Jensen Sparks Huskers in 11-Inning Win

Lincoln - Nick Jaros' one-out hit to the gap in left-center drove in pitcher Brett Jensen from first base with the winning run in the bottom of the 11th inning to complete an impressive comeback and give the No. 4 Nebraska baseball team a 4-3 victory over Texas Tech in the first game of a rain-delayed doubleheader at Hawks Field on Saturday.

The win stretched Nebraska's winning streak to four games and improved the Huskers to 34-6 overall and 13-3 in the Big 12, while Texas Tech slipped to 27-18-1 and 6-11-1 in the Big 12.

Jensen not only improved to 5-0 on the season with the victory on the hill, the 6-foot-7 senior right-hander from Eagle Grove, Iowa, also notched several career firsts. Jensen recorded his first career hit in his first career at-bat by driving a 1-2 pitch up the middle with one out in the 11th. He also scored his first career run on Jaros' game-winning double.

Jensen came on for the Huskers in the 10th inning and pitched two shutout innings to give Nebraska a chance for the victory, after Zach Herr and Erik Bird held the Red Raider bats at bay in the eighth and ninth innings in relief of NU starter Joba Chamberlain.

The Huskers jumped to a 2-0 lead after three innings before Texas Tech rallied. The Red Raiders trimmed NU's lead to 2-1 on Trey Stewart's first home run of the season in the fourth-inning, before picking up two runs on a two-out single by Brian Capps in the seventh inning off Chamberlain.

After allowing single runs in the first and third innings, Texas Tech starter Miles Morgan shut out the Huskers until the eighth when he gave way to reliever Dustin Richardson, who fell to 3-2 after giving up two runs, one earned, in three innings for the Red Raiders.

Richardson retired the first four Huskers he faced until pinch-hitter Andy Gerch drew a two-out walk in the ninth inning. Steve Edlefsen came on to pinch run for Gerch and advanced to second base on a dropped 0-2 pitch by Texas Tech catcher Tyler Reves.

That mistake was all Nebraska needed to stretch the game to extra innings, as redshirt freshman third baseman Jake Mort ripped a 2-2 pitch for a base hit through the left side of the infield to score Edlefsen from second, even though Edlefsen fell to the ground coming around third base.

Jensen then closed the door on the Red Raiders in the 10th and 11th innings before setting up the Husker heroics in the 11th.
Nebraska got on the board in the first without hitting the ball out of the infield, as Bryce Nimmo led off the bottom of the first with a bunt single before stealing second base and advancing to third on a passed ball. After a Jeff Christy groundout, Ryan Wehrle executed the squeeze play to perfection to give NU a 1-0 lead.

In the third inning, Mort walked and advanced to second on a Nimmo sacrifice bunt. Mort then moved to third base on a wild pitch before Christy smacked a double down the left-field line for an RBI and a 2-0 NU lead.

After Stewart cut NU's lead to 2-1 with his homer in the fourth inning, the Red Raiders nearly tied the game in the sixth, but NU right-fielder Luke Gorsett threw out Roger Kieschnick trying to score from second base on a two-out single by Blair Wilkins.

The Red Raiders took their first lead of the day on some clutch hitting of their own in the seventh, as Capps singled to left-center on a 1-2 pitch from Chamberlain that drove in Kyle Martin and Jason Seefeld to give Tech a 3-2 lead.

The second game of the doubleheader began at Hawks Field at 7:30 p.m. Saturday's first game, which was moved back after heavy rains in Lincoln on Friday and Saturday morning, was originally set to begin at noon but was pushed back to a 4 p.m. first pitch by lingering showers in Lincoln.