PEORIA, Ariz. — Nebraska’s baseball team entered the ninth inning with a three-run lead against Gonzaga on Saturday, but lost 10-8 on a night where its opponent committed seven errors.
Junior closer Tyler Niederklein needed three outs in the final frame, but he never made it through the inning, giving up five hits and five runs. The biggest blow was a two-run, one-out triple by senior Maxx Garrett, which trimmed NU’s lead to 8-7 and was the first of four straight base hits.
Nebraska had started its season Friday with a 7-4 loss to Gonzaga after leading 4-2 in the sixth inning.
The Huskers (0-2) took their first lead of the game in the sixth inning when junior Bryan Peters delivered a one-out single, scoring junior Rich Sanguinetti and junior Kurt Farmer after both had reached on errors. Peters scored on a throwing error later in the sixth to put NU ahead 6-3.
Gonzaga (2-0) answered with two runs in the seventh inning, but Nebraska added two more in the eighth. The Huskers, with all the momentum, appeared to be on the way to their first win under first-year head coach Darin Erstad.
NU sophomore Jon Keller started the game and lasted 51/3 innings, allowing three runs, surrendering 10 hits and striking out four.
Farmer hit a solo home run in the fourth. Junior Kash Kalkowski had two hits and two RBI.
But it wasn’t enough.
After the Zags rallied with a five-run ninth, Sanguinetti led off the bottom of the inning with a double, but the Huskers were retired in order after that.
Nebraska and Gonzaga will wrap up the three-game series at 1 p.m. Sunday.
Gonzaga (2-0)...................111 000 205—10 18 7
Nebraska (0-2)..................002 103 020—8 12 2
W: Bigelow (1-0). L: Niederklein (0-1)
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