LINCOLN, Neb. – The Columbia baseball team put together an admirable performance on Friday, but ultimately came up short, falling to the Nebraska Cornhuskers by the score of 5-3.

Junior Billy Black (0-2) started and took the loss on the mound for Columbia (0-5). The right-hander went six innings, giving up three runs, all of them earned, on four hits, allowing two walks and striking out two.

Offensively, the Lions were paced by sophomore Joshua Solomon, who went 2-for-4 on the day with a home run and two RBIs. Sophomore Tyler MacGregor put together a standout performance at the plate as well, going 2-for-3.

Sophomore Kyle Perry led the Cornhuskers pitching staff, throwing five innings of one-run ball.

Trailing 3-0, the Lions first put runs on the board in the fourth inning thanks to Solomon's second home run of the season, a solo shot off Perry.

Black settled in, retiring the next nine hitters to keep the deficit at 3-1 before closing the gap in the sixth. Weston Eberly hit a roller to third that was misfired and wound up on second base with no outs. After Nebraska retired the next two hitters, Solomon took an 0-1 pitch to left to trim the margin to 3-2.

Nebraska built their lead back up to 5-2 on a Cam Chick double and RBI ground out from Spencer Schwellenbach in the seventh. Columbia offense got one back in the eighth on a lead-off single from MacGregor, sacrifice bunt and came around on the Huskers second throwing error of the ballgame. Josh Nicoloff followed with a sharp single to left, however, reliever Max Schreiber struck out the final two batters. Paul Tillotson came on to retire the Lions in order to close things out.

The Lions are back in action Saturday, March 7, when they will take Nebraska for a doubleheader. Game one is slated for a 1 p.m. (ET) start. Game two will begin approximately 30 minutes following the opener. Both games can be seen on BTN+.

For the latest on the Columbia baseball, follow @CULionsBaseball on Twitter and Instagram, and the web at GoColumbiaLions.com.