No. 10 Baseball falls at Nebraska, 1-0, in 15 innings

Saturday, March 28

Lincoln, Neb.

2:05 p.m.

University of Texas

17-10

Nebraska

20-7

Texas

Nebraska

No. 10 Baseball falls at Nebraska, 1-0, in 15 innings

03.28.2015 | Baseball

Box Score

Longhorns and Cornhuskers traded zeros for 14 innings

LINCOLN, Neb. -- The No. 10 Texas baseball team traded zeros with No. 30 Nebraska for 14 innings on Saturday afternoon, but the Cornhuskers struck for the only run of the game in the bottom of the 15th to hand the Longhorns a 1-0 defeat.

In the longest game for UT since 2011, the Longhorns (17-10) received a host of standout pitching performances but were countered by an identical showing from Nebraska (20-7). Six Texas pitchers combined to keep Nebraska off the scoreboard for the first 14 innings, while four Cornhuskers did the same for 15 frames.

Texas got a sterling outing from starting pitcher Kacy Clemens, who shut down the Cornhuskers in seven scoreless innings. The sophomore surrendered just two hits and a walk, keeping Nebraska hitless over his final five frames.

Clemens retired nine straight between a single in the second and a walk in the fifth, and allowed just one runner to reach scoring position (in the second inning). Over his last six appearances Clemens has found his groove, accumulating a 1.55 ERA in 29 innings pitched.

Nebraska starter Kyle Kubat was equally impressive, tossing eight scoreless innings while allowing just three hits. The lefty matched a career high with nine strikeouts, having also done that against Michigan last weekend.

The Longhorns had three hits in the first four innings but were shut down from there, as Kubat didn't surrender one the rest of his outing and three Nebraska relievers kept Texas hitless until a Ben Johnson single in the 14th.

The game turned in the 15th when reliever Travis Duke hit leadoff batter Tanner Lubach who was then moved up to second on a sacrifice bunt. Austin Darby followed by lacing a game-winning single to left field giving Nebraska its 13th win in the last 14 games.

Unable to get anything going offensively, the Longhorns had made big plays time and again with pitching and defense to stay in the game.

The Cornhuskers loaded the bases in the bottom of the 11th with two outs and reliever Connor Mayes on the mound, and on a full count Mayes froze Jake Placzek with a called third strike that ended the threat.

An inning later, a leadoff walk and a wild pitch gave Nebraska the winning run on third with one out. But relief pitcher Ty Culbreth fielded a comebacker and threw home, with catcher Michael Cantu making a beautiful block of home plate to keep the winning run from scoring.

Texas again faced trouble in the 13th as Nebraska loaded the bases with just one out. Jake McKenzie came on in the tough spot and on a full count, induced an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play to keep the game going.

Duke dominantly struck out the side in the 14th before Texas finally surrendered the game-winning run an inning later. Duke took the loss to drop to 1-1 on the year. Nebraska reliever Jeff Chestnut (4-0) allowed just one hit in 2 1/3 innings to claim the win.

The Longhorns and Cornhuskers face off in the series finale Sunday at 12:05 p.m.