Four runs in the top of the ninth inning sank Nebraska in a 6-4 loss vs. Creighton on Tuesday night at Hawks Field at Haymarket Park.

Nebraska (23-11) scored four runs on six hits, while Creighton (27-7) totaled six runs on nine hits.

Josh Caron led the Big Red, going 2-for-4 at the plate with a double, home run and a pair of RBI. Cole Evans and Tyler Stone drove in the Huskers other two runs, while Clay Bradford doubled. Dylan Carey and Ben Columbus each added a hit.

Caleb Clark went two innings and tied a career-high with four strikeouts in his third start of the season. Kyle Froehlich allowed a pair of runs, before Ty Horn and Tucker Timmerman each turned in a scoreless frame. Casey Daiss surrendered a solo home run, while Kyle Perry shouldered his first loss of the season.

After three scoreless innings, Creighton plated the first run of the night with Teddy Deters’ wind-aided solo homer into the left-field berm to give the Bluejays a 1-0 lead in the fourth.

The Huskers immediately got the run back in the bottom half with a solo homer of their own. Caron blasted the first pitch over the wall in right with a game-tying 369-foot roundtripper, his seventh homer of the season.

Nebraska grabbed a 3-1 lead behind a pair of runs on two hits in the bottom of the sixth. The Huskers had runners on first and second with no outs after Carey’s single and a full-count walk to Case Sanderson. Caron broke the 1-1 tie, ripping an RBI double, 114 miles per hour off the bat, into the left-center alley to score Carey.

Evans doubled the Husker lead to two with his Big Ten-leading sixth sacrifice fly of the season after lifting the first pitch down the left-field line.

Creighton threatened in the seventh with the bases loaded and no outs after two singles and a walk. Daiss struck out the second batter he faced to get the first out, before retiring the next two Bluejays via a lineout and groundout to prevent Creighton from scoring any runs in the inning.

The Bluejays trimmed the deficit in half in the eighth with Colby Canales’ solo homer to left field that made it a 3-2 game.

Back-to-back singles, followed by a walk loaded the bases for the visitors in the ninth inning. Deters lifted the first pitch he saw into the batter’s eye in center for a grand slam to give CU a three-run lead going into the bottom of the ninth.

Columbus reached on a one-out walk, while Stone's two-out RBI single off the top of the wall in left brought the Big Red within two. Bradford lifted a pinch-hit double off the wall in left field to put runners on second and third with the go-ahead run at the plate, but a strikeout ended the Huskers' rally and clinched the 6-4 win for the visitors.

Nebraska continues its homestand with a three-game series vs. Maryland this weekend at Hawks Field at Haymarket Park. First pitch of Friday’s series opener between the Huskers and Terrapins is set for 6:05 p.m.

RHULE SHARES POST-SCRIMMAGE THOUGHTS

Nebraska football head coach Matt Rhule met with members of the media following the team’s spring practice on Tuesday. 

He spoke to how the team handled the scrimmage on Saturday, particularly the quarterback room.

“I thought they were really good. It’s a really hard defense to go against. I thought we protected the ball well, which is the first thing. We’re on a mission to be in the positive territory in turnover margins. I think there was only one turnover on the day, through a lot of reps. I thought they handled all the pressures, I thought they adjusted to the different things. The biggest thing is just getting into the stadium for the first time. I put crowd noise on, so you can’t have coaches out there like ‘no, cut your split!’. Coaches are the worst, they always want to tell guys what to do. So I put crowd noise on so they couldn’t hear from the sideline. We just wanted to test the guys and see what they knew. There’s a lot of things to work on, but a lot of positive things. I think we’ve made a lot of strides in a short amount of time.”

He talked about the transfer portal opening today and how he balances spring practice with the portal.

