt said the Huskers overachieved, not for a lack of talent, but because of the character of his team.

“The only way you have that is, you got to have these guys. You got to have these guys," Bolt said. "This is a players program. I want these guys to come in and be themselves and figure out who that is as a young man.”