Sears’ Eight-Inning Gem Stifles Aggies
Brett Sears tallied a career-high nine strikeouts and allowed just two hits across eight scoreless innings, as Nebraska opened its series with a 14-2 rout vs. New Mexico State on Friday at Hawks Field at Haymarket Park.
Nebraska (16-5) scored 14 runs on 15 hits, while New Mexico State (10-12) totaled two runs on three hits.
Garrett Anglim led the Big Red at the plate, going 3-for-5 with a home run and season-high five RBI. Cayden Brumbaugh drove in three runs on a 2-for-4 day, while Joshua Overbeek went 2-for-3 with a homer, two RBI and a pair of runs scored.
Cole Evans and Dylan Carey tallied two hits with a double apiece, while Riley Silva, Josh Caron, Tyler Stone and Rhett Stokes recorded one hit.
Sears improved to 4-0 on the season after dealing eight shutout frames. The senior issued zero walks to go with the nine punchouts and retired 15 consecutive Aggies until surrendering a leadoff single in the eighth inning.
Grant Cleavinger gave up two runs on three walks and recorded an out, while Tucker Timmerman got the final two outs to preserve the 14-2 win for the Huskers.
The two teams exchanged scoreless innings in the first and second, before the Husker offense erupted for five runs on five hits to grab a 5-0 lead. Overbeek led off the third with a 411-foot solo blast into the right-center berm to break the scoreless tie.
A single from Stokes and a double by Carey had runners on first and second with no outs, while Brumbaugh cleared the bases with a two-RBI single to left field. Nebraska tacked on two more when Anglim delivered a first-pitch two-RBI single to left, growing the lead to five.
Brumbaugh and RBI single for the second consecutive inning to build the Husker lead to six in the fourth. Silva followed Brumbaugh with an RBI bunt single to plate Carey and make it 7-0 through four innings.
Evans lined a one-out double and stole third, setting up Caron’s RBI groundout in the seventh to extend the lead to eight. Anglim drew a walk, and Stone singled through the left side to put runners on first and third, before Overbeek smacked a first-pitch RBI single through the left side to score Anglim.
A leadoff single in the top of the eighth snapped Sears’ streak of 15 consecutive Aggies he retired after allowing a single in the third inning. Sears struck out the next three Aggies to keep NMSU off the board.
Already controlling the game with a nine-run lead, the Husker offense added five runs on three hits to snag a 14-run lead in the eighth. Back-to-back RBI singles from Evans and Caron had the Huskers out front by 11, before Anglim lifted a three-run homer into the Aggie bullpen to make it 14-0.
Three walks and a hit batter plated the Aggies’ first run of the day, while an RBI single gave NMSU its second run of the game and made it a 12-run game.
Nebraska and New Mexico State continue the weekend series tomorrow at 2:05 p.m. at Hawks Field at Haymarket Park. Saturday’s matchup can be seen on B1G+, while fans can listen to Greg Sharpe and Ben McLaughlin call the action on the Huskers Radio Network.
