Las Vegas, Nev. – In front of a sellout crowd of 3,173 fans, the first sellout in Earl E. Wilson Stadium history, the Nebraska baseball team posted a 2-0 shutout win over the UNLV Rebels to open the 2015 season. With Nebraska’s pitching staff keep the Rebels’ offense off balance, while Ryan Boldt drove in the eventual game-winning run in the top of the fifth with a two-out single.
The opening-game shutout marked Nebraska’s first since 1995 when the Huskers beat Nebraska-Kearney 9-0.
After posting a 9-1 record last season when he was an unanimous All-Big Ten pick and third-team All-American, Chance Sinclair picked up his 10th career win on Friday night. The senior right hander got stronger as the game went on, as he retired eight of the final nine batters he faced. Sinclair gave NU 5.2 shutout innings, with seven strikeouts and no walks. It was Sinclair’s second-highest career strikeout total, trailing his 10-strikeout performance against Illinois last season.
Sophomore Jake Hohensee took over for Sinclair in the sixth and tossed 2.1 innings of no-hit relief behind a career-high five strikeouts. Senior Josh Roeder then took the mound in the ninth and picked up his 19th career save with a 1-2-3 ninth inning. Nebraska’s pitching staff combined for 14 strikeouts and no walks on the night.
UNLV’s Zak Qualls started for the Rebels after missing the past two years and unfortunately only lasted five pitches before leaving the game with an arm injury. Ben Wright took over for the Rebels and tossed 5.0 innings, giving up one run on five hits and one walk. Bryan Bonnell kept UNLV in the game down the stretch, as he tossed 3.2 innings of scoreless relief.
The Huskers scored their first run of the 2015 season in the top of the first on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Blake Headley. After Tanner Lubach worked a walk to load the bases with one out, Headley lifted a pitch from Wright into deep right-center field that easily scored Austin Darby, who led off the game with a walk.
Holding a 1-0 lead and coming off a 1-2-3 inning headed into the bottom of the fourth, Sinclair got into a jam when he gave up a single and double to start the inning, which put runners on second and third with no out. The senior stayed calm and responded with two straight strikeouts along with a fly out to strand both runners. The NU offense fed off the momentum and added a run in the top of the fifth on a two-out single by Boldt that scored Luis Alvarado to put the Huskers ahead, 2-0.
Sinclair got the first two outs of the sixth before Edgar Montes ripped a single that snapped Sinclair’s streak of eight-straight batters retired. Hohensee took the mound and quickly ended the Rebel threat with a flyout. Hohensee returned for the seventh and struck out the side to keep Nebraska on top 2-0 through seven innings, before notching a perfect eighth inning with two more strikeouts. Roeder closed out the game with a flyout and back-to-back strikeouts.
The Huskers return to Earl E. Wilson Stadium tomorrow afternoon for game two of this weekend’s three-game series with the Rebels. Senior Kyle Kubat is scheduled to take the mound, with first-pitch scheduled for 4:05 p.m. (CT).