Jaros Leads Huskers to 15-2 Victory

Lincoln ? Nick Jaros hit two homers and drove in four RBIs, while six Husker pitchers held Nebraska-Kearney to just four hits, as No. 4 Nebraska posted a 15-2 victory Wednesday afternoon.

Jaros, who had missed NU’s last three contests with a hand injury, paced a 19-hit Husker attack with his first career four-hit game, belting his third and fourth homers of the season and driving in career-high four RBIs, as the Huskers improved to 30-5 on the season heading into a weekend Big 12 showdown with No. 5 Texas. 

The 30-5 mark is the second-best record after 35 games in school history, as NU has won its last 12 contests, the second-longest winning streak in the country.

Jaros was one of three Huskers who picked up four-hit days in the win, as right fielder Nick Sullivan went 4-for-5 with his first career homer, while Brandon Buckman went 4-for-5 and drove in a career-high five runs. Andrew Brown also drove in three runs, including a two-run single in the first, as the Huskers scored there in the inning and cruised to the win.

“The kids came out and swung the bats,” Nebraska Coach Mike Anderson said. “Our purpose today was to hopefully score some runs early and get on top and be able to use some pitchers.”
 
Sophomore left-hander Jon Klausing picked up the win, allowing one hit over three shutout innings as each of the pitchers worked on a pitch count. Klausing, who improved to 3-0, struck out a pair and retired the final nine hitters he faced after allowing a leadoff single to Cole Archer to open the game.

The Huskers jumped out to a 10-0 lead after five innings, allowing NU to empty the bench in the later innings. In all, three freshmen started while eight freshmen saw action in Wednesday’s victory.

The Huskers took advantage of a Loper error in the first, leading directly to a trio of Husker runs. With two outs, consecutive singles by Gorsett and Buckman started the rally before Sullivan’s grounder was misplayed by Archer to load the bases. Brown then made UNK pay for the miscue, driving in a pair of runs before Jake Opitz made it 3-0 with an RBI single.

Schleifer, the first of four UNK hurlers, allowed three runs on five hits to drop to 2-3 on the season, as Nebraska-Kearney fell to 21-18.
 
Nebraska broke the game open in the fourth, scoring five times, including a two-run triple by Buckman and back-to-back homers by Sullivan and Brown to take an 8-0 lead. Jaros’ first homer of the game in the fifth made it 10-0 before Buckman’s 12th round tripper of the season, a three-run blast to right center, pushed the lead to 13-0.

UNK scored a pair of runs in the eighth off reliever Dan Jennings to avert the shutout, but Jaros got both runs back in the bottom of the frame with his second two-run homer of the day.

The Huskers begin a three-game series at No. 5 Texas on Friday evening, with a first pitch set for 6:15 p.m. The game will be carried on the Pinnacle Sports Network, including KFAB 1110 in Omaha, 1400 AM in Lincoln and 880 KRVN in Lexington and on Huskers.com.