Houston, Texas – The Nebraska baseball team (7-6, 0-0 Big Ten) hung tough against the No. 7 LSU Tigers (14-2, 0-0 SEC) on Sunday afternoon at Minute Maid Park, but came out on the losing end of a 4-2 decision.

The Huskers had the tying run at the plate in the ninth inning following a two-out single by Austin Darby, but 2013 Brooks Wallace award winner Alex Bregman made running catch in shallow left field on a ball of the bat of Austin Christensen to end the game.

Sophomore Derek Burkamper fell to 1-1 on the year, but gave the Huskers 6.0 solid innings after getting off to a shaky start. The sophomore allowed two runs on four hits in the first, but did get out of a base-loaded jam to end the inning. Following the rough first inning, Burkamper settled in and allowed four base runners and just two hits over the next five innings.

LSU freshman Jake Godfrey went 7.0 inning in the win. A 2014 21^st-round pick by the Braves, Godfrey allowed a pair of runs on eight hits and two walks, while striking out four. Entering Sunday, Godfrey had after issued nine walks over his first 14.1 innings of the year.

The Huskers jumped on the scoreboard first on a two-out RBI single by Ben Miller in the first. Miller’s single drove in Luis Alvarado, who singled earlier in the inning, and it looked like the Huskers would have runners on the corners for Tanner Lubach, but Miller rounded first base too far and was thrown out to end the inning.

The Huskers ran themselves out of inning again in the second on a line-out double play. Lubach was on third with one out after starting the inning with a double, but the inning quickly ended when Christensen lined out to the shortstop and Lubach was doubled off at third base.

With a 2-1 lead, Bregman started the third for LSU with a single and after stealing second base he advanced to third on a fly out. The aggressive base running paid off when he scored on a RBI groundout to give LSU a 3-1 lead.

A base running error hurt the Huskers again in the sixth when Steven Reveles started the inning with a single, but was then picked off to clear the bases. Schleppenbach followed with a single before the inning ended on a pair of fly outs.

The Husker mounted a rally in the seventh when Darby walked to load the bases with one out. Christensen delivered a bloop single that scored one run, cutting LSU’s lead to 3-2. LSU stuck with Godfrey in tough situation and the freshman got Reveles to bounce into an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play.

LSU added an insurance run in the eighth when Grayson Byrd beat out a double-play ball that would have ended the inning, but instead Andrew Stevenson scored.

After playing 13 straight games on the road to start the season, the Huskers are set to start a 16-game homestand at Hawks Field on Tuesday, March 10, when they host the Northern Colorado Bears for the 2015 home opener at 1:35 p.m. Following a two-game series with the Bears, the Huskers host Florida Gulf Coast next weekend at Hawks Field.

Houston, Texas – The Nebraska baseball team (7-5, 0-0 Big Ten) took a 4-0 lead in to the top of the ninth inning and nearly gave it away after the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors (6-9, 0-0 Big West) plated three runs and had the go-ahead run on base, but junior reliever Colton Howell came in with two outs and got a strikeout to earn his first career save in a 4-3 Husker win. Howell saved the win for senior Kyle Kubat, who tossed 6.1 innings of scoreless work to improve to 2-0 on the year.

After failing to score twice earlier in the game in base-loaded situations, the Warriors scored their first runs of the game with two outs in the ninth on a three-RBI double by JJ Kitaoka. Howell came in and intentionally walked No. 3 hitter Eric Ramirez to setup a righty-righty match up and move paid off, as Howell struck out Jordan Richartz swinging to end the game.

The Huskers outhit the Warriors, 9-8, on the day, with eight different Huskers recording a hit, including a single and a double from freshman Luis Alvarado.

The Warriors loaded the bases twice on the afternoon against Kubat, but each time the senior worked his way out of the jam without giving up a run. Hawaii had the bases loaded with two outs in the first following an error, but Kubat responded with his first of six infield pop outs on the day to end the rally.

After the first inning, Kubat went on to retire 10 straight batters, before Alex Sawelson broke the streak with a leadoff single in the fifth. Following a fly out, the Warriors loaded the bases with a single and walk with just one out for their No. 2 and 3 hitters. Kubat dug in and notched back-to-back strikeouts to again escape a Hawaii scoring threat.

Nebraska failed to capitalize on leadoff base runners in both the third and fourth innings, but got a pair of runs in the fifth thanks to a pair of costly Hawaii errors. With runners first and second with two outs, Hawaii starter Tyler Brasheras sailed a pickoff attempt into center field to put runners on second and third. Scott Schreiber then hit a routine ground ball to Kitaoka at second base, who bobbled the ball, allowing two unearned runs to score.

The Huskers added two very important insurance runs in the eighth on a RBI single by Tanner Lubach and a fielder’s choice off the bat of Austin Darby, who beat out a double-play attempt that would have ended the inning.

The Huskers wrap up their trip to Houston tomorrow at 11 a.m. against the LSU Tigers, the first ever meeting between the two teams. Greg Sharpe and Lane Grindle will have the call on the Husker Sports Network, while the game will also be broadcast on ROOT Sports Southwest and Cox Sports.