Photos By David Cohen / BHEphotos
David Cohen
21
Winner Nebraska NEB 1-0
6
UC Riverside UCR 0-1
Winner
Nebraska NEB
1-0
21
Final
6
UC Riverside UCR
0-1
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Nebraska NEB 0 1 2 0 0 0 6 7 5 21 20 3
UC Riverside UCR 0 0 2 3 0 0 0 0 1 6 8 2

W: Curry, Connor (1-0) L: Noonan, Jared (0-1)

Game Recap: Baseball |

Baseball Takes Advantage of Nebraska Miscues, But Loses Season Opener

RIVERSIDE, Calif.—Not even rainy weather could stop the UC Riverside Baseball team from beginning its season on Friday against Nebraska. With first pitch originally set for 6 p.m. PT, the contest was moved up to 4 p.m. to make sure the game could be played.

Plenty of buildup surrounded the game with head coach Troy Percival facing former Angels teammate and friend Darin Erstad. As the two exchanged lineup cards before first pitch, both lingered, talking at home plate with the umpires longer than usual.

As dark clouds hovered over The Plex, junior Hayden Petrovick took the hill in his first career start for UC Riverside after transferring from Citrus College.

The Highlanders battled and things remained close over the first six innings, but the Cornhuskers pulled away over the last three innings, combining to score 18 runs, and the team lost 21-6.

The left-hander had no nerves to begin the game, striking out the side in the first inning. Much of that was due to his ability to work the inner half of the plate and mix his pitches well. However, through the first few frames, the Cornhuskers worked the counts and got Petrovick's pitch count over 50 in just two innings.

He finished the game having tossed four innings and allowing three runs on four hits, with seven strikeouts.

The Highlanders were able to take advantage of a few Nebraska miscues in the third and fourth innings against starter Chad Luensmann to take a 5-3 lead. UCR scored a pair of unearned runs with two outs in the bottom of the third, and tacked on three more in the fourth thanks to two more Husker errors.

Right fielder Dylan Orick went 2-for-5 with one RBI and third baseman Nathan Webb went 2-for-3 with two runs scored.

Due to Petrovick only being able to go four innings, Percival relied on six bullpen arms to get through the rest of the game. Some had more success than others. Jared Noonan was only able to record one out, but gave up three runs. Cole Tucker got two outs, but allowed four runs.

Nebraska trailed 5-3 going to the seventh inning before scoring six runs with two outs in the frame. The Huskers tacked on seven more in the eighth and five in the ninth.

Jaxon Hallmark led the Nebraska offense with a career night, going 4-for-5 with five RBIs and two runs scored. In all, 10 Huskers had at least one hit.

The teams won't waste much time before returning to the diamond. They will play a double-header on Saturday, with the first game beginning at noon. Riley Ohl gets the start in Game 1, while Shamus Lyons gets the nod in Game 2.