No. 24 Husker baseball falls to UC Irvine on opening day

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – The No. 24-ranked Nebraska baseball team lost its opening game Friday afternoon, falling 10-5 to UC Irvine in the MLB Desert Invitational.

The Huskers fell behind early and didn’t have enough juice to come back, giving up 5 runs in the fourth inning and 4 in the fifth.

As a team, the Huskers tallied eight hits and no errors, while the Anteaters totaled 11 hits and an error.

Dylan Carey led the Big Red from the plate, going 3-for-5 with a double, an RBI and a run scored.

Max Buttenback scored a team-high 3 runs and doubled, while Case Sanderson, Rhett Stokes, Hogan Helligso and Robby Bolin each tallied a hit.

Mason McConnaughey (0-1) took the loss for Nebraska, giving up 6 runs on five hits in only 3.2 innings of work.

He also struck out nine batters while only walking three.

Down the stretch, Pryce Bender and Colin Nowaczyk combined for 3.2 shutout innings in their collegiate debuts. Each pitcher fanned one batter.

Nebraska will hit the diamond once again Saturday to take on No. 16 Vanderbilt at 7 p.m. on the MLB Network.