No. 20 Huskers Fall at No. 16 Kansas

No. 20 Nebraska fell 9-7 at No. 16 Kansas in a midweek battle between two Top-25 teams on Tuesday night in Lawrence, Kan.

Nebraska (31-10) scored seven runs on 10 hits and one error, while Kansas (30-11) tallied nine runs on 12 hits and no errors.

Drew Grego drove in two runs behind a 2-for-3 night, and Will Jesske went 2-for-3 with a double, an RBI and two runs scored. Mac Moyer finished 2-for-5 with an RBI, and Dylan Carey added a hit and drove in a run. Case Sanderson, Joshua Overbeek and Rhett Stokes recorded one hit apiece.

Tucker Timmerman started and allowed three runs on five hits across four innings. Jalen Worthley tossed a scoreless fifth inning, and Ty Horn took the loss after surrendering three runs, two earned, in 0.2 innings of work. Caleb Clark and J’Shawn Unger recorded two outs each, while Kevin Mannell tossed a scoreless eighth inning.

Nebraska grabbed an early lead in the second when Grego singled home Jesske to make it 1-0.

The Jayhawks immediately responded with three runs on three hits in the bottom of the second to grab a two-run lead. Three consecutive hits to open in the inning, including a two-RBI double down the right-field line gave KU a one-run advantage. An RBI groundout later in the inning made it a 3-1 game.

The Huskers answered with three runs of their own in the top of the third to take back the lead. Carey singled home Moyer, who reached on a leadoff single, to bring the Big Red back within a run. Buck lifted a sacrifice fly to right field to score Sanderson and tie the game at three before Jesske lined an RBI single through the left side to give the Huskers a 4-3 lead.

Kansas plated three runs in the bottom of the sixth behind a pair of home runs to grab a 6-4 lead with three innings to go.

The Jayhawks added three more in the seventh on an RBI triple and a two-run homer that pushed the lead to 9-4.

Nebraska rallied in the eighth when Buck and Jesske were both hit by pitches to open the inning. Overbeek drew a walk to load the bases, setting up Grego’s RBI single to left field. Jesske scored on a double play, and Moyer’s RBI single up the middle plated another to bring the Big Red back within 9-7.

The Huskers brought the tying run to the plate in the top of the ninth after Sanderson’s one-out single, but a pair of strikeouts put a halt to the Big Red’s comeback attempt to clinch KU’s 9-7 win on Tuesday night.

The Huskers return to Big Ten play this weekend, as Nebraska visits Illinois for a three-game set on Friday-Sunday, April 24-26 in Champaign, Ill.