In Nebraska baseball's NCAA Regional opener, the Huskers fell to Yale 5-1 in Corvallis, Oregon Friday afternoon. The Big Red only had one runner get past second base the entire game.
"I can't remember the last time we were outcompeted," said NU head coach Darin Erstad. "It stings me to say we got outcompeted today because that's what we do."
NU's normal Sunday starter, Jake Meyers, got the call for the Huskers' opener against the Bulldogs Friday afternoon. And Yale got to Meyers early on, plating two runs in the top of the first inning.
But Nebraska got on the board in the bottom half of the frame with a Luis Alvarado RBI single that scored Meyers to make it a 2-1 Yale lead. However, the Bulldogs added on in the top of the second, as Andrew Herrera hit his fourth home run of the season to extend Yale's lead to 3-1.
In the top of the fourth, the Bulldogs scored another run on Meyers, making it a 4-1 Yale advantage. Meyers got into some more trouble in the top of the fifth inning before getting pulled after 5.2 innings, leaving a runner he was responsible for on third.
Nebraska will play in an elimination game Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. on ESPN 3 against the loser of the Oregon State-Holy Cross game.
"You can pout about it and go in your room and feel sorry for yourself or you quit or you can fight," Erstad said. "That's what we've done all year is fight. We're not the most talented group in the world but these guys have gotten after it all year and I expect nothing else then going out there an angry bunch of guys tomorrow and got to find a way to win four games. That's still my mindset. That's still our mindset. We're going to go down swinging."
Robbie Palkert came in for Meyers, and on a strange play, Yale's Dai Dai Otaka hit a hard comebacker against Palkert's leg that was good enough for an infield single, scoring Derek Brown to up the Bulldogs' lead to 5-1.
All five runs scored by Yale were charged to Meyers. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs' starter, Scott Politz, threw a complete game, only allowing six hits, one earned run, while striking out six Huskers.
Angelo Altavilla, Ben Miller & Scott Schreiber combined to go 0-for-10 at the plate with two walks.
