College Baseball: Nebraska Cornhuskers Done in by Relief Pitching

In Big 12 play this season, the Nebraska Cornhuskers got at least one win in every series they played—except for this last one against the Missouri Tigers. 

As usual for the Huskers this year, the relief pitching did them in.  Jim Rose, the voice of Husker Baseball, attributed the loss to mental drainage, after their involving come-from-behind wins and 16-inning game last weekend against Texas A&M. 

Relief pitching is always critical, especially during tournament games in close succession.  The first hint that things might go badly occurred during the third game against Oklahoma. 

While Nebraska had taken the first two games in solid form, they allowed the Sooners to get back in the third game and leave with a tie.  In this game, starter Aaron Pribanic went deep into the eighth while the Huskers built a solid lead. 

At this point, Coach Mike Anderson decided to put in Zach Herr, in order to, as the radio announcers decided, get a little confidence after some bad outings.  Instead, Herr continued in his rut and allowed the Sooners to start a run that let them get back in the game and leave with a tie. 

The same issues have been plaguing the Huskers ever since, and rose to the surface in this last series against Missouri.

In game one, Johnny Dorn got things started out right for the Huskers, going seven innings and allowing only one run—just to have the bullpen give the game away with seven runs the rest of the way. Dan Jennings was the culprit in this instance.

Game two was given away at the very beginning by starting pitcher Thad Weber.  It only got marginally better throughout the game, as the offense was able to put up some numbers while the game remained essentially out of reach.

In game three, the starting pitching again started out shakily, with Aaron Pribanic having control issues.  The game did not get out of hand though, and the Huskers were able to keep the game tight until the sixth. 

But after Nebraska battled to get within two runs, relief pitcher Joe Hatasaki gave up a two-run homer in the sixth that increased Mizzou's cushion to four runs.  The Big Red never recovered, and seemed to just want to play the game out and get the tournament started.

After getting swept in this last series, Nebraska is now the No. 3 seed in this week's Big 12 Baseball tournament in Oklahoma City. I was planning on going to every game this week, and as the No. 2 seed, Nebraska would have been playing several evening games.  Instead, we play the third-seed schedule—4 PM on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. 

The first game is against the always-tough-in-tournament-play Baylor Bears.  Nebraska took the series from Baylor and seventh-seeded Kansas State during the regular season, but will also face No. 2 seed Oklahoma State, who posed problems for them during their match-ups in Stillwater. 

After losing a 1-0 battle the first game, Nebraska was taken behind the woodshed by the Cowboys, only to rebound and take game three to avoid the series sweep. This game on Saturday will probably decide who will go to the championship game on Sunday. 

These Nebraska pitchers will once again be challenged and called upon to do a lot of work.  The Big 12 Tournament is four games in five days, if you make it to the championship.  You can count on at least one poor performance and early exit from the starters.  Will the relief be able to step up?