Bird carries the load again for Huskers

Senior Erik Bird went the distance throwing 143 pitches as he helped shut down the best hitting team in the country as Nebraska wins 4-2 over New Mexico Tuesday evening at Hawks Field.
Bird (2-1) gave up seven hits and struck out two over and limited a Lobo offense, which led the nation in batting average (.371) and ranked sixth in runs per game (9.7) to their second-lowest offensive output of the year.
Bird, coming off a career best 9.1 innings in his last start at Creighton last Tuesday, allowed a pair of first inning runs.
NU got on the board after being down 2-0 after Ben Kline, who went 2-for-4 on the night, and a double to left off the bat of DJ Belfonte put runners at second and third. Boomer Collins lofted a sacrifice fly to right to score Kline before Cody Neer’s RBI single plated Belfonte to tie the game.
Jeff Tezak opened the third with a double and moved to third on a passed ball before Jake Mort perfectly executed a squeeze to plate Tezak and give NU a 3-2 lead.
The Huskers got an insurance run in the seventh against reliever Clinton Cox. The Huskers and Lobos will wrap up the two-game series Wednesday afternoon at 1:35 p.m.