Huskers fall in 16 innings
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BY CURT McKEEVER / Lincoln Journal Star
Texas A&M’s baseball team could be totally exhausted after Friday night, but the Aggies have reached the doorstep of the Big 12 Conference regular-season title.
In a fitting battle between top-five teams, A&M won its 16th straight league contest, 6-3 on Dane Carter’s three-run double with two outs -- Aggies' only two-out hit of the game -- in the 16th inning.
Carter’s drive to the gap in right-center field on a 2-2 pitch from Dan Jennings came after NU catcher Mitch Abeita dropped a foul pop-up near the backstop, and understandably left a Haymarket Park crowd of 8,708 in a hush.
“From the Big 12 side of things, that’s as good a game as I’ve ever been a part of. It was just an incredibly pitched game,” said A&M’s third-year coach Rob Childress, who spent eight seasons as Nebraska’s pitching coach. “With their pitching staff you’re not going to get many opportunities. (Carter) made the most of his second chance.”
With the win, the Aggies (42-8 overall and 19-3 in the league) reduced their magic number to winning their first Big 12 crown since 1999 to two. A&M could eliminate the Huskers — now 36-9-1 and down 3½ games in the standings with five to play — by beating them either today or Sunday. Third-place Oklahoma State remains four games back.
Friday’s contest, which ended right at midnight, was the longest for A&M since 1989 and represented its fourth extra-inning victory during the 16-game winning streak.
Jennings, who suffered his first loss of the season, gave up one-out infield singles to Brodie Greene, Ben Feltner and Kyle Colligan, but then struck out Blake Stouffer to give himself a chance to get out of the inning.
But NU paid the price for giving Carter, the leading hitter in the Big 12, new life.
“It was just their night,” Jennings said. “It came down to they caught some breaks and we didn’t, because it’s definitely not that they played harder than us.”
Nebraska — which went 1-for-23 with runners in scoring position — forced extra innings by getting a run in the ninth.
A&M reliever Kyle Thebeau, the Big 12’s earned-run average leader, hit Jake Mort with a pitch and walked Jake Opitz before Abeita delivered a sacrifice bunt. Craig Corriston, facing the Aggies’ wins and saves leader, Travis Starling, then produced the tie with an RBI groundout.
A&M had taken a 3-2 lead in the eighth inning, immediately after the Huskers had tied the game, on Brian Ruggiano’s one-out RBI single off Johnny Dorn.
The third-largest crowd to watch a game at Haymarket saw NU climb back from a 2-0, second-inning deficit by scoring one run in the third after Mort led off with a double, and then pull even in the seventh, when Mort led off with a triple but didn’t score until Thebeau uncorked a two-out wild pitch.
The Aggies scored twice in the second on just one hit.
Dorn issued a one-out walk to Luke Anders and hit Darby Brown with a delivery before Ruggiano lined a single up the middle to make it 1-0. Dorn then made a wild throw to first after fielding a bunt by Greene that allowed Brown to score, but he escaped further damage when Kevin Gonzalez was called out on batter’s interference and Colligan flew out to left field.
Down 2-1, Nebraska was in position to produce a big fifth inning with runners on second and third and no outs.
Mort had reached on an error by the shortstop Duran before Opitz singled off the glove of the first baseman Anders. On that play, the second baseman Stouffer tracked the ball down and tried to get Opitz at first, but threw wildly to allow both runners to advance.
Abeita then hit a short-hop smash at pitcher Brooks Raley, who fielded it on instinct and then threw to third to nail Mort. He then retired Corriston on a pop-up and DJ Belfonte on a fly to left field.
Nebraska will try to remain alive for the Big 12 title when the two teams go at it again today at 2:05 p.m.
“What you had is two very strong and determined teams getting after it. Something had to give a little bit right there,” NU coach Mike Anderson said. “I told (my guys) they had one minute. They can be disappointed, but they can’t be discouraged.
“We’re OK. We’ll bounce back. We’ve done this year, so whether it’s a win or a loss, in our next game we’ll fight back.”
Jennings guaranteed it.
“I guarantee everybody in the clubhouse is as fired up as can be,” he said. “To see those guys celebrating, it’s like a dagger to the heart.”
Briefly: Former Husker Curtis Ledbetter has been named the director of operations for the Husker baseball program beginning Monday.
In the newly created position, Ledbetter will assist the coaching staff in a number of roles, primarily helping with on-campus recruiting, business administration and working within the Nebraska Baseball Academy.
“We are excited to have Curtis rejoin our program in this new role on our staff,” NU coach Mike Anderson said. “His experiences in our program and in the minor leagues will benefit our program. Curtis is someone who has been around the game for a long time and has a passion for it. The other thing is that he is a high-character person who is a good fit with our coaching staff.”
Ledbetter brings an extensive background to the Husker staff, including playing professional baseball after he graduated from Nebraska in 2005. An 18th-round draft pick of the Seattle Mariners, Ledbetter played professional baseball for three years, earning Frontier League all-star honors in 2007, his final season in the professional ranks.
Reach Curt McKeever at 473-7441 or cmckeever@journalstar.com.
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