Rally in Eighth Sinks Huskers

Nebraska surrendered a six-run rally in the bottom of the eighth inning, as the Huskers fell 11-6 at Iowa on Saturday afternoon at Duane Banks Field.

Nebraska (15-20, 4-10 Big Ten) scored six runs on six hits, while Iowa (23-10, 14-3 Big Ten) totaled 11 runs and 12 hits.

Case Sanderson led the Huskers with a 2-for-4 afternoon at the plate. Cael Frost was 1-for-3 with a home run, three RBI and two runs, while Will Jesske had a 1-for-4 day with a homer and two RBI. Joshua Overbeek had a solo home run, and Tyler Stone recorded a hit.

Ty Horn allowed four runs on six hits with seven punchouts and three walks in 4.1 innings. Blake Encarnacion and Grant Cleavinger recorded one out each. Ryan Harrahill surrendered one run on two hits in one inning of relief.

Luke Broderick dropped to 2-1 on the season after giving up three runs on one hit with two strikeouts and a pair of walks in one inning. Drew Christo recorded two outs while allowing three runs on three hits, and Casey Daiss posted the final out for the Husker bullpen.

Iowa plated the game’s first run of the afternoon behind three hits in the opening frame. A pair of singles had runners on first and second, while a two-out RBI single to center field broke the scoreless deadlock.

Nebraska responded with two runs and a hit in the top of the second to grab a 2-1 lead. Frost drew a four-pitch walk, before Jesske lifted a 1-1 pitch over the wall in left field for his third home run of the season.

The Hawkeyes trimmed the NU lead in half in the bottom of the third with a solo homer over the right-center wall.

The NU offense tacked on three runs with a pair of hits to stretch the lead to 5-2 in the top of the fourth inning. Stone ripped a single to right field, while Dylan Carey was plunked on an 0-1 pitch to put runners on first and second with no outs.

Frost cleared the bases with a three-run homer, crushing an 0-2 pitch over the left-center field wall for his team-leading sixth home run of the year.

A one-out walk in the bottom of the fifth inning set up a two-run homer for the Hawkeyes to make it a 5-4 game through five innings.

Overbeek homered for the first time this season, sending the first pitch he saw over the wall in left field to extend Nebraska’s lead to 6-4 in the seventh inning.

Back-to-back walks to begin the bottom of the seventh had runners on first and second with no outs for Iowa. A first-pitch RBI single through the left side brought the Hawkeyes within a run.

A sacrifice bunt moved the runners to second and third with one out, before Broderick struck out the next two Hawkeye batters to send a 6-5 game into the eighth inning.

The Hawkeyes evened the game at six with a leadoff solo homer down the left-field line to begin the bottom of the eighth inning.

A pair of walks and an infield bunt single loaded the bases with no outs, while a sacrifice fly to deep left-center field gave Iowa its first lead of the afternoon. An RBI single up the middle doubled the lead to 8-6, before a first-pitch three-run homer to left enlarged the lead to 11-6 through eight innings.

Nebraska and Iowa conclude the series tomorrow afternoon at Duane Banks Field at 1 p.m. on BTN.