Arizona State baseball ended Nebraska’s season on Sunday, beating the Cornhuskers 11-8 in an NCAA Lincoln Regional elimination game at Haymarket Park. The result sent Arizona State on to face Ole Miss for a berth in a super regional.
That mattered because the regional was running Friday through Monday, and Sunday’s game decided which path stayed alive. For Nebraska, there was no next game in Lincoln after the loss.
The finish fit the kind of game that turns a regional bracket on its head. Nebraska and Arizona State were tied 1-1 after a solo home run, and the game was still hanging in the balance before a sacrifice fly sent Worthley home in the ninth inning, giving Arizona State the edge it needed to pull away.
Nebraska did enough at the plate to make the final line sting. The home team scored eight runs and still lost by three, a margin that showed how quickly one inning can wipe out everything a club has built over the first eight or nine frames.
That is what an elimination game demands: one mistake, one inning, one swing can end a regional run. Nebraska’s loss closed the book on its Lincoln Regional stay, while Arizona State kept moving through the bracket with Ole Miss next and a super regional berth on the line.
For Arizona State, the road is clear now. Beat Ole Miss, and the Sun Devils move one step deeper into the postseason. For Nebraska, Sunday’s defeat was final.
