Baseball team leaves nine-game losing streak behind

Nebraska snapped a nine-game losing streak by acting just like its opponents did during the team’s drought. The Cornhuskers got timely hitting, chased the opponent’s starter from the game early and got a solid performance out of its bullpen after they jumped out early and never looked back during an 8-5 win over the Iowa Hawkeyes on Tuesday night.

“I would say this is a good win,” NU coach Mike Anderson said. “It’s a good win for us and our team needed to feel that again.”

Jeff Tezak and Adam Bailey got six of Nebraska’s 11 hits and batted in six RBIs. In the first inning, they both hit RBI singles to put the Huskers up 2-0. They would extend the team’s lead to 5-0 by the end of the third inning.

During the Huskers’ losing skid, the team repeatedly found itself down by similar margins and had to play catch-up to no avail.

Huskers starting pitcher Mike Mariot gave up three runs but lasted into the fourth inning. Senior pitcher Erik Bird replaced Mariot in the fourth inning and earned his first official win of the year after giving up one run in 1 and 1/3 innings of work.

NU also got solid relief performances from Nate Kerkhoff and Erik Anderson. Kerkhoff struck out all four hitters he faced.

Sophomore right-hander Mike Nesseth picked up his second save of the year. He threw 24 pitches and retired the last four batters of the game. During Nebraska’s last series, against Texas, Nesseth tossed to just one batter because of an injury.

The Hawkeyes kept the game interesting with a four-run fourth inning that made it 5-4. The score would stay that way until the bottom of the seventh when Tezak hit another RBI

single and outfielder DJ Belfonte pushed a run across the plate after taking one for the team with the bases loaded.

“He puts the ball in play and understands his role,” Anderson said. “That’s one of the things that Tezak does better than anyone – early in the count, late in the count – he is going to get you something. He is going to make something happen.”

Speaking of turning another problem into a solution for the Huskers on Tuesday night, look no further than how NU finished the game. After Iowa pushed an unearned run across  the plate and had the bases loaded trailing 8-5, Nesseth got Iowa’s Wes Freie to hit into a game-ending double play.

Now that the Huskers have ended their losing streak, they will try to earn their first conference win since they played Oklahoma on March 29. Nebraska will travel to College Station, Texas to take on the Texas A&M Aggies in a three-game series that starts Friday night at 6:30.

RYANBOETEL@DAILYNEBRASKAN.COM