“I think, if anybody on our team wants to go into the portal, it’s open today. That’s their right. Obviously, no one has yet. I don’t anticipate anybody going in. When we get done with spring, a couple guys will have a couple days to see if something is best for them. Our guys are really transparent. We’ve had players on our team already have people from other teams contact them. They’ll come in, walk in and say ‘coach, look at this’ and show us the text message. It’s a sad state of college football, but the problem isn’t the players. Let me start there, the problem isn’t the players. I love our guys. I want everyone to be here. But I also want them – we had guys transfer to other places last year – I’ve talked to their coaches, talked to them, and asked how they’re doing. Once you’ve played for me, you’ve played for me for life. Maybe it’s a unique challenge in terms of some guys, but we’re pretty transparent with our guys. If they want to come talk to us, we’re here to talk to them. I ask coaches after scrimmages to meet with guys one on one, I’m always available. I just don’t think it’s prudent – maybe this is pollyannaish – I don’t think it’s prudent for me to coach guys while thinking about the portal. The worst thing you can ever do for a young person is not have high standards for them and not push them to greatness. If you’re afraid of pushing them because they might go to the portal, then you probably don’t have the right guy anyway. Things will happen, good, bad, but we’re just going to coach the guys and try to get the team better and pour everything we have into our players, both on the field and off the field, and personally. If something happens, it happens.”

Rhule discussed the physicality level during spring practice.

“I don’t think about it. We practice. We’re not going to have a tag-off scrimmage. There’s a lot of days where we thud, we don’t tackle to the ground. Our tackling to the ground reps are at a minimum, but we’re 5-7. We’re 5-7 until we change that. We have an amazing fanbase and a lot of positive stuff around us all the time, excited for the new year. We’re 5-7 until we're not. If we were 11-1, I’d be like ‘hey, we lost a game,’ and if we were 12-0, I’d say ‘that doesn’t count.’ We are always going to practice physically. How do you master your craft in this game if you don’t do it? A lot of people win in a lot of different ways. I’m not in any way talking about anyone else. I’m just talking about for us – I want to take great young people, I want to watch them get a degree, maybe two degrees, have a great experience here, but I also want to develop pro players. And to me, lifting is great and running is great and teaching them the game is great, but they’ve got to practice and play. So we are really physical. We put the guardian caps on this year, which I’m really excited about, but we’re going to get guys banged up. Guys are going to get hurt. What I do believe – and I believe this with all my heart – if guys learn to play full speed, the injuries get reduced. We try to do everything we can – we put grass in – everything we can to minimize the injuries. We have some soft tissue stuff, we have some guys that got hurt from the season, but we’ve had nothing happen this year other than Leslie (Black) – and he’ll be back – that would affect the fall. Our job is to make sure we have a good team. We’re 5-7. We have to practice.”

The Huskers will continue with spring practice on Thursday. The annual Red-White Spring game presented by FNBO is scheduled for Saturday, April 27 at 11 a.m. (CT). Tickets can be purchased on huskers.com or by calling the ticket office at 800-8-BIG RED.

HUSKERS ANNOUNCE ADDITION OF ROLLIE WORSTER TO 2024-25 ROSTER

Lincoln – The Nebraska men’s basketball program added another experienced piece to its 2024-25 roster with the addition of Utah transfer Rollie Worster (pronounced raw-lee Wooster).

Worster, a 6-foot-4, 204-pound guard from Missoula, Mont., has made 101 starts and has tallied 888 points, 425 assists and 473 rebounds during his collegiate career. He has played under former Husker assistant Craig Smith at both Utah, where he started 76 of 77 contests for the Runnin’ Utes over the last three seasons and at Utah State, where he started 25 games in helping the school to an NCAA appearance in 2020-21 before Smith took over the Utah program. 

“We targeted Rollie early as someone who can come in and elevate our program," Nebraska Coach Fred Hoiberg said. “The first things you look at are his experience and decision-making ability on the court. He started in the Pac-12 the last three years and had nearly a 2.5-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio. Rollie was among the conference leaders in assists two years ago and was on track to put up better numbers before his injury in January. He also gives us positional size in the backcourt while being a very good rebounder and defender."

Last season, Worster started the first 16 games before suffering a season-ending foot injury in a win over UCLA in mid-January. He averaged 9.9 points, 5.5 assists and 4.9 rebounds per game, as he was third in the Pac 12 in assists per game and first in the conference in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.93-to-1) at the time of his injury. He reached double figures seven times, including a season-high 17-point effort in a road win at St. Mary’s. Worster also had seven-or-more assists on seven occasions, including a season-high 10 against Southern Utah and nine each against Wake Forest and Bellarmine. The Utes were 12-4 prior to his injury before finishing with a 22-15 mark and an NIT appearance. 

