Huskers Fall to Cajuns in Game One

No. 23 Nebraska opened its doubleheader at Louisiana with a 4-1 loss to the Ragin’ Cajuns in game one at M.L. “Tigue” Moore Field at Russo Park on Saturday afternoon in Lafayette, La.

The Huskers (3-3) scored one run on four hits, while the Cajuns (3-3) totaled four runs on five hits.

Dylan Carey went 1-for-4 with an RBI double, while Cayden Brumbaugh, Gabe Swansen and Devin Nunez recorded a single each.

Ty Horn fell to 0-1 on the season after allowing two runs on four hits across six innings of work. The sophomore struck out five Cajun hitters and walked a pair. Caleb Clark and Carson Jasa teamed up to pitch an inning, allowing a combined two runs on a hit. TJ Coats made his Husker debut in the bottom of the eighth, retiring all three batters he faced.

Louisiana took advantage of a leadoff walk in the opening frame to plate the first run of the game. A leadoff walk, followed by a sacrifice bunt, set up an RBI single to center that gave the Ragin’ Cajuns a 1-0 lead.

Sanderson reached second base with no outs in the second inning after being hit by the pitch and moving to second on a passed ball, but three consecutive strikeouts retired the NU offense and kept it a 1-0 lead for Louisiana.

The Huskers had a hitter reach base in each of the third and fourth innings after two-out singles from Brumbaugh in the third and Swansen in the fourth, but the NU offense couldn’t bring home the tying run.

The Cajuns doubled the lead to two in the bottom of the fourth with a two-out, 415-foot solo homer over the right-center wall off the bat of Conor Higgs.

Louisiana tacked on two more runs in the bottom of the seventh to grow the lead to four. A leadoff double and a sacrifice bunt had a runner on third with one out, while a wild pitch made it a 3-0 game. A second wild pitch later in the inning allowed the Cajuns to grab a 4-0 lead with two innings to play.

Nunez began the ninth inning with a single to left, followed by Carey’s RBI double into the corner in left field to bring home Nunez and score Nebraska’s lone run of the game.