Huskers Claw Past Kansas State to Advance to Big 12 Title Game

Arlington, Texas-Justin Seely homered and hit a ninth-inning double to set up John Grose's run scoring single to give Nebraska the winning run, as the Huskers came from behind for an 8-7 victory over Kansas State in front of 10,720 fans to advance to their fourth consecutive championship game in the Phillips 66 Big 12 Conference Baseball Tournament at The Ballpark in Arlington on Saturday afternoon.

Nebraska continued its dominance in tournament play by scoring single runs in eight of nine innings, being shut out only in the second to produce at least one run in 17 of the last 18 innings. The Huskers, who improved to 42-17, extended their overall winning streak to 11 games, and their Big 12 Tournament winning streak to 12 games.

The Huskers advance to play in Sunday's 1 p.m. championship game with either Oklahoma or Texas. The Sooners (35-23) need one win Saturday to advance to final, while the Big 12 regular-season champion Longhorns (45-14) must beat OU twice to reach the championship game.

Kansas State finished its season with a 30-25 record after going 2-2 in its first Big 12 Tournament appearance.

Steve Hale picked up the win with six innings of strong relief to improve to 3-2 on the season, while Mitch Walter suffered the loss in relief to fall to 4-4 on the year. Hale, who also pitched 2.1 innings of scoreless relief to pick up a save in NU's opening round win over Baylor on Wednesday, allowed three earned runs on seven hits in relief of starter Jamie Rodrigue.

Trailing 7-6 heading into the eighth inning, Nebraska continued its relentless and methodical march to the championship game, as Brandon Eymann led off the eighth inning with a walk. Jeff Leise pushed pinch runner Mike Sillman to second with a sacrifice bunt, before Sillman moved to third on Daniel Bruce's fly out to center.

With two outs, Jed Morris hit what looked like a routine grounder to second baseman Brandon Taylor, who bobbled the ball, allowing Morris to reach first without a throw, scoring Sillman from third with the tying run.

The Huskers made a winner of Hale in the ninth with Seely's leadoff double, before Grose laced a single to center to score pinch runner Drew Anderson with the winning run with no outs. Walter then worked his way out of a bases loaded jam without allowing further damage, but Hale set the Wildcats down in order to seal the win.

Seely, who hit his sixth home run of the season for NU's lone run in the fourth inning, and Grose, who also hit his fourth double of the tournament in the second inning, were two of five Huskers to record two hits on the day.

Daniel Bruce, Jed Morris and Will Bolt also notched two hits apiece to fuel a 13-hit Nebraska attack. Bruce scored two runs, including Nebraska's first run after his first career triple in the top of the first. Morris drove in Bruce both times, including NU's second run of the game with Morris' Big 12-leading 23rd double of the season, to increase his Big 12-leading RBI total to 76.

Bolt extended his hitting streak to 14 games with hits in each of his last two at bats, posting his seventh multiple-hit game during the streak.

The Huskers jumped to a 2-0 lead, before the Wildcats rallied in the bottom of the third. Nick Sorensen hit a leadoff double down the left-field line, before scoring on Osmar Castillo's one-out single. Gabe Luttrell followed with another single to put runners at the corners for the Big 12's leading hitter, Pat Maloney, who drew a walk to load the bases for cleanup hitter Tim Doty. Doty drove a long fly to right field, which Bruce caught as he leaped high against the 349-foot sign, robbing Doty of extra bases. Castillo scored on Doty's sacrifice fly to tie the game at two, before Ty Soto fouled out to Blevins at third to end the Wildcats' threat.

In the top of the fourth, the Huskers regained the lead on Seely's solo home run.

But Kansas State rallied again in the bottom of the fourth after back-to-back singles by Brett Williams and Tim Foley chased Husker starter Jamie Rodrigue with runners at first and second with no outs. Sorensen advanced the runners with a sacrifice bunt, before Taylor tied the game with a sacrifice fly to right to score Williams and tie the score, before Castillo's single left center scored Foley to give the Wildcats their first lead at 4-3.

That run marked the first time in eight games (74 innings) that Nebraska had trailed in a game, dating back to the ninth inning against Cal Poly on May 10.

The Huskers scored single runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings to carry a 6-4 lead, before Castillo brought the Wildcats back in the seventh with a leadoff triple, followed by Luttrell's RBI single to center cut the lead to 6-5. Luttrell advanced to second on Maloney's sacrifice bunt, and moved to third on Doty's infield single to put runners at the corners with one out for Soto, who singled to center and scored Luttrell with the tying run. Doty then scored the go-ahead run on Williams' sacrifice fly to center to give the Wildcats a 7-6 lead heading into the eighth.

Nebraska Notes
*-Nebraska extended its longest winning streak of the season to 11 games with the win over Kansas State. It was the Huskers' first win over Kansas State in the two teams' first meeting in Big 12 Tournament history. The Huskers also evened their season series with the Wildcats at 2-2. The Huskers extended their Big 12 Tournament winning streak to 12 games, while improving their overall tournament record to 16-1 under Coach Dave Van Horn.

