WACO — The Nebraska Cornhuskers won the pitcher’s duel with the Baylor Bears 2-0 Saturday at Baylor Ballpark to win the three-game series.
Bears starting pitcher Paul Dickens threw a career-high five innings while fanning a career-high seven batters. The lone run Dickens gave up was on a sacrifice fly ball in the fourth inning. The redshirt junior surrendered five hits and walked one batter on the evening.
“I was thought Paul Dickens did a phenomenal job,” said Baylor coach Steve Rodriguez. “[Daniel] Caruso and [Ryan] Leckich came in and did a really good job, especially when we got bases loaded.”
Caruso appeared in the sixth inning and pitched two scoreless frames, including pitching out of a bases-loaded jam in the seventh inning to keep the score 1-0. Caruso allowed two hits while walking one and striking out three.
“Caruso came in and finds a way to get out of it,” said Rodriguez. “I’m really happy and I told them out there that I’m really pumped for the way they competed out there. We’re battling some things as a team in regard to health issues, and the way they went out there and competed I was really happy with.”
Leckich threw two-complete innings and put up a goose egg in the eighth before allowing an unearned run in the ninth that established the game’s 2-0 final score.
Dickens take the loss and goes to 1-1 in 2019.
Baylor can salvage the series Sunday with a 12:02 p.m. first pitch from Baylor Ballpark.