LINCOLN, Neb. - South Alabama struggled to maintain momentum and hold off the Nebraska firepower, dropping game three of the series, 12-7.
The Jaguars played the same song they did on Friday in the opening inning, with Joseph Sullivan earning an RBI and Lucas Ismaili logging a three-run home run before the first recorded out. The score continued to mirror Friday's going into the fourth, with a 6-2 Jaguar lead.Â
Things turned sour in the fifth frame as the Cornhuskers were able to rally four runs off three hits and two walks, tying the event at six. The next inning left South stunned as Nebraska again started a two-out rally, this time with six runs, doubling their score to a towering 12-6 lead. The Jaguar bats quieted the rest of the way with the exception of a home run to open the eighth inning by Sullivan.
Winning Pitcher: Mason McConnahey (1-2)
Losing Pitcher: Austin Mills (0-1)
QUOTESÂ
Head Coach Mark Calvi
Thoughts on the game and series: Our guys competed hard, but the game lost today in the middle innings. We had the starter on the ropes. We've got the starter out of there; pressured him early, they made some errors; (they) brought in a middle guy, good arm, and we let him off the hook. We punched out five or six times out of our nine outs in innings four, five and six. Let them settle in. And then we walked 11 today and they walked three. We walked 11; free passes. And we went away in the middle innings offensively. We didn't pressure enough, we didn't scratch one run across. We didn't scratch two runs across. We didn't push it. We didn't move it. We didn't move the baseball very much. We started taking some fastballs in. Our left handed hitters weren't aggressive enough against McConaughey, and that was the game. We didn't pitch well enough. The game revolves around the pitchers, man. That's what happens. Now it's a team game. But when you lose, you need to look no further than on the mound. We issued more free passes against a very offensive team with the wind blowing out, and we didn't do enough offensively. We jumped on them early and we didn't do enough in the middle. They did and we lost. I'm happy we took one up here but that was Friday. You know, the past few days-today was not our recipe for success. I can tell you that. So moving forward against anyone on our schedule we need to pitch better. We need a couple guys to step up out of the bullpen. That's what we need. We need a better start on Sunday. We need guys to step up out of the bullpen, and we need to hit better when we have somebody on the ropes. We need to go for the throat better when we have somebody down. We didn't do that well enough today.
UP NEXT
South Alabama treks across state lines for their first neutral site contest of the year against Mississippi State on Tuesday, March 12, at 6 p.m.
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