The Huskers nearly rallied from a 7-0 deficit, scoring a pair of runs in the eighth and three in the ninth to close to a run. After Wake Forest preseason All-America closer David Bush retired the first two hitters in the ninth, Matt Hopper’s single started a Husker rally, highlighted by Adam Riddle’s RBI single and a two-run single by Brandon Eymann, who went 2-for-5 with a pair of RBI, to trim the lead to one run.

Josh Birmingham, who also had a pair of hits in his first start, then singled to center, putting runners on first and second before Will Bolt grounded into a fielder’s choice to end the contest.

Wake Forest jumped out a 7-0 lead, scoring a pair of unearned runs in the first and five more in the third. The Demon Deacons capitalized on a Birmingham error in the opening frame, as Steve LeFaivre’s RBI double to left gave Wake Forest a 1-0 lead before Jeff Ruziecki added a sacrifice fly to give Wake its second run of the frame.

The Demon Deacons erupted for five runs on five hits in the third, knocking Husker starter Dustin Timm out of the game. Hubbard led off the frame with a solo homer to right, while the key blow in the inning was Stephen Ghutzman’s two-run double off reliever Brian Duensing.

“Wake Forest took advantage of every mistake we made today,” Nebraska Coach Dave Van Horn said. “They were able to build our mistakes into big innings,”

Ghutzman went 2-for-4 with a pair of RBIs, while LeFaive had thee hits to pace the 13-hit Demon Deacon attack. Kyle Sleeth went the first six innings for Wake Forest, scattering five hits and allowing three runs, moving to 2-0 on the season with the win. Timm (0-1) struggled in his first collegiate start, allowing four runs - two earned - on four hits in 2.1 innings to take the loss.

The Huskers finally got to Sleeth in the fourth after the right-hander retired nine of the first 10 Huskers thru three innings. Jeff Blevins coaxed a walk to lead off the inning before Jed Morris cut the margin to 7-2 with a towering two-run homer to left center. It was the second homer for the Husker catcher in three games. The Huskers continued to apply pressure, putting runners on first and second with two outs, but Sleeth struck out Birmingham to escape further damage.

NU continued to fight back in the fifth, string together three consecutive singles, highlighted by Blevins’ RBI single close to within 7-3. Jed Morris’ double to right put runners on second and third with one out, but Sleeth got out of the jam, striking out Hopper before first baseman Jeff Ruziecki’s leaped to snare Justin Seely’s liner to end the Husker threat. Morris went 2-for-5 with a pair of RBIs and a run scored.

“Offensively, we need to score runs with runners in scoring position and less than two outs,” Van Horn said. “That was our problem the whole weekend. We have to be able to make contact

Wake extended the lead to 9-3 in the bottom of the frame on RBI singles by Ryan Johnson and Adam Bourassa before the Huskers scored two runs in the eighth off Kyle Hill. Hopper led off the eighth with single before pinch hitters Daniel Bruce and Adam Riddle were both hit by pitches, loading the bases with no outs. Birmingham’s RBIs single plated one run, while a passed ball plated another to trim the deficit to 9-5 after eight innings. Adam Hanson got out of the jam, striking out pinch hitter Ryan Bonesio and Jeff Leise to end the frame.

The Huskers received an outstanding relief performance from true freshman Phil Shirek in the loss, who struck out six in 3.1 innings of scoreless relief to give the Huskers an opportunity to comeback.

The Huskers hit the road next weekend, when they travel to Lake Charles, La., for the McNeese State Invitational, where NU will take on McNeese State, Louisiana-Monroe and Southern Miss.