Nebraska and Penn State faced off on a cool and windy day at Haymarket Park, playing a doubleheader due to last night’s game being postponed. With a stiff wind blowing from the north, it surprised not one that balls were leaving the park today and making every flyball an adventure.
If you were to give a game ball to a player in each of these games, Rhett Stokes would certainly get it for Game 1. In Game 2, you’d have to give two as both Carson Jasa and Jett Buck more than earned one. Stokes was three
for three at the plate and most importantly, drove in the winning run in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Nebraska has been playing complete baseball in all three phases of the game and today was no different. They showed the ability to come from behind by getting runners on base and they also cranked it up with big innings.
Game 1
With the sun peeking through the clouds, Mike Gambino’s boys got on the board first in an ugly way in the top of the second inning. With one out, Jack Porter hit a flare behind first base that got into the wind a bit and fell between Case Sanderson and Drew Grego for a double. He got to second base on a deep fly to center and scored on a Ty Horn wild pitch.
Jett Buck smoked a 1-0 pitch over the fence to the deepest part of the field to bring the Cornhuskers even at 1-1 in the bottom of the inning. Otherwise, Nittany Lion starter Colin Fitzgerald kept the Cornhuskers off the bases in the first two innings.
Michael Anderson, Penn State’s best hitter ripped a Ty Horn fastball down the third baseline to score two in the top of the third. Horn had really struggled to locate his pitches having thrown 43 of them in just two innings. Right after that he served up a pitch right over the plate that Bryce Molinaro blasted far beyond the centerfield fence. Going to the bottom of the third Penn State was back on top, 5-1.
Nebraska came back with two in the bottom of the inning, but could have had a lot more. Mac Moyer hit one onto the party porch in right field that also scored Rhett Stokes, who had previously singled. However, the Cornhuskers chased Lion starter Fitzgerald with bases loaded before Kyle Emmons got Max Buettenback to pop up to the shortstop. After three, the Big Red was down 5-3.
Ty Horn just didn’t have it today, which Penn State exploited in the fourth. Avery Smith led off with a hard-hit double to leftfield and a couple of pitches later, Justin Turcovski hit the Lions second two-run homer of the game. Horn left the game having thrown 70 pitches, giving up seven hits, including two doubles and two home runs. Uncharacteristically, he had only one strikeout.
While Tucker Timmerman came in and steadied the ship, the Nebraska offense chipped away at the 7-3 Lion lead. Drew Grego scored in the bottom of the fourth after doubling, advancing on a wild pitch, and scoring on a Mac Moyer flyball to centerfield.
Case Sanderson led off the fifth with a single and eventually scored on a two-out single by Grego. Coming up to bat in the bottom of the sixth, Nebraska was down 7-5.
Penn State went to the bullpen again and brought in Dimond Loosli. Rhett Stokes greeted him with a double. Moyer walked and Jeter Worthley was hit by a pitch to loaded the bases. Loosli then uncorked a wild pitch that scored Stokes, and then Moyer when the catcher made a bad toss to Loosli covering the plate.
It appeared that Nebraska might have some momentum at that point, but Loosli struck out both Sanderson and Dylan Carey before Buck flew out to end the threat. After six innings, it was a new ballgame at 7 to 7.
Timmerman worked through the top of the Nittany Lion order and a one-out double in the top of the seventh before Nebraska took their first lead of the game in the bottom of the inning. With one out, new pitcher Robert Brown III hit Drew Grego. He moved to second on an Overbeek dribbler to the pitcher, and then raced home on a Stokes single to put the home team up 8-7.
Tucker Timmerman had the kind of performance today that people expected out of him coming into the season. He only gave up one hit in four innings of work and was never really in trouble. He could have probably gone another inning, but once Nebraska went up by a run, it was time to bring in the closer, J’Shawn Unger.
The sophomore righty out of Blair pitched two perfect innings to end it. Ball game! Nebraska 8, Penn State 7.
The boys from Lincoln showed some resilience today, along with patience. Unlike other games where they have come from behind, it was not a big inning or innings that put them on top. They didn’t score any more than two runs in an inning, but scored in every inning but two.
