PEORIA, Arizona—A three-run double in the ninth inning Thursday by Nebraska third baseman Blake Headley broke a tie to sting BYU baseball with a 6-3 loss.

The Cougars (0-5) jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning before 930 fans at the Peoria Sports Complex in the first of a four-game series against Nebraska (2-2).

Dillon Robinson’s two-run triple to the gap in right-center field in the first inning helped the Cougars to a 3-0 lead after he scored on Dallen Reber’s single.

That gave BYU starting pitcher Kolton Mahoney a cushion to work from as he tallied six strikeouts in as many innings before Nebraska tied the score in the sixth frame.

“It was nice to see Kolton (Mahoney) come out strong and set the tone for us,” BYU coach Mike Littlewood said. “Our hitters did a great job today, but we need to get hits when they count. We are stranding far too many base runners out there inning after inning.  The bottom half of our lineup needs to step up, be competitive, and do a better job of grinding out at bats.”

Hayden Nielsen went 4-for-5 batting after lead-off hitter Brennon Lund had his five-game hitting streak ended by the Huskers.

The Huskers loaded the bases in the third inning when Mahoney fielded a nubber but couldn’t get the lead runner and missed throwing out Jake Schleppenbec at first. Quick hands by Cougar second baseman Tanner Chancey stopped another threat in the fifth when he threw out Schleppenbec for the second out.

In the sixth inning, Chauncey’s throw to home was a shade off target as Nebraska plated its second run.  Cougar right fielder Eric Urry nabbed a sacrifice fly on the warning track as the Huskers tied the score, 3-3, that inning.

Reliever Mason Marshall retired Nebraska in order in the eighth, starting with Lund laying out to secure an out. In the ninth the Huskers led off with consecutive singles from Marshall before he was replaced by Michael Rucker, who gave up an intentional walk to load the bases before Headley’s double.

The Cougars left the bases loaded in the third, but a 5-3 double play closed that frame.

“This was a good college baseball game and the team that won got the big hit today,” Littlewood said.

The two teams play a doubleheader on Friday at noon MDT in the four-game series which ends Saturday.

Nebraska is no longer ranked, but will provide stiff competition this week for BYU baseball when the two teams compete in Arizona.

The Cornhuskers (1-2) lost two of three games and their No. 23 ranking last week at UNLV, while BYU (0-4) is looking for its first win. The Cougars and Nebraska play a four-game series starting Thursday at the Peoria Sports Complex, site of the Seattle Mariners and San Diego Padres spring training camp.

“We knew how tough these first two weeks would be,” BYU coach Mike Littlewood said. “Our goal is to get better and at Santa Barbara we played well and got better in those four days. Similarly, we want to compete and get better this week and the games with Nebraska will enable us to do this.”

Kolton Mahoney (0-1, 5.40) will start Thursday’s game at 1 p.m. MDT,Jeff Barker (0-1, 3.60)  starts the first game of a doubleheader on Friday at noon, followed by Brandon Kinser (0-0, 0.00), and Brady Corless (0-1, 5.40) will start Saturday’s game at noon.

“We have moved Kinser into our starting rotation because Hayden (Rogers) needs to work on some things,” Littlewood said. “We don’t know if this is a temporary move, but it will give us a left-hander coming out of the pen that can go hard for a couple of innings.

“Buffo (Maverik) was a nice surprise for us with his mound presence and we feel comfortable with him coming out of the pen.”

Kinser, Buffo and Gonzaga transfer Michael Rucker all have earned run averages of 0.00 in a combined nine innings on the mound this season. Kinser will be making his second start as a Cougar, having been pressed into a starting role last year at Dallas Baptist at the last minute due to a pre-game injury to Hayden Rogers. Kinser, a senior, has made 32 appearances as a Cougar reliever.

Centerfielder Brennon Lund has a current five-game hitting streak and leads the Cougars with a .410 batting average.

The Nebraska-BYU games can be listened to and followed through live links on www.byucougars.com. Last year BYU lost its four-game series at this same Peoria Sports Complex to Kansas.

Following the Nebraska games, the Cougars travel to play a four-game series at Oklahoma next week before the home opener against Hartford in March.

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