LINCOLN — Nebraska baseball’s banner weekend had barely concluded when a crowd of kids ran the bases in a flurry of activity. It was a fitting reenactment of the inning in which the Huskers saved the game – and maybe began to around their season. NU beat fifth-ranked Oregon State 16-7 on a cold Sunday afternoon, claiming their first weekend series against a top-five opponent in more than a decade.
But how Big Red did it – with an epic nine-run seventh inning to blow away a narrow late deficit – sends the team into April looking more like the preseason top-25 threat players and coaches thought they could be. “We know we’re capable of it now,” said Nebraska coach Will Bolt, his breath visible. “What a win.
” Big hits dropped like the mist that occasionally peppered Haymarket Park and a well-layered crowd of a few thousand. Lincoln natives Will Jesske and Max Buettenback both clubbed three-run homers while Ty Stone also collected three RBIs as the Huskers completed their first winning weekend of the season in loud and unlikely fashion. Nebraska (12-15) trailed by a run with two outs and nobody on in the seventh inning.
Then 11 straight batters reached to complete a comeback sure to give life to what had been a sagging triple-digit RPI for the team midway through the spring. Stone provided the go-ahead knock, a bases-loaded single to left-center on a 96-mph fastball with an 0-2 count. Buettenback got around on the next offering – a nearly identical inside hea.
