On a night when hits were at a premium, South Alabama gave Nebraska too many free baserunners on Friday.

The Cornhuskers had just six hits in the opener of a 3-game series at Stanky Field, but had 11 other runners reach base via walk or hit-by-pitch on the way to a 5-4 victory. The Jaguars, meanwhile, managed just two hits and left five runners in scoring position.

“We had two hits and one was a home run,” South Alabama coach Mark Calvi said. “We had some guys on (base) and one hit would have changed the game, but we didn’t get it. The fifth and sixth (innings) got us. … We need to swing the bat better.”

Nebraska (1-3-1) took the lead for good with two runs in the top of the third inning against South Alabama pitcher Jeremy Lee, who allowed four runs in five innings in his second start of the season. Casey Burnham doubled and Dylan Carey was hit by a pitch, with Max Anderson driving home Burnham on a single up the middle and Ben Columbus bringing home Carey with an infield grounder for a 3-2 Cornhuskers lead.

South Alabama (4-2) had taken a 2-1 lead on JG Bell’s two-run single in the bottom of the second, but managed just one hit the remainder of the game. The Cornhuskers added a run in the fifth on a walk, a single and another Columbus RBI single to lead 4-2.

Lee, coming off elbow surgery that ended his 2022 season after just three outings, did not have his best stuff on Friday. He threw 90 pitches (50 for strikes) and allowed five hits, with two walks, three hit batters and a wild pitch to take the loss.

“Their pitcher (Emmett Olson), in my opinion, you might look up in three to five years and see him pitching in the big leagues,” Calvi said. “He was very good. We had our chances tonight, we just didn’t maximize our opportunities in the leverage innings of the ballgame. We just didn’t get it done when we needed to tonight. We weren’t clean defensively.

“I thought Jeremy probably deserved a better fate, but we got two hits and we need to match up a little better offensively with those guys and tonight it just didn’t happen. We’ll move on and get ready to go tomorrow.”

Colson Lawrence homered to lead off the South Alabama half of the fifth, making the score 4-3. But Jaguars reliever Danny Diaz hit Columbus with the bases loaded in the sixth to put Nebraska back up by two at 5-3.

Cole Ketzner scored the game’s final run on a wild pitch in the sixth, pulling South Alabama within 5-4. The Jaguars loaded the bases with two out in the eighth on two walks and a hit batter, but Lawrence flew out against Nebraska reliever Dylan Worthley to end the threat.

Bell was hit by a pitch to start the bottom of the ninth, then took second on Orbeta’s sacrifice bunt. Orbeta headed toward third on the play, but collided with Nebraska shortstop Brice Matthews just after he left the bag.

Calvi argued for interference, but the umpires appeared not to see the play. Orbeta was left on second when Mitchell Heer popped up and Will Turner grounded out to end the game.

Olson (1-1) picked up the win for Nebraska, allowing four runs (two earned) on twho hits with two walks and five strikeouts in 5 1/3 innings. Kyle Perry, the last of four Cornhuskers pitched, worked a scoreless ninth for his first save.

Burnham reached base three times and score on each, while Columbus drove in three runs without recording a hit. Garrett Anglim homered to lead off the second for Nebraska’s first run.

Orbeta, Heer and Turner, South Alabama’s 1-2-3 hitters in the order, went a combined 0-for-13 with a walk (by Turner). Bell, Diego Altamirano, Tyler Borges and Joseph Sullivan all reached base multiple times, but were more often than not stranded on base.

The series continues with a 2 p.m. game on Saturday.