Baylor
Nebraska
Baseball Falls at Nebraska, 6-2
4/30/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 30, 2011
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Baylor (23-21, 8-12 Big 12) held a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the fifth, but Asche hit his first homer of the game to put Nebraska (27-17, 6-10 Big 12) in front 3-2, and he added another two-run blast two innings later.
"We continued where we left off yesterday," head coach Steve Smith. "We had runners on first or second with nobody out four times early and didn't score, and that's the difference in the game."
Turley (2-4) took the loss after allowing three runs - two of which were earned - on seven hits with two walks and five strikeouts in 6.0 innings. It was Turley's sixth consecutive start of at least 5.2 innings, all of which were in Big 12 play.
"He pitched well," Smith said. "We didn't do a good job with (Asche), but other than that he pitched it really well. We've got to swing the bats. This was an offensive day ... but we had two or three guys go up there and go down on three fastballs. The damage needed to be done early."
Asche got going with a double in the first inning when his popup to third base was dropped, and he broke a scoreless tie with a RBI double in the third after a two-out error extended the inning. He finished 4-for-4 with two runs and all five of Nebraska's RBI.
The Bears quickly tied the game when Dan Evatt led off the fourth inning with his seventh home run of the season, and the Bears took a 2-1 lead in the fifth when Brooks Pinckard knocked his fifth triple of the season and scored on Max Muncy's two-out RBI single.
Turley issued a one-out walk in the bottom half of the inning, and with two outs, he put Nebraska ahead to stay at 3-2 with a homer to right-center field.
Turley worked a scoreless sixth before turning the ball over to Trent Blank out of the bullpen. Blank allowed a leadoff single to Bryan Peters before Asche delivered another two-run homer for his fourth hit of the day to extend Nebraska's lead to 5-2.
The Cornhuskers added a run in the eighth when Patric Tolentino doubled, moved to third on a bunt and scored when Blank was called for a balk.
Nebraska starter Jon Keller did not factor in the decision after allowing two runs on five hits in 5.2 innings. Reliever Dylan Vogt (3-1) picked up the win by holding the Bears to one hit in 2.2 innings of shutout relief, and Casey Hauptman earned his seventh save with 1.2 scoreless innings.
Sunday's series finale is scheduled for 1:05 p.m. The Bears send Pinckard to the mound for his first Big 12 start in the rubber game of the series, as Baylor looks for its first series win in Lincoln since the inaugural season of the Big 12 in 1997.
