Husker Baseball Evens Series At Illinois
Nebraska erupted for 12 runs and a season-high 18 hits, as the 20th-ranked Huskers defeated Illinois 12-5 on Saturday afternoon to even the weekend series at Illinois Field in Champaign, Ill.
Nebraska (32-11, 16-4 Big Ten) scored 12 runs on 18 hits and two errors, while Illinois (21-20, 9-11 Big Ten) tallied five runs on seven hits and two errors.
Joshua Overbeek led the way with a 3-for-5 afternoon and three RBI, and Case Sanderson went 3-for-5 with a double, four runs scored and a run driven in. Mac Moyer finished 3-for-5 with a double, an RBI and two runs scored, while Will Jesske was 3-for-4 with a double.
Jett Buck added two hits and two RBI, Drew Grego grove in a run on a 2-for-4 day, and Rhett Stokes chipped in a hit and an RBI. Dylan Carey doubled home a run in a three-run ninth inning.
Carson Jasa improved to 8-1 on the season, going five innings and allowing just two runs, one earned, on three hits with five strikeouts and six walks. Tucker Timmerman allowed three unearned runs in 1.2 innings, and J’Shawn Unger closed it out with 2.1 scoreless innings to earn his ninth save of the season.
Nebraska wasted no time, plating three runs in the second on RBI single from Grego and back-to-back RBI groundouts by Trey Fikes and Moyer.
The Huskers added three more in the third when Overbeek lined a two-RBI single to left field and Stokes grounded out to score a third run to push the Big Red’s lead to 6-0.
The Illini capitalized on an error to begin the bottom of the third, scoring their first run of the afternoon with a two-out RBI single to left-center field.
Moyer opened the fourth with a full-count walk and later came around to score on a wild pitch, before Jesske and Buck ripped consecutive singles that plated Sanderson, who reached on a fielding error, to extend the lead to 8-1.
Illinois got one of the runs back in the bottom of the fourth with a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded to make it an 8-2 game through four innings.
The Illini got life in the seventh with three unearned runs off Timmerman to pull within 8-5.
Nebraska answered immediately with another run in the top of the eighth to extend the lead to four. Consecutive singles from Sanderson and Jesske to begin the inning set the table for Buck’s sacrifice fly to left field that allowed Sanderson to score from third.
The Huskers broke it open in the ninth with three runs on four hits in the ninth to expand the lead to 12-5. Moyer, Carey and Sanderson started the inning with three consecutive doubles that plated a pair of runs, while Overbeek capped the scoring with an RBI single to center field that had the Huskers ahead by seven.
Unger worked around a one-out double in the ninth to preserve the Big Red’s 12-5 victory and pick up his team-leading ninth save of the season.
Nebraska and Illinois conclude this weekend’s series tomorrow at 1 p.m. on B1G+.