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Nebraska Baseball Drops Regional Opener to Oklahoma, 7-4

The Huskers are one loss away from being eliminated at the Chapel Hill Regional.
Kaleb Henry|
Nebraska shortstop Dylan Carey.
Nebraska shortstop Dylan Carey. | Nebraska Athletics

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Nebraska CornhuskersNebraska CornhuskersOklahoma SoonersOklahoma Sooners

Nebraska baseball is back into single-elimination mode.

Oklahoma took game two of the Chapel Hill Regional over Nebraska Friday evening, 7-4. The Sooners improve to 36-20 while the Huskers fall to 32-28.

Nebraska had a chance to get on the board first in the opening frame. With two outs and a runner on base, Gabe Swansen was hit by the pitch before Case Sanderson drew a walk to load the bases. Those three would be stranded as Dylan Carey grounded out to the pitcher to end the threat.

The Huskers did not truly threaten again until the eighth inning, but at that point the game had swung to a 7-0 deficit on the back of multiple Sooner home runs. Again, the Big Red loaded the bases, but this time Max Buettenback ripped a triple down the left field line. He scored two batters later on Will Jesske's sacrifice fly.

In the ninth inning, Nebraska went down in order to end the game.

The Huskers opened the regional by using six pitchers. Starter Jackson Brockett was chased off after just 3.1 innings, giving up three earned runs on six hits. Caleb Clark allowed three unearned runs in 2.2 innings, with none of the other four pitchers going more than 0.2 innings for their appearances.

The Sooners utilized four pitchers but got 6.0 innings from starter Malachi Witherspoon. The junior did not allow a run and struck out nine Huskers. Jason Bodin gave up four runs, two earned, in his 1.0 inning on the mound. Reid Hensley and Dylan Crooks pitched perfect eighth and ninth innings, with Crooks earning his 15th save of the season.

With the win, Oklahoma advances to Saturday's winners' bracket game against regional host North Carolina at 5 p.m. CDT. Nebraska will play an elimination game against Holy Cross at 11 a.m. CDT.

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Kaleb Henry
KALEB HENRY

Kaleb Henry is an award-winning sports reporter, covering collegiate athletics since 2014 via radio, podcasting, and digital journalism. His experience with Big Ten Conference teams goes back more than a decade, including time covering programs such as the Nebraska Cornhuskers, Oregon Ducks, and USC Trojans. He has contributed to Sports Illustrated since 2021. Kaleb has won multiple awards for his sports coverage from the Nebraska Broadcasters Association and Midwest Broadcast Journalists Association. Prior to working in sports journalism, Kaleb was a Division I athlete on the Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville Track and Field team where he discussed NCAA legislation as SIUE's representative to the Ohio Valley Conference Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. 

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