Something that hasn’t been said for a few seasons is that Nebraska’s Friday night starter is returning. After Mason McConnaughey saw his season cut short early last season in Frisco, Texas against Sam Houston, Ty Horn emerged as the go-to guy on Fridays, and ended the season in amazing fashion putting the team on his back and shutting down the UCLA Bruins to win the B1G title. He will get the ball when Nebraska opens the 2026 season against UConn in Scottsdale, AZ in the MLB Desert Invitational.
Horn was the best story of the 2025 season from a pitching perspective, which to a large extent took a step back from the previous season when the Cornhuskers led the B1G in team pitching. In light of that, under the tutelage of Coach Rob Childress, Nebraska hurlers were for the most part able to keep their team in most games, giving them a chance to win. When reflecting on the season, while the pitching was nowhere close to dominant, in most outings the staff was more than adequate.
Perhaps the most anticipated pitcher last year was Beatrice native Tucker Timmerman. After an impressive fall and significant off-season development, there was a lot of excitement surrounding one of our own. It was expected that after a few appearances from the bullpen, he would slide into a starting position, maybe even taking one of the weekend spots. That ended in the second game of the season when he was hit flush in the face by a ball off a Vanderbilt bat, requiring him to miss a good portion of his sophomore campaign.
With the injuries to two of the top pitchers, and some nagging ones to other members of the staff during the season, Coach Childress patched together a mix of veterans and newcomers that spent a number of games pitching by committee.
Nebraska lost a lot of innings and some tremendous performances over the past few years with Will Walsh, Jackson Brockett, Drew Christo and Luke Broderick moving on. Bolt and Childress have brought some new pitchers in that will have to eat up innings like these first three fellas, as well as to shut the door as Broderick did.
The fundamental questions going into the 2026 season is what impact the transfers will have and how much progress have those youngsters that got quite a bit of time on the mound last year made. Will Nebraska have three guys that can pitch their team to a win on the weekend? Are there some new arms that can fill important spots in the starting rotation and at the back end of the bullpen? Can one of the second-year guys take a big step and become a major contributor? Is there a youngster that will surprise us all?
As Will Bolt has done every season he has been at Nebraska, the Big Red will have a very challenging start to their season. It does not take long to see what kind of arm-talent and moxie each pitcher has. As has been the case the past few years, fans will have to get used to new names and faces as a number of pitchers have moved on and quite a few new ones have come on board.
So Long and Glad to See Ya’
Gone: T.J. Coats, Aiden Lieser, Aiden White, Luke Broderick, Drew Christo, Will Walsh, Jackson Brockett,
New: Cooper Katskee (R-Jr), Kevin Mannell (R-Sr), Braxton Stewart (R-So), Auden Pankonin (Fr), Jace Ziola (Fr), Carter Kutz (Fr), Lyden Bruegman (Sr), Cooper Grace (Fr), Blake Sebastian (Fr)
Back: Ty Horn (Jr), Caleb Clark (Sr), Tucker Timmerman (Jr), Ryan Harrahill (Jr), Grant Cleavinger (Sr), Carson Jasa (R-So), Jalen Worthley (Sr), Pryce Bender (So), Blake Encarnacion (So), J’Shawn Unger (So), Chase Olsen (R-Fr), Colin Nowaczyk (So), Gavin Blachowicz (So)
Your Starting Pitcher Tonight
Going into the 2026 season, D1 Baseball’s Kendall Rodgers thinks pretty highly of Nebraska’s chances, and believes that a starting rotation of Ty Horn, Cooper Katskee, and Carson Jasa may be Bolt’s best weekend starters in his time at Nebraska. To take that step up and compete consistently against the best teams in the country, the Cornhuskers have to upgrade the quality of their weekend staff.
Since Will Bolt arrived, they have generally had a Friday guy that can compete with the best of them. Sometimes they have had a top level second arm, but more often than not, the next two guys have not been the caliber of what the top twenty teams in the country have. Perhaps this season a step will be taken to establish that foundation.
At least for the first weekend of the season, Ty Horn will be the first man up on Friday. The junior from Halstead, Kansas came in as a raw, hard-throwing righty that pitched with a lot of emotion, and in a year learned how to pitch. He’s really tough between the ears and is as fierce of a competitor as All-American Brett Sears was a couple of years ago.
Horn had a 4-4 record last season and a 4.94 ERA, and led the team with 76 strikeouts. Those are not sterling statistics, but the eight-inning gem he threw against UCLA in the conference championship game, as well as a relief appearance a few days before that against Michigan State and his win vs. Holy Cross in the NCAA regional is all the proof one needs to recognize that he’s the Friday guy. Horn also had an incredible number of no-decisions early in the season when the offense could not put runs on the scoreboard, with his first two starts against Vanderbilt and LSU.
