The #6 Nebraska Cornhuskers had been making big innings a huge part of big wins in multiple games this season. In the bottom of the 2nd inning, they finally strapped one on UCLA and that was enough to give them a 2-1 series win in the biggest games they play until the Big 10 tourney rolls around.
Husker rips had been finding their way into enemy gloves repeatedly in East Lansing and these strokes of bad luck had continued at home against the Bruins in the first games – or maybe you forgot lined shots
to right field and shortstop with the bases loaded and one out in the 7th on Saturday night?
Or two more in the bottom of the first in this game with Hannah Camenzind in scoring position?
The breaks started immediately in the bottom of two when Jesse Farrell dropped a pop into left field right between the left fielder and shortstop who stared at each other momentarily before both took up the chase unsuccessfully – and to be honest, it probably didn’t matter.
Two batters later, starting pitcher Alexis Jensen broke open the 1-1 game with an absolute rocket which cleared the center field wall, the hill behind it and may well have found the parking lot after it landed 283 feet away (distance to CF fence 225 feet). The 2-run blast put the Huskers up 3-1. Then with Jordy Frahm and Hannah Coor aboard, Hannah Cam launched one, also to center field, which just cleared the wall for a 6-1 advantage. Then it was wait out a second UCLA pitching change, send up Ava Kuszak and watch her also belt one out for a 7-1 lead.
Bonus points if you guessed it sailed out to center as well.
There was some unease after Jensen surrendered an infield single followed by 2-run homer by UCLA leadoff batter Rylee Slimp to cut the margin to 8-4. However, tensions were eased as Jordy Frahm came on halt any further UCLA scoring. The crowd appreciated Jensen’s effort, however, giving her a standing ovation as she walked off after which she admitted she “had a little bit of happy tears”.
Jensen threw 6 innings surrendering only 6 hits while striking out 7. She did give up 4 runs but consider this was against a team hitting .410 with 100 home runs entering the series, not to mention 11.7 runs per game.
And the wind was again blowing out, this time at 10-20mph with gusts near 30. After the freshman’s second win of the weekend, this was an ovation well deserved.
The Huskers racked up 12 hits and 8 runs against the overmatched UCLA staff who lost quality starters Addison Fisher and Kaitlyn Terry, a combined 36-7 in 2025, to the transfer portal. It has fallen on Taylor Tinsley to pitch the majority of the innings in 2026 and the two she tossed today gave a total of 15 for the weekend.
Nebraska, on the other hand, split the innings between Jensen (11) and Frahm (10) evenly, a luxury missing last season which should pay big dividends in the post-season. And speaking of post-season, taking two of three from the #7 Bruins should not hurt their current #3 RPI in the least.
Dreams of controlling their own destiny to host an NCAA regional and, surviving that, super regional in their very own Bowlin Stadium are very much alive and kicking.
On Saturday, the Huskers broke their single-game attendance record with 3123 piling in and Sunday kept rolling as they topped whatever the old number was with a weekend total of 8383. Fantastic number for fans of the old Scoring Machine.
The Huskers are back in action when they head up I-80 Tuesday evening to take on Creighton in their oddly tiny stadium (capacity 298). Then, this weekend, Rutgers comes calling kicking things off on Friday evening at 5pm CST. Currently, Friday is scheduled for the Big 10 Network and the weekend tilts for B1G+.
And, as almost always, all games can be enjoyed from the Huskers Radio Network featuring Nate Rohr on the call. Very few do it better.
