NU baseball team defeats South Dakota State

Nebraska scored eleven times on a season-high sixteen hits to run South Dakota State out of town Wednesday afternoon.

But it came at a big cost.

In the bottom of the second inning, freshman Kale Kiser was hit in the face by a pitch after the ball deflected off the left side of Kiser's helmet and struck him on the corner of his nose.

NU coach Mike Anderson said Kiser was bleeding at the plate and has been ruled out for this weekend's four-game series with Cal State Northridge.

"We're going to wait until the swelling goes down to see if he needs an x-ray on the nose," Anderson said. "It might have broken his nose. It's pretty bad."

Immediately following the injury delay, SDSU pitcher Caleb Thielbar plunked another Nebraska batter. With two on and two out, NU freshman Khiry Cooper smacked an RBI single to make it 2-0 Nebraska.

With the lead, Husker sophomore Casey Hauptman settled in and pitched a steady game. He would end up throwing for six strong innings, striking out three and giving up one earned run. Hauptman's has a 1.08 earned run average this season and his 71 pitches against SDSU made for his longest outing as a Husker.

Hauptman said he felt great on the mound.

"If he (Anderson) wants me to go Saturday, we got a double-header, so I will be ready then," Hauptman said. "If not Sunday, whatever he says goes."

Hauptman's one mistake was giving up a triple to SDSU's Billy Stitz in the top of the third inning. Eric Cain came home on the play and that cut the NU lead to one.

Juniors Kyle Bubak and Adam Bailey provided the offense Nebraska needed to put the game out of reach. Bubak started the game as NU's lead-off hitter for the first time this year.

The Layton, Utah, native drilled a ball to deep left center and then hustled into second base for a leadoff double to begin the bottom of the fifth inning.

Bailey then ripped a single up the middle, scoring Bubak to take a 3-1 lead.

In the next inning, the Huskers had two outs but Bubak smacked another double to deep left to score junior DJ Belfonte.

NU freshman Cody Asche would also hit a double to left field, this one banging off the wall. Bubak came around to score, giving Nebraska a 6-1 lead with four frames left.

Both Husker hitters would add more to their impressive statistics in the bottom of the eighth.

With two runners on base and only one out, Bubak singled to score junior Cade Thompson, giving him a career-high four hits on the day. He started out the season 0-for-10 before connecting on nine of his last 13 at-bats.

After his solid day at the plate, Bubak's now hitting .391 this season.

The third baseman has been a leadoff hitter for the last two years at Salt Lake City Community College. He said he felt comfortable during the game and that there was another secret to his success.

"Yesterday we changed our whole mental process," Bubak said. "… Coach (Anderson) emphasized a lot on being aggressive; getting the fastballs that we want to hit and hitting them and trying to hit the ball up the middle because that's where you're going to be most successful. I thought we did a good job of that today."

Bailey might have heeded that same advice.

The Scottsdale, Ariz., native found a pitch he liked in the bottom of the eighth and nailed it over the left-center wall for his fifth home run of the season.

Bailey is now tied for the conference lead in homers. Bubak and Asche scored on the play, pushing the Nebraska lead to 11-1.

Redshirt freshman Sean Yost came in to pitch the seventh and eighth innings. Yost threw 24 pitches, 13 of them strikes, and seemed to have some serious zip on his fastball. He didn't allow any hits or runs and struck out one.

 Anderson was so impressed with Yost's performance he said the right-hander's role on the team may change.

"I have to re-assess that because it was so good today," Anderson said. "He's good."

jeffstraub@dailynebraskan.com