Nebraska baseball saw Games 1 and 2 of a three-game set against South Alabama each go drastically different.
In the Huskers' home opener Friday, they surrendered four home runs and lost in a blowout, 11-3. On Saturday, they rallied in a big way to power four home runs of their own and take advantage of another gem from starter Brett Sears in his fourth consecutive quality start, taking Game 2 in a 13-2 drubbing.
In Sunday's Game 3, the Husker offense made it look like Friday was more of a fluke and that Saturday – and their three-game sweep over College of Charleston last week – was more of the norm.
Nebraska, which trailed by three or more runs in all three of those Charleston games, once again put together a big comeback and for the second day in a row put a double-digit number on the scoreboard. The Huskers battled back from deficits of 4-0 (first inning) and 6-1 (third inning) with a 10-run explosion across the fifth and sixth innings – all 10 of which came with two outs – en route to a 12-7 win.
Nebraska (9-4) has won eight of its last 10 games and captured its third consecutive series victory to start this season, going a perfect 3-for-3 in this year's three series by scoring in double figures for the fourth time this season against the Jaguars (11-5). Sunday marked the fourth time in the last six games that they rallied from a multi-run deficit and second come-from-behind win after trailing by at least four runs.
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The Huskers dug themselves early holes of 4-0 and then 6-1 after true freshman Tyler Horn – making his first career start – got knocked around for four runs before recording an out and then gave up two more in the third inning.
The Huskers, though, were knocking on the door over the first four innings. They loaded the bases with no outs in the second, loaded them with one out in the third and put two runners on base in the fourth. In all, they only got two runs to show for – one apiece in the second and third after back-to-back inning-ending double plays.
In the fifth and sixth innings, the floodgates opened.
The Huskers exploded for 10 runs across those two frames, all of which came with two outs. Nebraska put four across in the fifth on the back of Garrett Anglim's RBI double, a bases-loaded walk and the hot bat of Rhett Stokes – whose last name has accidentally been written "Strokes" several times over the weekend, for good reason – as his two-run single up the middle drove in a pair for a 6-6 tie.
Stokes had himself a weekend. The Huskers' nine-hole hitter went 3-for-4 in every game of the series to finish with nine hits (including four doubles: two on Friday, two on Sunday) and tallying five RBI with one run scored. He raised his season average to .455 with his 9-for-12 run in the series. No walks, no strikeouts for Stokes. He put the ball in play in all 12 at-bats.
Cole Evans helped break things open further in the sixth with a go-ahead two-run double. Anglim and Dylan Hufft each followed with an RBI single to set up Dylan Carey for the big one: A two-run bomb over the left field wall for a commanding 12-6 lead.
Mason McConnaughey (1-2) earned the win as he shut down the Jags in the middle innings. He fired three shutout innings, allowing one baserunner per inning but stranding him each time behind seven total strikeouts – including three apiece in the fourth and fifth.
Joseph Sullivan led off the seventh with solo shot for his second homer of the series and giving the Jags the home run advantage (6-5) in a series featuring 11 bombs.
Tucker Timmerman worked around two Husker errors in that inning to strand two runners, and that was as close as the Jags would get. Timmerman shut it down the rest of the way, ending the game on the Husker pitching staff's 16th strikeout of the game.
Horn fired four of those himself before leaving after three. The freshman didn't get much help from the defense behind him, though, with the Huskers committing three errors as the Jags built their early five-run lead. Nebraska committed five total errors on Sunday, and the Husker pitchers surrendered just three earned runs out of the seven total. Horn got the brunt of it, finishing with six runs allowed (two earned) on three hits with one walk and four strikeouts across his three innings.
Nebraska looked poise to do some damage early by loading the bases with no outs in the bottom of the second. But the Huskers plated just one run on a Ben Columbus RBI grounder to first base. Dylan Carey drew a walk to load them again with one out, but Stokes grounded into an inning-ending 5-4-3 double play for one of just three putouts off his bat over the weekend.
Riley Silva drew a leadoff walk in the bottom of the third, advanced to second on a balk, and Case Sanderson drove him home on a single. Josh Caron and Clay Bradford each drew a walk to juice up the bases again with one out, but the Huskers again grounded into an inning-ending double play – this time off the bat of Anglim.
The Huskers (9-4) have now won eight of their past 10 games dating back to the Feb. 22 series opener against Grand Canyon while the Jags (11-5) are 7-5 in their last 12 over the same time span.
They won't have too much off time before they get back on the diamond. The Huskers will travel to Kansas for a two-game road set at Wichita State (9-5). Both games will begin at 6 p.m. CT on Tuesday and Wednesday with both available to stream live on ESPN+ and listen live on Huskers Radio Network.
The Huskers will then return home for a three-game series against Nicholls State (16-3) at Haymarket Park that kicks off Friday at Haymarket Park.