A tip of the hat needs to go to the bottom of the lineup in this one as well. The bottom third of the order – Grego, Overbeek, and Stokes – accounted for half the eight runs scored and half of the ten hits.
Game 2
Having seen the top two pitchers Penn State had on their roster in Game 1, the Cornhusker offense exploded on the Nittany Lion starter Ben Hudson right out of the shoot in Game 2.
As he has done so often this season, Mac Moyer led off with a single. Will Jesske, making his first start since March 7, was then hit by a pitch and Case Sanderson worked a five-pitch walk to load the bases.
Up came Dylan Carey, who hit a moonshot into the wind in his last at-bat in game one that just missed going out of the park. He nearly duplicated that in this at-bat with the ball bouncing off the leftfield wall for the longest single you are going to see. Moyer scored and Nebraska was up 1-0.
Jett Buck has shown he can hit the ball hard to any part of the park and he too came up with the bases still loaded and smacked a grand slam the opposite way over the rightfield wall to make it 5-0 Cornhuskers.
Meanwhile, Carson Jasa was outstanding today. He was around the strike zone much more so than his previous outing and used all of his pitches to baffled the Penn State batters. He gave up a run in the third inning when the Lions strung together a couple of singles and a run-scoring double by Spencer Barnett, but that was the only blemish today.
Nebraska added two runs in the second when catcher Trey Fikes, Moyer, and Jesske went back-to-back-to-back with singles to start the inning. Fikes scored on Jesske’s hit and then Moyer scored later on a passed ball. Big Red was in command after just two innings 7-0.
A run was added in the third when Drew Grego reached on an error and scored on Trey Fikes’ double.
In the fourth Will Jesske started it off with a double and was pulled from the game for precautionary reasons with Preston Freeman running for him. Freeman scored on a Jett Buck single and Buck scored two batters later when Grego doubled to rightfield. At this point Nebraska was thinking run-rule as they were up 11-1.
They added a couple of insurance runs in the fifth when Fikes reached on an error and Mac Moyer walked. With two on and no outs, Freeman doubled down the leftfield line to score those two to make it 13-1.
Jasa was outstanding and as the game went on, his pitches were nasty. He ended his performance with a seven-inning complete game and set a personal best with 11 strikeouts. More impressive, is that he only gave up three walks, which is significantly better than in past starts.
The 13-1 win gives Nebraska yet another series win and a perfect record at home.
As mentioned previously, Fikes and Jesske got starts in this game. Miken Miller also started in leftfield. When Jesske is healthy enough to play defense, Nebraska will have a very crowded outfield with a number of players hungry to get another opportunity.
Only four pitchers were used today so Coach Childress has to feel good about his options tomorrow.
Tomorrow’s Championship Sunday game is moved back an hour to a 1:00 start. Nebraska looks for the sweep in front of a big Easter Sunday crowd on what should be a sunny day. Cooper Katskee takes the mound for the second straight Sunday and will face off against Isaiah Shayter.
Notes:
- Penn State only had two players with batting averages .300 or better, but you wouldn’t know that the way they swung that bat in game one. That was not the case in game two as Carson Jasa pretty much shut them down.
- Not many teams can say they have a .400 hitter in the nine-spot in the batting order, but Nebraska has one that is close. Rhett Stokes was three for three in game one and was batting .396.
- Trey Fikes has started five games this year, spelling Jeter Worthley behind the plate in the second game. Today he had his best day hitting, going two for three and reaching on an error. He had a double and an RBI.
- In game two, Jett Buck was two for four with a home run and six RBI.
- Will Jesske pinch hit in the midweek game and in game one today when he actually had two at-bats. For not having played since the first week of March, his swing was solid and he barreled up and hit the ball with very high exit speeds. In his first start in a month, he was 2 for 2 and was hit by a pitch. The question is when will he be ready to play defense and what will that do to the lineup?
- It appears that Jeter Worthley has taken on the role held by Riley Silva that past few years: the guy who gets hit by pitches the most. He was plunked twice in the first game today, taking him to 14 on the season. Joshua Overbeek (12) and Case Sanderson (10) are challenging him for that title.