If there is someone other than Horn that will be handed the ball to open a series, it will be Cooper Katskee, a transfer from Miami (Ohio) that just happens to be a 3rd team All-American. Katskee played his high school ball at Cherry Creek in Colorado, though he did spend the fall on the Omaha Burke football team. He spent two years at Indiana before transferring to Miami. With the RedHawks he had ten starts and sixteen appearances, compiling an 11-2 record, a 3.08 ERA, and 70 strikeouts. He limited batters to a .196 average. Like Horn, he throws from the right side. The obvious question is can he pitch against stronger competition week in and week out. According to Bolt, Katskee knows how to manage a game, is a strike-thrower and has a very good curveball.
The pitcher that is the best professional prospect, according to Coach Bolt, is Carson Jasa, the 6’7” flamethrower from Colorado will get the ball on the first Saturday of the season. The redshirt sophomore has been a work in progress since arriving in Lincoln with a very high ceiling for Coach Childress to mold. He showed moments of brilliance at times last year, but just as quickly seemed to lose command of his pitches and had extreme difficulty finding the strike zone.
In the highly competitive Cape Cod league this past summer, batters only hit .185 off Jasa, but his free passes equaled his strikeout numbers. Another year of maturity may result in him taking that big step and becoming a bona fide D1 pitcher.
One would think that Tucker Timmerman has to be in the mix for a weekend spot. Unfortunately, the bulldog from Beatrice did not get as much of an opportunity that everyone hoped he would last season after taking a shot to the face from a 104-mph line drive off the bat of a Vanderbilt batter in the second game of the season. When he did pitch, he came in from the pen and was very effective.
Timmerman was tagged last year as a guy that the coaching staff wanted to see evolve into a starter, so perhaps that is where he will end up this year. Nebraska fans love their home state boys and it is time for another one to become “the guy.” During preseason interviews, Coach Bolt has hedged a bit when the question of starting comes up and states that he can be used in many ways and will most likely come out of the bullpen to start the season.
One of three sophomores that got a lot of innings last season, Gavin Blachowicz, will get the first chance to show how he has improved as he will be the number four starter on the opening series in Arizona. After another year in the strength and conditioning program, as well as learning from Coach Childress, he has proven himself enough to get the nod. A year ago, he made 17 appearances and registered 22 strikeouts in 21.1 innings.
With four righthanders starting off the season, one would think that Coach Childress is going to want at least a lefthander or two that can fill the starter role. Braxton Stewart, a redshirt sophomore that spent a year at Iowa Western CC after being on the roster at Louisville for a year, may be one of those under consideration. He is a strikeout pitcher averaging more than one per inning. It would be most likely that he would be tabbed for a midweek appearance, or serve in a long relief role.
Fans that have followed the Cornhuskers for a number of years have to wonder whether lefty Caleb Clark may finally be able to put it all together. For the Canadian, it has never been about him able to throw the ball in a manner that it is difficult to hit. He definitely has arm talent, and when he is on, he is a lot of fun to watch. The issue for him has been confidence and the ability to move on from a mistake. He simply has not been able to do that. He has been effective in short relief and has pitched some big innings. Coach Childress will most likely find an opportunity for him to start a game, and maybe this year it all comes together.
Coming In From the Bullpen
One of the more dominant closers that Nebraska has had in recent years, Luke Broderick has moved on and is pitching in the Colorado Rockies organization. A guy that pitched a lot of innings for the Cornhuskers over the years, Drew Christo, is also gone. However, the Cornhuskers have picked up some guys in the portal and have a number of youngsters that are a year more experienced coming back. In reality, the bullpen could be a strength for the team in the upcoming season.
It would appear that Kevin Mannell, a well-traveled redshirt senior originally from Topeka, Kansas will be tagged to be the closer. Starting out at Kansas State before moving on to Cloud County CC, Mannell notched some significant innings out of the bullpen for the Mississippi State Bulldogs. In eleven relief appearances, he totaled 19 strikeouts in 14.2 innings.
According to the coaching staff, Mannell has a Brett Sears type vibe and is a fiery competitor. He’s one of those guys that started out as a catcher at Kansas State and evolved into a pitcher. He throws from a lower arm slot and has a wicked slider that coaches compare to Broderick’s from last season. According to Coach Bolt, he is not just a three-out guy and they will not be afraid of using him more than just to get the final couple of outs.
There are a couple of wily veterans that will have a definite role this season, Jalen Worthley and Grant Cleavinger. These two seniors have played an important role since joining the Big Red. A lefty, Worthley is a hometown boy from Lincoln East that has pitched some very good innings with a mix of pitches that can make hitters look foolish. He may be that guy that gets a call to start on a Tuesday, and will definitely be one that can log some innings when called.
Cleavinger is a transfer from Tulane that has typically served as a set-up guy. He has the trust of the coaching staff and has shown the ability to step into hot situations and have success. Perhaps his greatest trait is that he is consistent and handles high pressure situations well.
