The Grand Island Independent
LINCOLN —
With its back against the wall, top-seeded Nebraska went out with a barely whimper Sunday in a NCAA Tournament regional elimination game, managing just two hits in an 8-0 loss to third-seeded Oral Roberts.
Kelly Minissale (3-3), normally the starting center fielder for the Golden Eagles, absolutely baffled the Cornhusker hitters all day. The left-hander pitched 8 1/3 shutout innings, striking out two and carrying a no-hit bid into the seventh inning.
Nebraska, which was held hitless in its final 6 1/3 innings in Saturday night’s 3-2 loss to UC Irvine, couldn’t muster a base hit for the first six innings against Minissale. Tyler Farst finally broke up the no-hit bid with a ground-ball single to right field to lead off the seventh.
Husker Jake Opitz singled to lead off the ninth and Minissale hit Farst with a pitch with one out, prompting Golden Eagles coach Rob Walton to summon Michael Jarman from the bullpen. Jarman walked DJ Belfonte to load the bases, but then struck out Craig Corriston looking and retired Dan Johnston on a grounout to third to close out the Huskers.
It marked just the second time Nebraska had been shut out at Haymarket Park. The previous time was a 7-0 loss to Missouri State -- formerly known as Southwest Missouri State -- in the 2003 Lincoln regional championship game.
The win ended the season for No. 10-ranked Nebraska (41-16-1), which closed by losing seven of its last nine games. The Huskers have now failed to win a home regional in three of their last four times while playing host as the top seed, also coming up short in 2003 and 2006.
Oral Roberts (48-13) advanced to play second-seeded UC Irvine (40-16) in a 6:05 p.m. Sunday championship game. If the Golden Eagles win, the regional championship will be decided at 1:05 p.m. Monday.
Nebraska’s Thad Weber (9-5) struggled for the fourth consecutive start, lasting 2 2/3 innings. The senior right-hander allowed seven hits and six earned runs.
Already leading 2-0, Michael Notaro of Oral Roberts delivered the knockout blow, capping a four-run third inning with a three-run blast to right field that chased Weber to make it 6-0. Brendan Duffy started the uprising with a double and later scored on a passed ball.
Duffy got things started for Oral Roberts again in the fourth as he walked against NU reliever Casey Hauptmann and later scored on Ben Petralli’s single off Zach Herr, the third Husker pitcher.
The Golden Eagles increased their lead to 8-0 in the sixth when Patralli led off with a single against Herr and later came home on a fielder’s choice against Nebraska reliever Mike Nesseth.
Brian Van Kirk gave the Golden Eagles a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first -- Oral Roberts was the home team in the game -- when he singled home Duffy with two out. Adam Younger’s RBI single in the second scored Notaro for a 2-0 advantage.
