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Jeter Worthley's career night, Stokes' walk-off hit power No. 16 Nebraska baseball over K-State

by: Bobby Schneider04/29/26bschneider33

No. 16 Nebraska baseball (34-11) walked off Kansas State (26-19), 7-6, in a Tuesday night thriller at Haymarket Park.

Tied 6-6 in the bottom of the ninth, Joshua Overbeek lasered it to left-center and pushed it to second with a lead-off double. And with one down, Rhett Stokes smacked Overbeek home with a walk-off single.

With 11 baserunners stranded and trailing 6-4 in the bottom of the seventh, the Big Red barrels found life. Mac Moyer made it a one-run game with a two-out RBI single to center field.

Next up at the plate — already 4-for-4 — Jeter Worthley made it a new ball game at six apiece with his RBI triple to right-center. The rookie catcher finished 5-for-5 (four singles and that three-bagger).

“He has a good understanding of the strike zone,” head coach Will Bolt said of Jeter. “The more college at-bats he accumulates, the more information he gets as far as like how the pitches that he can get the barrel to.

“We’re seeing that here recently with the extra-base hits — obviously, he had his first home run on Sunday, and hadn’t stopped hitting since.”

Closer J’Shawn Unger (6-1, 2.84 ERA) worked scoreless eighth and ninth innings.

Here is an instant recap from the former Big 8 clash…

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Nebraska misses several opportunities through six

The cold, rainy conditions played in Nebraska’s favor early against K-State starter James Guyette.

In the first, Moyer reached on a lead-off infield single to extend his hit streak to eight straight. Jeter Worthley followed with a beautiful bunt single. With one down, Moyer scored off a wild pitch to plate NU’s first run. Moments later, Worthley came around to make it 2-0 after another wild pitch.

Shortstop Dylan Carey later reached on a 4-pitch walk. And as the rain picked up, left fielder Jett Buck drove Carey home after KSU mishandled the pop-up in right field to make it 3-0.

After a scoreless second, the Big Red attack took over in the third. Worthley led off with a single before first baseman Case Sanderson advanced him to third on his 13th double of the season.

With runners Carey batted Worthley in with an RBI sac-fly to regain a three-run lead, which marked his team-high 55th RBI.

From there, NU’s offense missed several opportunities, stranding 11 baserunners and was 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position — even with 10 hits — through six innings. That included stranding the bases loaded in the fourth and sixth.

K-State homer negates Timmerman’s strong start

Tucker Timmerman (4.28 ERA) tossed four innings in his second consecutive midweek start for the Big Red. The junior righty surrendered three runs on three hits off his 62 pitches (41 strikes) for three strikeouts.

Timmerman immediately had his command working back-to-back 1-2-3 first and second frames.

In the second, the Beatrice (Neb.) native laid out a first base to make a SportsCenter Top-10 nominee play for the second out. He capped off his stellar frame with a strikeout.

In the third, Timmerman surrendered his first hit after Grant Gallagher’s lead-off double. KSU wound up bringing him home on an RBI groundout to make it 3-1. Despite the wet dirt, Stokes made another highlight-reel play from second base for NU to limit the damage.

The 6-foot-3 arm struck out Dee Kennedy to lead off the fourth. Kennedy entered tied for seventh in the country with 19 homers on the season. While Timmerman retired the top Wildcat deep-ball threat, Ty Smolinski made it a one-run game with a two-run blast to right-center.

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Middle relief is disastrous, Horn, Unger shut it down

Righty Kevin Mannell relieved Timmerman in the top of the fifth, and quickly handed K-State its first lead at 5-4 with a two-run homer to end his stint without recording an out. Lefty Caleb Clark took over and struck out two to escape the inning.

In the sixth, Nebraska turned to Jalen Worthley, who entered with a 2.25 ERA. Despite his impressive numbers entering, the senior lefty allowed the third KSU dinger of the night to lead off the frame and make it 6-4.

In the seventh, Ty Horn racked up two quick outs before facing a jam with runners in scoring position. However, the junior’s veteran poise took over as he escaped with a 3-pitch strikeout to strand the two Wildcats.

In the eighth, Unger faced the minimum by forcing a 4-6-3 double play and a lineout. The sophomore righty also worked a scoreless top of the ninth, including two strikeouts to strand a Wildcat in scoring position.

Nebraska returns to the ball diamond on Friday at 5 p.m. CT for the first of a three-game series at Ohio State. Watch on B1G+ or listen on the Huskers Radio Network.

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