Champaign, Ill. – Four unearned runs on three errors in the bottom of the fourth came back to haunt the Nebraska baseball team (34-21, 9-14 Big Ten) on Friday night at Illinois Field, as the No. 5 Illinois Fighting Illini (45-6-1, 21-1 Big Ten) ran their nation-leading win streak to 26 games with a 10-9 victory. The Huskers scored the game’s final five runs and had the tying run in scoring position with two outs in the top of the ninth, but Tyler Jay closed the door for his 12thsave of the season. Saturday’s game was scheduled for 6 p.m., but first pitch was delayed until 8:40 p.m. because of rain and lightning.
With a loss by Minnesota earlier in the day to Michigan State, the Huskers clinched a bid to the Big Ten Tournament next week in Minneapolis at Target Field, home of the Minnesota Twins. Also, following a sweep of Ohio State by Indiana the Huskers were locked into the No. 8 seed and will face No. 1 Illinois on Wednesday at 5 p.m.
Nebraska had one of its best offensive games in quite some time with nine runs on 14 hits, including home runs from Luis Alvarado and Tanner Lubach, but the offensive output was unable to overcome a season-high four errors. NU got four runs (three earned) on nine hits off Illini starter Drasen Johnson, but the senior right hander improved to 9-2 on the year in the win. Illinois was just as leathal at the plate with 13 hits, including home runs from Ryan Nagle, Reid Roper, David Kerian and Will Krug.
Senior Kyle Kubat lasted only 3.0 innings after working into the sixth in each of his last four starts. On the night he gave up six runs, but only three were earned.
Trailing 10-7 going into the ninth, the Huskers loaded the bases with a leadoff walk by Lubach, a single by Blake Headley and walk by Jake Meyers. Jay then struck out Alvarado and Ben Miller before pinch hitter Taylor Fish plated two runs with a single to right field. With Meyers on second base, Jake Placzek stepped to the plate and Jay got him to pop out to shallow right field to end the game.
After the teams matched each other run-for-run in the first two innings, the Huskers scored again in the third, but this time put up a pair of runs to take a 4-2 lead. After Austin Christensen reached on a two-out bloop single to left field, Alvarado picked up his third extra-base hit of the series with a two-run homer to left field, his first home run as a Husker. Alvarado fouled off three pitches before taking Johnson deep over the left-field wall. Miller then laced a ball to right field, but right at Casey Fletcher to end the top of the frame. The Illini also recorded a home run in the third, as Roper blasted a solo shot to center for his ninth of the season, but Kubat limited the damage to the homer and the Huskers held a 4-3 lead after three.
For the first time in the game the Huskers didn’t score in the fourth. Nebraska had runners on the corners with one out, but the Illini turned a 6-4-3 double play to end the NU threat. NU’s defense fell apart behind Kubat in the bottom of the frame and Illini took advantage. The Illini scored four runs, all unearned, on two hits and three errors. The Huskers should have been out of the inning without any damage, but instead the Illini got a run on a fielder’s choice that would have ended the inning and two batters later Nagle blasted a three-run homer to left field off reliever Jeff Chesnut.
The Illini took the lead and kept adding to it with three more in the fifth on back-to-back home runs from Kerian and Krug that pushed the lead to 10-4.
The Huskers kept fighting and after Max Knutson tossed a scoreless sixth, NU scored three runs in the seventh. Ryan Boldt started the frame with a walk and Jake Schleppenbach followed with a single to put runners on the corners. Lubach stepped in against reliever J.D. Nielsen and launched a three-run home run to left field for his fourth homer of the year. Nielsen responded with a strikeout before Scott Schreiber recorded a pinch-hit single. Nielsen then came back with two straight strikeouts, but the Huskers cut the Illini lead to three at 10-7.
Knutson kept the Huskers in the game by throwing three innings of scoreless relief, but NU came up two runs short of a comeback and fell to 0-5 in Big Ten games decided by one run.
The Huskers and Illini wrap up their series tomorrow with the 2015 regular-season finale at 2 p.m. The game will be carried nationwide on the Big Ten Network.