Huskers bounced from Bricktown

Nebraska's Big 12 Conference Tournament run ended with a 1-2 finish for a second consecutive year as No. 6-ranked Oklahoma State beat the No. 7 Cornhuskers 11-5 Saturday in the final day of pool play at Bricktown Ballpark.

After briefly righting its ship Friday with a 5-2 victory over Kansas State, No. 3-seeded Nebraska (40-14-1) now heads into the NCAA Tournament having lost five of its last six games. The same uncharacteristic flaws that contributed to the Huskers' season-long four-game losing streak -- shaky pitching and fielding miscues -- again cropped up against No. 2 seeded Oklahoma State (42-16) as the Cowboys banged out 12 hits and NU committed four errors.

"Obviously, we're disappointed," Nebraska starting pitcher Thad Weber said. "We came down here expecting to win a Big 12 championship and when you don't do that, obviously there's going to be some disappointment.

"But when we get on the bus to go back to Lincoln, we have to leave this behind."

A season-ending three-game sweep at Missouri and a 1-2 showing in Bricktown damaged the Huskers' bid to receive a national seed in the NCAA Tournament, which would have all but guaranteed home-field advantage for the regional and super regional tournaments. Nebraska, which is still expected to host a regional, will learn its next opponent when the NCAA Tournament field is announced Monday.

Nebraska coach Mike Anderson said the only thing his team can do now is move on to the third and final phase of its season and look ahead to the NCAA Tournament.

"I've said all along, there's part one, part two and part three," Anderson said. "Part one, the regular season, we feel good about. Part two, we didn't show too well down here, but now, part three, you move on and part one and part two don't mean a dang thing, so we move on and here we go."

While not making the program's seventh championship game appearance in 10 seasons on Sunday gives the Huskers an extra day to prepare for this weekend's regional, junior third baseman Jake Mort said that fact was no consolation.

"There's never a bright side to losing," Mort said. "Whenever you get a chance to win a championship or the Big 12 title, obviously, you want to be here and do it.

"We're not resting. We've got a week in front of us and we're probably not going to take any days off. We're just going to go straight at it and deal with it."

Weber (8-4) couldn't shake his recent struggles, allowing eight hits and seven runs -- six earned -- in 3 1/3 innings. Following a recent trend, the Husker' bullpen failed to keep the opponent in check as Aaron Pribanic and Mike Nesseth combined to give up four runs -- one earned -- over the final 4 2/3 innings.

Andy Cotton led Nebraska at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a RBI, after coming into the contest batting just .129. However, the freshman shortstop also committed a pair of errors while making his fifth start in the last eight games.

Weber was able to keep the Big 12's top hitting team at bay in the first two innings, but Oklahoma State broke through with a four-run outburst in the bottom of the third, capped by Dean Green's two-run homer that landed just to the right of the 400-foot sign in center field.

The Cowboys got their first run with the help of a Nebraska mental miscue as Tyrone Hambly came home from third when Huskers' second baseman Jake Opitz and Cotton had a communication lapse and neither covered the base as OSU's Donnie Webb stole second. Webb later scored on Matt Hague's single to make it 2-0.

"Early on, I felt good. I was in a rhythm," Weber said. "Then momentum swung their way and I wasn't able to make pitches. They put good swings on them.

"You've got to give them credit. They're very aggressive and a very good-hitting ballclub."

Mitch Abeita got Nebraska on the board in the top of the fourth, leading off with a home run into the OSU bullpen in left-center field off Tyler Lyons (11-2). The homer, Abeita's team-leading 10th of the season, cut the Cowboys' lead to 4-1.

Oklahoma State went right back to work in the bottom of the fourth as Neil Medchill led off with a triple down the left-field line, Luis Flores doubled to center to score Medchill and then came home on Hambly's one-out double off the glove of a diving Craig Corriston in left. After issuing a walk to Webb and Opitz committing an error to load the bases and chase Weber, Hague delivered a run-scoring sacrifice fly to right off NU reliever Aaron Pribanic, boosting the Cowboys' lead to 7-1.

Cotton's one-out triple to center and Mort's RBI double to left-center cut Nebraska's deficit to 7-2 in the fifth. Opitz followed with a single to right, scoring Mort to make it 7-3.

After Medchill's solo bomb to center off Pribanic in the fifth made it 8-3, the Huskers scored two more in the sixth, pulling to within 8-5. With two out, DJ Belfonte singled to left and scored on Corriston's double to right. Corriston scored on Cotton's single to left.

Still trailing 8-5, Nebraska failed to convert a prime scoring chance in the seventh. With one out, OSU reliever Matt Peck hit Opitz with a pitch and walked Abeita. The Cowboys then brought in reliever Robbie Weinhardt, who promptly hit pinch hitter Nick Sullivan with a pitch to load the bases, but Tyler Farst then hit into a double play to end the threat.

Ideally, Anderson said Farst would've gotten a better swing in the bases-loaded and a 1-0 count.

"You'd rather take a swing and a miss, a healthy swing and a miss, rather than a defensive swing in that situation," Anderson said. "I thought he got a little too defensive and it hurt us. He knew it the second he made the swing.

"I thought his mental approach was good. He just didn't get the right result."

The Cowboys made the missed opportunity hurt, scoring three times in its half of the seventh for an 11-6 lead. After Thomas Belza's RBI single off Nesseth, a Cotton error -- he dropped a throw from Opitz on a force play at second -- led to two unearned runs as Hambly had a run-scoring sacrifice fly and Webb added a RBI single.

Weinhardt went on to pitch 2 2/3 scoreless innings for his fourth save. Lyons allowed nine hits and five runs over six innings, earning his second win of the season against Nebraska.