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Jasa and the offense lead Nebraska baseball to Saturday sweep over Penn State

by: Sam Ojeda04/05/26SamOjeda8

Nebraska baseball (25-6, 10-1) relied on the offense all day to beat Penn State (8-19, 3-7) 8-7 and 13-1 in the Saturday doubleheader at Haymarket Park in Lincoln, Nebraska.

In Game 1 Ty Horn struggled on the mound, allowing a plethora of hard-hit balls to the Nittany Lions. He was only able to manage three innings of work, allowing seven runs and two home runs on a windy day at Hawks Field. Tucker Timmerman steadied the defense with four crucial scoreless relief innings.

The Huskers got plenty of offensive production to go along with aid from the Penn State defense. Jett Buck and Mac Moyer each hit a home run to keep the Huskers within striking distance. Nebraska tied it in the sixth and took the lead in the seventh thanks to a wild pitch and some shaky PSU defense.

Game 2 was a polar opposite from its predecessor.  Carson Jasa delivered a masterful performance on the bump by racking up double-digit strikeouts in his complete game work of art.

The Huskers got on the board early striking for five runs in the first inning. Another Buck home run was the steam for an offensive train that never looked back.

Here is a recap from the Saturday sweep at Hawks Field….

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Game 1 – Nebraska battles back for a 8-7 victory

The wind played a crucial role in the Huskers’ first win of the series. The gusts caused Case Sanderson fits when he let a double drop in shallow right field. That runner came around to score on a wild pitch to open the scoring. Buck responded quickly with a moonshot to right-center field that had some aid from the wind howling out to right field.

The top of the third marked disaster for NU as PSU put up four runs. A single and hit by pitch set the table for its best hitter, Michael Anderson, to rope a double down the left-field line to make it 3-1. The No. 4 hitter, Bryce Molinaro, blasted his ninth home run of the season to make it a four-run game. Moyer answered much like Buck with a two-run home run to right field to cut the lead in half and send it to the fourth inning at 5-3.

Penn State launched a two-run home run in the top of the fourth to knock Horn out of the game. Timmerman entered and settled things down defensively. NU manufactured a one-run response on a sacrifice fly by Moyer to score Drew Grego to make it 7-4. The Huskers manufactured another run the fifth after working four straight full counts which culminated in a Grego RBI single.

Timmerman dominated for four innings. His steadiness provided Bolt and Co. an arm to steady the ship and allow for the comeback to evolve.

“The long innings we had on defense early in that game made when he (Timmerman) came in and hammered strikes and got ahead gave us a chance to get that momentum back in our dugout,” Will Bolt said postgame. “He has had a lot of appearances in the last two weeks. We have ridden him pretty hard so we’d figured we would spend all his bullets in one game.”

NU’s nitty-gritty playing style earned them a tie game in the sixth inning after Stokes scored on a wild pitch and an errant throw to home brought in Moyer to make it 7-7. The Huskers finally took the lead after Stokes delivered in the seventh. The senior hit a single to right field, scoring Grego to make it 8-7.

J’Shawn Unger entered in the eighth like his has multiple times this season in an attempt for a six-out save. He retired the Nittany Lions in order. The bats loaded the bases in the bottom half but were unable to get anything on the board for the first time in seven innings. Unger slammed the door in the ninth to give the Huskers their 13th straight win at home.

Even in a big hole, Nebraska wouldn’t go away

It has been a common trend this season that the Huskers have looked on from the dugout needing a response. Despite Penn State constantly throwing punches, the Big Red wouldn’t go away in Game 1. Three innings straight early in the game, Penn State scored and the Huskers matched.

PSU got on the board in the second and NU responded with the Buck long ball. After the Nittany Lions put up a four-run third, the Huskers brought two across on the Moyer blast. The trend continued with responses in the fourth and fifth innings, continuing the season-long theme of grit and resilience.

“We got into their bullpen early and made them use a lot of their bullets,” Bolt said on the Huskers Radio Network. “It was a tough, tough, tough team win.”

Entering the Saturday doubleheader, 61 percent of the Huskers’ at-bats have come with runners on base. That constant pressure has unlocked the ability to manufacture runs at any time. Sanderson is a huge reason why. He has worked into 14 full counts over his last 22 at-bats, plenty of which came after starting down 0-2 in the count. The junior’s on-base percentage consistently lives north of .450, along with the Huskers’ leadoff hitter, Moyer.

The numbers speak for themselves. It was no coincidence that NU scored in five straight innings. That string of scoring resulted in a tie game in the bottom half of the sixth when Moyer and Stokes both scored on a wild pitch to make it 7-7 after six. The comeback was complete after dealing with multiple punches.

Game 2 – Huskers win 13-1 behind Jasa

The Huskers dominated from the first pitch, fueled by a sharp start on the mound from Carson Jasa. The right-hander set a relentless tone with two strikeouts in the opening frame, including a three-pitch punchout to start the game. Jasa’s efficiency allowed the Huskers’ bats to dismantle Penn State starter Ben Hudson before he could settle in.

“He set the tone in the first,” Bolt said. “Once he got settled in, we had a lot of shut down innings from him.”

The offense broke the game open early with a five-run first inning, punctuated by a massive Buck grand slam to right field. NU kept the pressure on in the second, using three straight singles and a passed ball to stretch the lead to 7-0. By the time Jasa returned for the third, the Huskers had already built a commanding seven-run cushion.

Jasa continued his dominant afternoon on the mound, racking up eight strikeouts through four innings of work to keep PSU off balance. While the Nittany Lions managed to scratch across a run in the third, the Huskers responded immediately as Trey Fikes roped an RBI double to push the lead to 8-1. The Big Red broke the game open in the fourth, using a two-run single from Jett Buck and a Drew Grego RBI double to extend the cushion to 11-1.

The junior right-hander remained filthy in the fifth inning by taking his strikeout total to nine. The Huskers added two in the bottom half on a Preston Freeman double to extend the lead to 12. Jasa hit the double-digit threshold for punchouts while working a clean sixth inning to take his total to 11. 

The Huskers emptied the bench on the sixth inning but were unable to scratch across another run. Jasa finished off his complete game despite walking two with a 6-4-3 double play.

“We have a lot of good players,” Bolt said. “We have a lot of guys that care about winning and care about each others success and that is how you have a good team.”

Don’t look past Jasa the despite offensive dominance

Jasa has become a pillar of consistency for the Huskers’ pitching staff. When the 6-foot-7 junior takes the mound, he provides a reliable three-pitch mix and a professional presence that settles the entire dugout. While the Nebraska bats provided early support, Jasa remained dialed in regardless of the score.

It was clear from the start that the right-hander was ready, striking out the Penn State leadoff hitter on three pitches. He punctuated the opening frame with his second strikeout before walking off the mound with a visible swagger. Jasa continued to avoid barrels in the second, and by the time he returned for the third, he was working with a six-run lead.

The outing shifted from efficient to dominant in the third when Jasa worked out of a jam by striking out the side, bringing his total to six. He added two more strikeouts on sliders in the fourth before recording his ninth punchout to protect a 10-run lead in the fifth.

Jasa provided the steady foundation the offense needed to thrive. While Nebraska had to claw back in Game 1 due to a shaky start on the mound, Game 2 was full steam ahead for the hitters thanks to the reliability of their Saturday starter.

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