*-With 13 hits against Kansas State on Saturday, Nebraska produced its seventh consecutive game with double-figure hit totals. The Huskers pounded out 15 hits in its opening-round win over Baylor on Wednesday and 14 hits in a win over Texas Tech on Thursday. As a team, the Huskers are hitting .396 (42-106) in the tournament.

*-Nebraska, which scored a first-inning run to extend its streak to 10 straight innings with at least one run scored before being shut out in the second inning, has scored in 21 of 25 innings at the Big 12 Tournament this season, combining for 31 runs in their first three tournament games. Nebraska's 10 consecutive innings with a run scored set a Big 12 Tournament record. The Huskers enter the championship game having scored in seven straight innings.

*-Before allowing two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to trail 4-3, the Huskers had not trailed in a game since heading into the ninth inning down 3-2 to Cal Poly on May 10. Nebraska scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth and had not trailed in 74 innings, a span of nine games.

*-With two sacrifice flies against Kansas State, the Huskers have six sacrifice flies in the tournament and moved into second on the school single-season charts with 44 sacrifice flies on the year as a team, trailing only the 47 sacrifice flies by the Huskers in 1983.

*-With Jed Morris' hit by pitch to lead off the top of the seventh inning, the Huskers tied the school record for hit by pitches in the season with 88.

*-Jed Morris drove in two runs for the third straight tournament game to increase his Big 12-leading total to 76 RBIs. Morris, who is 5-for-11 (.455) in the tournament, hit his second double of the tournament in the third inning to increase his Big 12-leading total to 76 RBIs, which ranks sixth on NU's single-season RBI chart.

*-Morris who has six RBIs in the Big 12 Tournament, has driven in 22 runs during Nebraska's current 11-game winning streak.

*-Morris extended his career-long hitting streak to 12 games with a third-inning RBI double and added a single in the fifth inning for his 27th multiple-hit game of the season.

*-Morris' 23rd double in the third inning moved him into a tie for fourth on NU's single-season doubles chart. It was his 39th career double, which tied him for 10th on Nebraska's all-time list.

*-Sophomore catcher John Grose had two hits, including a one-out single to drive in the winning run in the top of the ninth inning, to improve to 6-for-10 (.600) with six RBIs and three runs scored. Grose, who doubled off the wall in left-center with two outs in the top of the second inning, has four doubles in the tournament.

*-Freshman outfielder Daniel Bruce went 2-for-6 to improve to 6-for-16 (.375) in tournament play. Bruce hit his first career triple before scoring Nebraska's first run in the top of the first inning. He has two hits in all three tournament games for 11 multiple-hit games on the season. He has added five RBIs and three runs scored in the tournament.

*-Justin Seely's fourth inning solo home run was his sixth of the season and third in the last five games. The senior outfielder from Nacogdoches, Texas, doubled to set up Nebraska's winning run in the ninth, going 2-for-4 with a walk against Kansas State, improving to 4-for-8 (.500) with two RBIs and three runs scored in the tournament.

*-Seely, who also has two walks, two hit by pitches and a sacrifice, has reached base eight times in 12 plate appearances in the tournament for a .667 on-base percentage.

*-Will Bolt extended his hitting streak to 14 games with a one-out single to left in the sixth inning. Bolt's streak ties John Grose for the team's longest streak this season. Bolt is 6-for-12 (.500) in the tournament with three RBIs and four runs scored. With a 2-for-5 effort against Kansas State, Bolt has seven multiple-hit games during his 14-game streak, while hitting .407 (22-for-54) during that stretch.

*-Nebraska has seven players with at least four hits in its three tournament games. John Grose (6-for-10), Will Bolt (6-for-12), Matt Hopper (6-for-14), Daniel Bruce (6-for-16), Jed Morris (5-for-11), Jeff Leise (5-for-14) and Justin Seely (4-for-8).

*-With one run in the first inning, Nebraska produced at least one first inning run for the 35th time in 59 games this season. Nebraska has scored at least one run in 256 straight games, the second-longest active streak in college baseball.

Nebraska Head Coach Dave Van Horn On the game
"Our dugout was into it today. You could tell they did not want to play a second game. You have to give K-State credit; I've really enjoyed watching them play. They beat us two out of three at their place, and watching them play in this tournament, my hats off to those guys. I have a lot of respect for Mike Clark and his staff."

"They were right there to beat us. We didn't do a very good job of putting them away, and when they had a chance to put us away, they couldn't get it done. It was just like a boxing match up there when the teams were pretty even. They made a mistake in the eighth (inning), and it cost them a tie and momentum. Then we got the big hit, and it was a very close play at the plate. From my angle he slid to the side, and he got in there. I felt like (Kelly) Nutt made a great call."

"It was a great ballgame and we are extremely happy we don't have to play another ballgame out there in that heat and humidity. Because we aren't used to that kind of heat."

Pitcher Steve Hale On his performance
"I knew our offense was going to score some more runs, so I was just trying to keep their offense at bay in the eighth. I told coach Childress that if I got in any trouble to come and get me, because I was pretty much spent."