(Rhett Stokes powered the Huskers to a sweep with a HR and 3 RBI Sunday)
No. 19 Nebraska is off to its best conference start since at least 2000, improving to 11-1 in Big Ten play after completing the series sweep of Penn State with an 8-6 win on Sunday afternoon at Hawks Field at Haymarket Park.
The 11-1 start surpasses the previous best conference start of 10-1-1 to begin Big 12 play in the 2008 campaign, while the Huskers also had 10-2 starts in 2019, 2006 and 2001 to open conference play.
With the 26-6 overall record, the Big Red matched its second-best 32-game start this century. The Huskers began the 2006 season with a 27-5 record after opening the 2005 campaign with a 26-6 mark.
Nebraska (26-6, 11-1 Big Ten) scored eight runs on 13 hits and an error, while Penn State (8-21, 3-9 Big Ten) totaled three runs, four hits and an error.
Rhett Stokes went 2-for-4 with a homer and three RBI to lead the Big Red. Drew Grego went 2-for-4 with a double, a homer and two RBI, and Joshua Overbeek was 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI. Mac Moyer added two hits and a run scored, and Jeter Worthley drove in two runs on a 1-for-4 day with a double.
Case Sanderson, Dylan Carey, Will Jesske and Preston Freeman tallied one hit each.
Cooper Katskee improved to 5-0 on the season, working seven strong innings. The right-hander allowed three runs on three hits with six strikeouts to notch his third quality start of the season. Kevin Mannell worked a scoreless eighth inning, while Chase Olson and Pryce Bender also made a relief appearance.
J’Shawn Unger closed out the ninth to pick up his sixth save of the season.
Penn State struck first when a two-run homer to left field in the top of the first gave the Nittany Lions a 2-0 lead.
Nebraska responded with five runs off six consecutive hits in the bottom of the second to flip the game around. Jesske singled and Overbeek doubled down the right-field line to score Jesske. Grego followed with a two-run blast to center to give the Huskers a 3-2 lead. Stokes and Moyer reached on back-to-back infield singles, setting up Je. Worthley’s two-RBI double down the left-field line that extended the Big Red’s lead to three.
The Nittany Lions added a solo homer in the third to cut the NU lead to 5-3, but Nebraska answered immediately with three runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning. Jesske walked and Overbeek singled before Stokes smacked a 392-foot three-run homer down the left-field line to push the lead to 8-3.
Penn State rallied for three runs in the ninth with a bases-loaded walk, a double-play grounder and a wild pitch that cut the Huskers’ lead to 8-6. Unger induced a groundout with the tying run at the plate to close out the sweep and preserve Nebraska’s 8-6 win on Sunday.
Nebraska returns to action on Tuesday, April 7, as the Huskers welcome Kansas to Hawks Field at Haymarket Park. First pitch between the Big Red and Jayhawks is set for 6 p.m. on B1G+.
