Nebraska suffered a 2-1 10-inning loss to 23rd-seeded Maryland in a weather-delayed game in front of 8,340 fans at Charles Schwab Field Thursday night in Omaha.
Nebraska (32-22-1) scored one run on four hits, while Maryland (39-19) scored two runs on eight hits and two errors.
Jace Kaminska had a quality start on the mound, allowing one run on six hits in six innings of work. The junior hit five Terrapins and walked two. Corbin Hawkins dealt an inning with one hit before Shay Schanaman pitched the last 2.2 innings. Schanaman fell to 3-6 this season after allowing a run on a hit with a pair of strikeouts.
Dylan Carey was 2 for 2 to lead the Huskers to the plate, while Max Anderson And Brice Matthews recorded a hit. Matthews stole second in the top of the ninth inning to become the first player in school history with at least 20 homers and 20 stolen bases in a season.
The Huskers placed two runners with one out in the first after Casey Burnham reached on a fielding error and an Anderson single, but the Big Red couldn’t strike out a run.
Maryland charged the bases late in the first with a two-out walk, but Kaminska escaped the block with her first strikeout of the night.
Josh Caron was bitten, and Ben Columbus drew a four-pitch march to put runners first and second with no outs. Carey moved the pair with a sacrificial bunt before Cole Evans’ The RBI pitch in the second tagged Caron to give the Huskers a 1-0 lead in the second.
Kaminska allowed a pair of hits over the next four innings while keeping the Terrapins off the board to preserve the 1-0 Husker lead going into the fifth inning.
The Terrapins started the bottom of the fifth with a brace down the left field line by Kevin Keister. Keister moved up to third on one pitch before heading home on Matt Shaw’s RBI single in the middle to lock the game in a 1-1 tie.
The Huskers had a runner up with an out in the top of the seventh before play was suspended due to a lightning delay at 8:27 p.m. The teams resumed play after a delay of one hour and 33 minutes. Carey advanced to second after Evans pulled out to resume action, while Matthews ducked to put the runners first and second with two outs. The Terrapins escaped the threat with one strikeout to keep the Big Red off the board.
Evans hit a two-out error, followed by Matthews’ single to center to put runners first and third for the Huskers in the top of the ninth. Matthews stole second place to become the first 20-20 player in program history, but the two were locked in second and third as the teams headed down from ninth.
The two teams traded scoreless half-innings, as the Huskers and Terrapins entered in the bottom of the 10th locked tied. Schanaman retired both batters he faced before Nick Lorusso’s solo homer left on a 2-2 count earned the top-seeded Terrapins the win.
Nebraska takes on eighth-seeded Michigan State in a playoff game at 7 p.m. tomorrow night at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha.
