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Jasa and Fikes drive No. 25 Nebraska baseball to a 10-0 win over Iowa

by: Sam Ojeda05/09/26SamOjeda8

No. 25 Nebraska baseball (35-14, 18-7) needed a Friday win and got it against Iowa (29-18, 12-12) 10-0 (8 inn.) by dominating in all facets of the game.

The combination of Carson Jasa and Trey Fikes remains un-hittable. The battery, which has been together since Penn State, now holds a 1.41 ERA together after seven shutout innings against Iowa. Jasa moved into second place for single-season strikeouts in the Big Ten era passing Matt Waldron. He managed nine punch outs and only two walks in his 106-pitch outing.

“I think we feed off of each others confidence,” Fikes said postgame. “Every time I catch him he gets all his pitches working and it is a lot of fun to work with him.”

Trey Fikes worked the best at bats of any Husker on Friday and it showed in a career day. In the catcher’s first at bat he laced a ball 105 mph off the bat but into the web of the pitcher. In his second at bat he doubled and scored to make it 3-0. The exclamation point came in the bottom of the sixth with his first home run in a Nebraska uniform.

“He really had some amazing at bats tonight,” head coach Will Bolt said about Fikes. “Obviously he’s in there first and foremost to catch Jasa. He’s a good hitter too… coming out of JUCO he was a guy who could move the bat a little bit so I am not surprised.”

Dylan Carey said goodnight Iowa with a long fly to left field in the bottom of the eighth to end it in run-rule fashion.

Here is an instant recap from the Huskers first Friday win in three weeks….

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Nebraska lives in the opposite field for some early offense

Jasa was forced to weather immediate stress from the top. Joshua Overbeek has been a defensive question mark for most of the season, and the Iowa leadoff reached on Overbeek’s 11th error of the year. Jett Buck then saved extra bases with a leaping grab at the wall for the first out. After hitting two batters, Jasa worked out of the trouble with a flyout to Mac Moyer in center.

The Huskers went down quickly but not without a few loud outs from Will Jesske and Dylan Carey. Jasa struck out the first batter he faced before setting down the next two Hawkeyes for a clean top of the second. His two second-inning strikeouts moved him one shy of Cade Povich for third in single-season strikeouts in the Big Ten era.

Nebraska drew first blood in the home half when Overbeek smacked a ball to left field to bring in Case Sanderson, who reached on a walk. NU loaded the bases for Fikes, who has now started in each of Jasa’s last three outings. He drilled a ball back at Iowa starter Tyler Guerin, but a snow-cone catch ended the Husker threat.

Jasa continued to deliver his four-pitch mix with efficiency. The 6-foot-7 right-hander recorded two more strikeouts with a lively mid-90s fastball. His third scoreless inning also moved him past Povich for the third-most strikeouts in the Big Ten era.

The offense got on the board again with two outs. Moyer led off with a single and moved to second on a stolen base. After two groundouts, Sanderson delivered again with a base hit that made it 2-0 after three innings.

Jasa flashes ace-level stuff in a gritty start

Jasa faced traffic again in his fourth inning of work. He allowed an infield single for the first Hawkeye hit of the day. The Colorado native surrendered a walk to put a runner in scoring position but bore down. He got a clutch 6-4-3 double play after a mound visit from pitching coach Rob Childress and a punchout and stepped off the mound with a strut in his step.

“It always sees work but I don’t like the mound visits,” Jasa said postgame. “If it works why stop doing it? I don’t like doing it that much be he knows it works and it locked me in. He was telling me to calm down and get my breath under me.”

The Huskers’ offensive half started hot with a laser single, but poor baserunning by Drew Grego got him doubled off on an Overbeek lineout. Jasa trotted out for the fifth and proved why he is the Huskers’ ace. He retired the first hitter, but Iowa forced ducks on the pond with two outs.

Jasa worked a long at-bat with Hawkeyes’ three-hole hitter Miles Risley but won the battle, punching him out on an 89 mph cutter. Hawks Field roared as Jasa came off the mound with some passion. His sixth strikeout came on his 81st pitch after five scoreless innings.

The Big Red went back to work in the bottom of the fifth. Fikes hit the ball hard in his second-straight at-bat for a double. Moyer singled before Jesske, hitting in the two spot Friday, hit a sacrifice fly to make it a 3-0 Nebraska lead after five.

Jasa’s start continued with a clean and sharp sixth inning. The first out came from his ability to bounce off the mound and handle an errant throw to first for the out. Then the junior struck out the next two hitters for his seventh and eighth Hawkeye punchouts to solidify a quality start.

Fikes put an exclamation point on his career day

The bottom of the sixth began to put Iowa at arm’s length. Overbeek reached with one out on a hit-by-pitch—his 16th of the season, which leads the team. Fikes came to bat again and launched his third straight blast over the left-field wall, making it 5-0 after six with Jasa coming back out for the seventh.

Jasa added another shutdown inning to cement an NCAA Regional-caliber outing. Fikes and Jasa have now combined for a 1.41 ERA since beginning work together against Penn State. On his 106th pitch, Jasa induced a 6-3 groundout to complete seven shutout innings. He delivered an outing Nebraska needed badly, especially with Friday night consistency still a question mark.

“Larry (Fikes) and Jeter (Worthley) both work really hard and Larry has caught a few more innings so he does a good job moving around.” Jasa said about Fikes. “He is a little more comfortable and he makes it look a little bit better because of experience.”

The free pass killed Iowa in the home half of the seventh. They walked the bases loaded between two different arms and Overbeek made them pay. His single brought in Reed Strohmeyer, who is the brother of the Hawkeyes’ right fielder Kellen Strohmeyer, and Sanderson.

Caleb Clark and Tucker Timmerman worked together to tally a scoreless eighth. Max Buettenback came on to pinch hit in Jesske’s spot and he delivered with a way-gone home run to make it 9-0. The game went to a run-rule with a Carey home run to left field to end it.

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