The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
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Nebraska
No. 6 Baseball drops series finale to Nebraska, 6-3
05.08.2011 | Baseball
May 8, 2011
LINCOLN, Neb. - The No. 6 Texas Longhorns fell behind early and were unable to make up the deficit in a 6-3 loss to the Nebraska Cornhuskers on Sunday afternoon at Hawks Field.
Despite the loss, Texas (36-12) won the regular-season series at Nebraska for the fourth consecutive trip. The Longhorns swept Nebraska in Lincoln in 2009 and won 2-of-3 in 2005, 2007 and 2011.
Texas fell percentage points behind Texas A&M atop the Big 12 Conference standings. The Longhorns ended the weekend with a 17-7 (.708) league mark. The Aggies had the weekend off from league action and will take a 15-6 mark (.714) into their home series next weekend against Nebraska.
The Longhorns are off from league action next weekend and Texas and Texas A&M wrap up conference play with a three-game series with the the conference regular-season title on the line from May 19-21. The Thursday night game is slated for College Station and the Friday and Saturday night games will be played in Austin.
Nebraska (28-20, 7-13 Big 12) drew first blood with a run in the bottom of the third inning. With one out, Khiry Cooper and Kale Kiser were issued walks and Bryan Peters was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Cody Asche broke the scoring seal with a deep fly ball to leftfield to score Cooper on the sacrifice fly.
The Cornhuskers tacked on another run in the fourth inning. Kash Kalkowski singled through the left side of the infield to start the inning, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Chad Christensen and scored when Patric Tolentino doubled to the wall down the leftfield line for the 2-0 lead.
Nebraska inflated the cushion to 6-0 with four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. Kiser and Peters both singled to start the frame. After the first out of the inning was recorded, Kendal Carrillo relieved UT starter Hoby Milner on the mound. Carrillo hit Kurt Farmer with a pitch to load the bases. Kalkowski's double down the leftfield line kicked up chalk and scored a pair of runs for a 4-0 lead. After Christensen plated the third run of the inning with a sacrifice fly, Longhorns' third baseman Erich Weiss misplayed a ground ball by Josh Scheffert allowing Kalkowski to score for the 6-0 lead.
Texas got on the scoreboard with a pair of runs in the sixth inning. With two outs, Weiss was hit by a pitch and Montalbano walked. Jonathan Walsh hit a double over the head of the Cornhuskers' rightfielder to drive in both runners, cutting the Nebraska lead 6-2.
The Longhorns trimmed another run of the lead in the eighth. Tant Shepherd lead off the inning with a single just past the glove of Nebraska's shortstop and moved to second on a wild pitch. After moving to third on a groundout by Weiss, Shepherd scored on a single to the gap in right centerfield by Montalbano.
Milner (4-3) was saddled with the loss for Texas. He allowed four runs on four hits and three walks while striking out two over 4.1 innings. Carrillo faced two batters, yielding two runs, one earned, on one hit and one hit batsman. Nathan Thornhill closed out the game with 3.2 shutout innings, allowing two hits while striking out four.
Tyler Niederklein (7-2) earned the win for Nebraska. He worked 5.2 innings, allowing two runs on four hits and three walks while striking out four. Casey Hauptman allowed one run on three hits while striking out two over 3.1 innings to earn his eighth save of the season.
Walsh and Montalbano had two hits apiece for Texas. Walsh went 2-for-3 with one double and two RBI. Montalbano went 2-for-3 with one walk, one run and one RBI, but was twice retired on the base paths to eliminate potential runs.
Peters and Kalkowski registered two hits each to lead Nebraska. Peters went 2-for-3 with one hit-by-pitch and one run. Kalkowski went 2-for-4 with one double, one stolen base, two runs and two RBI.
Texas returns to action on Saturday when the Longhorns host the Texas Southern Tigers for a doubleheader at UFCU Disch-Falk Field. First pitch for the opener is slated for 12 p.m. with the second game to follow approximately 30 minutes after completion of the first.
