Jesske, Huskers Take Down No. 7 Auburn in Extras

Nebraska rallied for three runs in the top of the eighth, and Will Jesske blasted a three-run homer in the 10th inning to give the Huskers a 9-8 win in 10 innings over No. 7 Auburn at Plainsman Park on Friday night.

Nebraska (5-3) scored nine runs on 14 hits and an error, while Auburn (7-2) totaled eight runs, nine hits and two errors.

Jesske had a 2-for-5 night with a double, a homer and four RBI. Dylan Carey drove in three runs while going 2-for-5 with a double. Case Sanderson went 3-for-5 with a double and a team-high three runs scored. Cole Kitchens drove in two runs and doubled twice in a 2-for-4 performance, while Mac Moyer added two hits.

Devin Nunez, Max Buettenback and Jeter Worthley tallied one hit each.

Ty Horn allowed five runs, four earned, on five hits with five punchouts and two walks. Chase Olson recorded two outs, while Cooper Katskee dealt 2.2 scoreless frames.

J’Shawn Unger improved to 1-1 on the year after allowing a pair of runs on a hit and three walks in 2.1 innings. Caleb Clark and Jace Ziola took the mound in the 10th, before Pryce Bender picked up the final two outs to record his first save of the season.

The Tigers plated four runs behind four hits and an NU error in the bottom of the third to jump out to a 4-0 lead. A single and a fielding error put runners on first and third with no outs, while a sacrifice fly lifted to center field scored the game’s first run of the night.

Auburn loaded the bases with a bunt single and a walk on full count, setting up a two-RBI single through the left side that made it 3-0. The Tigers added one more run with a one-out RBI single to left field that had Auburn up 4-0 through three innings.

Nebraska answered with two runs of its own in the top of the fourth to trim the deficit in half. Sanderson reached on a leadoff single up the middle and later came around to score on Kitchens’ two-out RBI double to left-center field. A passed ball moved Kitchens to third, while Jesske blasted an RBI double off the wall in left-center field to bring the Huskers within 4-2.

The Tigers capitalized on a four-pitch walk in the bottom of the fourth inning after an RBI single up the middle with two outs grew Auburn’s lead to 5-2 going into the fifth frame.

The Husker offense tied the game in the top of the eighth inning behind three hits and an Auburn error to lock the game at five. Moyer reached on an error, while a single from Sanderson and Overbeek’s hit by pitch loaded the bases with one out.

Carey smacked a two-RBI double to left field to plate Moyer and Sanderson to bring the Huskers within a run, before Kitchens lifted an 0-1 pitch inside the right-field line for an RBI double to even the game at five apiece after eight innings.

The two teams exchanged scoreless sides in the ninth inning, before the Big Red erupted for four runs on six hits in the top of the 10th to grab a 9-5 lead. Sanderson led off the inning with a double down the left-field line, while back-to-back one-out singles by Carey and Nunez gave Nebraska its first lead of the night.

Jesske followed the consecutive singles with a 389-foot moonshot over the wall in left-center field for a three-run homer to extend NU’s lead to 9-5.

Two walks and pair of RBI singles brought the Tigers within 9-7 with one out in the bottom of the 10th. A four-pitch walk loaded the bases, while an RBI groundout to Carey at shortstop made the second out and brought Auburn within a run.

With the tying run at third and the go-ahead run at second base, Bender induced a popout to second base to clinch Nebraska’s 9-8 win at No. 7 Auburn on Friday night.

Nebraska and No. 7 Auburn continue the weekend series tomorrow afternoon at Plainsman Park. First pitch between the Big Red and Tigers is set for 2 p.m. on SEC Network+.