Grego Lifts Huskers Past Creighton

Drew Grego homered and drove in three runs in Nebraska’s 5-4 win against Creighton in front of a season-high crowd of 6,148 fans at Hawks Field at Haymarket Park on Tuesday night.

Nebraska (28-9) scored five runs on seven hits and no errors, while Creighton (18-16) totaled four runs on nine hits and an error.

Grego finished 2-for-4 with a homer and three RBI to pace the Big Red. Joshua Overbeek was 2-for-4 with an RBI, and Rhett Stokes added a hit and drove in a run. Dylan Carey reached base three times on walks, while Jeter Worthley and Jett Buck tallied a hit.

Pryce Bender was tagged for three runs on four hits in one inning. Tucker Timmerman picked up the win, improving to 3-1 after allowing one run over two innings of relief. Caleb Clark and Ty Horn combined for four scoreless innings, with Horn surrendering just one hit with two strikeouts in three innings of relief. J’Shawn Unger earned his eighth save of the season, tossing two innings and allowing one hit with a pair of punchouts.

Creighton jumped on the Huskers in the first with a two-run homer and a sacrifice fly to stake the Bluejays a 3-0 lead. A solo shot in the top of the second extended the lead to 4-0.

Nebraska chipped away in the second when Grego homered to right field after a leadoff walk to Preston Freeman, pulling the Huskers within 4-2.

The Big Red erased the deficit in the third, sending all nine batters in the lineup to the plate with three runs on three hits. Carey and Buck drew back-to-back walks, setting up Grego’s RBI single up the middle to score Carey. Overbeek followed with an RBI single to right, and Stokes added another single to right to plate the go-ahead run and give Nebraska a 5-4 lead it would not give up.

Clark retired the Bluejays in order in the top of the fourth, before Horn stifled the Creighton lineup for three scoreless frames.

The Husker offense threatened to add to the lead with the bases loaded in the bottom of eighth with two outs, but a fielder’s choice on a groundball to third prevent the Big Red from building to the lead.

Unger sat down the Bluejays in order in the top of the ninth to record his eighth save of the season and give the Huskers a 5-4 win on Tuesday night.

Nebraska welcomes No. 12 USC to Lincoln for a three-game series at Hawks Field at Haymarket Park this weekend. First pitch of Friday’s series opener between the Huskers and Trojans is set for 6:02 p.m. on B1G+.