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NU beats Buckeyes series opener
 Lubach |  Edrington |  Sinclair |
Senior Tanner Lubach led the Huskers at the plate with a 2-for-3 performance, including a two-out RBI double in the third that gave Nebraska a 1-0 lead. Eight Huskers recorded a hit in the game, and sophomore Wes Edrington notched his first home run as a Husker with a leadoff shot in the seventh.
On the mound, Chance Sinclair, who improved to 5-4 on the year in the win, and three NU relievers limited the Buckeyes to eight hits and three walks, while combining for nine strikeouts. Senior Josh Roeder closed out the game with his 12th save in 13 chances, matching his save total from last season. Roeder now has 30 career saves and is two saves away from breaking Brett Jensen's school record.
The Buckeyes got 7.0 innings out of starter Tanner Tully, who was the Big Ten freshman of the year last season. The sophomore lefty fell to 3-2 on the year after giving up three runs on seven hits and no walks, while striking out three Huskers.
Nebraska (29-11, 6-4 Big Ten) and Ohio State (24-10, 7-3) will continue the three-game series Saturday at 2:05 p.m., and the game will be carried statewide on NET. The Huskers have won six straight games over the Buckeyes dating back to the 2013 Big Ten Tournament
OSU looked to have the game's first scoring opportunity in the second when Craig Nennig roped a two-out single that was going to give the Buckeyes runners at first and third, but on the play Ronnie Dawson got too far off third base on a fake throw by Blake Headley and the Huskers ended the inning with a 7-5-6-2 putout.
With the game scoreless heading into the bottom of the third, the Huskers got a leadoff single from Ryan Boldt and then Jake Placzek moved Boldt into scoring position with a sacrifice bunt. Tully then struck out Headley and the Huskers need a two-out hit from Lubach. The Lincoln native delivered with a double off the right-field wall, his eighth two-bagger of the season. The two-out hitting continued when Ben Miller came through with a RBI single that gave Sinclair a 2-0 lead.
Sinclair allowed just two hits over the first five innings, but then ran into a jam in the sixth when the top of OSU's lineup notched three straight singles, including a RBI single by Pat Porter that cut NU's lead to 2-1. Sinclair then struck out Dawson and got Nick Sergakis to fly out, before Aaron Gretz loaded the bases with OSU's fourth hit of the inning. The Huskers turned the ball over to Jeff Chesnut and on his first pitch to Nennig he got a 5-3 putout to end the threat.
With the Huskers hanging on to a one-run lead, Edrington led off the seventh and got behind in the count 1-2 to Tully before launching a solo shot into the left-field berm to put the Huskers ahead 3-1.
The two-run lead didn't last long, as the Buckeyes plated a run in the eighth on a RBI groundout. Then with two outs and a runner on Chesnut hit Nennig and the Huskers brought Jake Hohensee, who walked Tre' Gantt to load the bases. With OSU's No. 9 hitter up, L Grant Davis, and nowhere to put him, Hohensee got a groundball to first base that left the bases loaded for the Buckeyes for the second time in the game.
The Huskers went to work on OSU's bullpen in the eighth and tacked on two insurance runs, including one on a RBI double from Christian Cox. Facing the top of OSU's lineup in the ninth Roeder didn't end up needing the extra support though, as he sat the Buckeyes down in order to seal the win.
R H E ------------------------------------------- Ohio State.......... 000 001 010 - 2 8 3 Nebraska............ 002 000 12x - 5 9 0 -------------------------------------------