Two of the other sophomores, Pryce Bender and Colin Nowaczyk, are both guys that can become solid contributors, and perhaps evolve into one of the top-shelf members of the staff. Bender needed to put a little meat on his frame, but with his multiple arm slots can be a tough guy to hit. He has the ability to get batters out over their front foot and essentially takes the bat out of their hand.
Nowaczyk is a lefty from Elkhorn that loves the fight. He came to Nebraska with a number of accolades and with a year under his belt may be poised to be the guy that takes a big step this season. He isn’t afraid of attacking the strike zone and may be that lefty compliment to Timmerman out of the pen.
Another Nebraska boy that falls into the same category as the two just mentioned is Ryan Harrahill. The junior from Elkhorn North will have a different look about him this season as Coach Childress has worked to change his arm slot and delivery. He has been tabbed to start games in each of his first two seasons but hasn’t tallied very many innings.
Two mystery returners are J’Shawn Unger from Blair and Chase Olson from Ray-Pec in the Kansas City area. It appeared that both of them were slated for a redshirt a year ago, but for some crazy reason, Unger was inserted into the game at Omaha and threw a few pitches, his only ones of the season. He did enter the portal at the end of the season but opted to return. Unger flashed a low-90’s fastball in the fall and a lot of good stuff over the plate.
Olson comes from the left side showed promise this fall as well. He arrived with a lot of accolades, including first-team all-state in Missouri, but the decision was made to redshirt him to give him an additional year to mature and develop his pitches.
In terms of the new guys, other than those previously mentioned, a few of them got some notice in the fall. Whether any of them become solid contributors is unknown at this point, but for Nebraska to become a top-tier team, some of the newcomers must be difference-makers.
A veteran coming in that has not been mentioned is Lynden Bruegman, a Lincoln North Star alum who spent three years at Missouri Western in St. Joseph and has transferred to his hometown school. He started 23 games in his three years for the Griffins and compiled a 4-9 record. His junior season was his best, but how he is used for the Cornhuskers will most likely start in the bullpen.
There are five freshmen pitchers on the roster at the start of the season. Auden Pankonin, Jace Ziola, Carter Kutz, Cooper Grace, and Blake Sebastian will wear the scarlet and cream for the first time when the team opens the season in Arizona this upcoming weekend. In the fall, Ziola caught the eyes of the coaching staff and batters with his stuff. The Skutt Catholic alum was the number 75 right-handed pitcher nationally, according to Perfect Game, as well as the twin brother of Cornhusker wrestler Cade Ziola.
Kutz and Grace are two-way players, so to some extent the jury is still out on how they will be used. Kutz was highly rated as an infielder from Wisconsin, and Grace continues the trend of pitchers from the State of Kansas. Pankonin is a big framed righthander from Wisconsin and Sebastian is yet another righthander from Kansas. If Coach Childress believes any of these can be contributors, he will run them out there to see what they can do.
Blake Encarnacion, one of the Texas connections, will not take the mound this season after having gone through Tommy John surgery. This young man has a little bit of magic that fans will have to wait another year to watch.
Season Outlook
Hopes were incredibly high last year for Nebraska to have that breakout season everyone has been waiting for since Will Bolt returned to his alma mater. National pundits had them ranked in the preseason and then the team got off to a very troubling start. It would seem that people are hedging their bets about making a similar prediction this season, but as mentioned previously, Kendall Rodgers is impressed with the potential starting rotation. Will that translate into a season atop the Big Ten Conference? We’ll know the answer to that in a few short months.
In terms of pitching, there are three things that we will be watching closely. First, the weekend rotation must be better than any that Coach Bolt has had. With Coach Rob Childress leading the way, that is not an unrealistic expectation. If all three of the projected starters – Horn, Katskee, and Jasa – really are destined for professional baseball it is time they prove it.
Of the second-year pitchers, and perhaps even among the freshmen, someone must take a big step and become a difference maker. At some point someone is going to have to take the mound on the weekend and win a ballgame. There has to be that guy that can come into really tight spots and put a torniquet on the bleeding immediately. At the present time, it appears that that person is Timmerman, but there must be at least one of two people that can fill that role. And, that also includes going out on Tuesday and shutting down a Creighton or Kansas.
Number three is whether or not the entire staff has bought into Childress 101 and attack the strike zone. In the two years since taking over the pitching staff, there has not been complete buy-in, or at least execution. Guys with dazzling arms and pitches were afraid to throw a strike when they needed to most. If this staff goes out each day with that attack mindset and executes, they will put the team in position to win a lot of games.
Pitching should be a strength this season, and should be good enough to carry the team to a few more wins that it did last year. There is a solid core of experienced pitchers, including some that have occasionally raised their game to a very high level. If that happens consistency across the board, one has to like the chances for this team.