Worster started all 30 games he played in in 2022-23, averaging 8.6 points, 5.0 assists and 5.2 rebounds per game. He finished second in the Pac-12 with a 2.61 assist-to-turnover ratio while his 5.1 assists per game in conference play ranked second in the league. He had seven contests with at least seven assists, including a trio of double-digit assist totals. Worster’s best performance of the year came in a win over No.4 Arizona where he totaled 12 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists. He had 14 contests in double figures, including a career-high 19 points, along with seven rebounds and four assists in a win at Washington State. He had a five-game stretch scoring double-digit points – including another near triple-double against Washington at home with 11 points, 9 rebounds and a career-high tying 10 assists. Worster also dished out 10 assists against UTSA and Stanford.
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In his first season at Utah, he averaged 7.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and a team-high 3.1 assists per game in 31 games, including 30 starts, He had 14 games in double figures, including 13-point efforts at No. 18 BYU and at Arizona State, where he also had six boards. He dished out a season-high seven assists against Boston College, one of six games with at least six assists in 2021-22.

Worster began his career at Utah State, where he started 25 of 26 contests in helping the Aggies to a 20-9 record and an NCAA Tournament appearance in 2020-21. He averaged 9.1 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game, highlighted by a near triple double against UNLV with a career-high 19 points, nine rebounds and nine assists. He also dished out nine assists in a win over Colorado State. 

Worster was a two-time Montana Gatorade Player of the year at Hellgate High School, where he finished as the school’s all-time leading scorer while also ranking in the top three in both assists (second) and rebounds (third). As a senior, he led the school to a share of the Montana State AA title by averaging 20.7 points, 7.1 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 2.3 steals per game. Worster paced Hellgate to a runner-up finish as a junior, leading the state in scoring as he averaged 22.2 points, 5.9 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.3 steals per game. In addition to playing basketball, was a two-way performer in football, earning first-team all-state honors as a safety and honorable-mention accolades at quarterback. He threw for 3,400 yards and rushed for more than 2,000 yards during his high school career.

HUSKERS READY FOR NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS

The No. 5 Nebraska men’s gymnastics team is headed to Columbus, Ohio to compete in the 2024 NCAA Championships.The Huskers will compete in the qualifying round on Friday, April 19, at noon (CT) in hopes to advance to the NCAA Finals which are set for Saturday, April 20 at 5 p.m. (CT). 

Last Time Out
Among the finalists, Taylor Christopulos highlights the squad after earning a top-three finish on two events at the Big Ten Championships where he garnered a silver medal in the all-around (83.10) and a bronze medal on high bar (14.125). Cooper Giles also made impressive marks after becoming a Big Ten bronze medalist on pommel horse (14.25). Christopulos was named a First-Team All-Big Ten selection, while Giles earned Second-Team All-Big Ten accolades. Giles was also named a Big Ten Sportsmanship Award Honoree.

Notably, six Husker gymnasts highlight the NCAA top 15 rankings in the nation, based on a national-qualifying average. Christopulos ranks fifth on floor (14.250), sixth on vault (14.669), 11th on parallel bars (13.925) and 10th on high bar (13.794). James is 15th on floor (13.913), Giles holds eighth on pommel horse (14.375), Cohen in eighth on rings (13.983), Tiderman in 12th on high bar (13.750) and Phillips in third place in the all-around (79.475), 14th on floor (13.938) and 15th on rings (13.80).

Ahead of the meet, No. 5 Nebraska highlights the team rankings in second place on floor (69.488) and high bar (68.238). NU holds third in the nation on rings (68.325) and fourth place on pommel horse (68.325). The Huskers occupy sixth on vault (71.850) and eighth on parallel bars (67.188), based on a national-qualifying average.

Scouting the Competition
NU will compete during Session I of the NCAA Qualifiers on Friday, April 19 at noon (CT). The Huskers look to be among the top-three teams in the first session to advance to the NCAA Finals. Session I consists of No. 1 Stanford, No. 4 Illinois, No. 8 California, No. 9 Navy and No. 12 Greenville. Session II is set for 5 p.m. (CT) and consists of No. 2 Oklahoma,  No. 3 Michigan, No. 6 Ohio State, No. 7 Penn State, No. 10 Air Force and No. 11 Springfield. 

Stanford looks to earn its fifth-consecutive national championship. The Cardinal are coming off the MPSF conference title win, finishing with a team score of 422.700. 

The top-three teams and the top-three individuals on each event, including the all-around, not on advancing teams, will advance from each qualfying session to the NCAA championship finals. 

Follow the Huskers
Fans can follow @HuskerMGym on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter for live updates during the meet.