Huskers Fall to Salukis 5-3 in 13 Innings

Lincoln -- The Nebraska baseball team (32-16) couldn't get a clutch hit in the end and Southern Illinois (25-25) did as the Salukis beat the Huskers 5-3 in 13 innings in front of a crowd of 922 sundrenched fans on a beautiful Sunday afternoon at Buck Beltzer Stadium.

In the top of the 13th inning, SIU right fielder Marty Worsley hit a three-run home run off NU reliever R.D. Spiehs (3-1) with two outs for the crushing blow. Nebraska threatened in the bottom of the 13th with runners at first and second with one out, but could not take advantage against SIU's Jake Alley (3-3).

"Our pitching didn't hurt us today, but a lot of untimely hitting mistakes killed us," NU Coach Dave Van Horn said. "Our offense has been up and down the past 20 games and today was one of the games where we struggled."

Nebraska trailed 2-1 after Worsley singled in Steve Ruggeri as the go-ahead run off NU reliever Jarod Bearinger in the eighth inning. Bearinger pitched 6.1 innings and struck out five in relief of NU starter Scott Fries who last only 2.2 innings.

In the bottom of the ninth, Jeff Hedman hit a 1-2 pitch from Alley over the center-field fence to tie the game at two and force extra innings.

The Huskers had a good chance to end the ball game in the 11th with Brian Johnson at second base and Hedman at first with one out, but Justin Cowan and Brandt Vlieger flew out to end the threat.

In the 13th, Joe Meeks singled with one out and Spiehs walked Ruggeri to put two runners on. Joe Schley struck out, but with two outs, Worsley hit his sixth home run of the season to put the Salukis ahead 5-2.

Nebraska didn't go easily in the bottom of the 13th. Jamal Strong and Adam Shabala opened the inning with singles before Ken Harvey fouled out to the first baseman Jeff Houston. Hedman had his third hit of the game, a single to score Strong and cut the deficit to 5-3. After Adam Stern pinch ran for Hedman, Cowan popped up to second and Vlieger hit a grounder to third and was thrown out by half-a-step by Jeff Stanek to end the game.

After falling behind 1-0 in the third inning, Strong singled home Will Bolt to the game.

Nebraska returns to action on Tuesday, May 11 when the Huskers play host to Northern Iowa at 6 p.m.

"We will need to win our last five games and a couple in the conference tournament to be deserving of a regional bid," Van Horn said. "Right now we have our work cut out for us."