Courtesy of Husker Athletics
Drew Grego homered twice and drove in five runs to lead No. 24 Nebraska to a 14-9 win at Kansas State on Tuesday night at Tointon Family Stadium in Manhattan, Kan.
Nebraska (19-6) scored a season-high 14 runs on 15 hits and an error, while Kansas State (17-8) totaled nine runs, 11 hits and no errors.
Grego’s two-homer, five-RBI night headlined a balanced offensive effort from the NU offense that saw eight Huskers record a hit. Mac Moyer went 4-for-6 with three runs scored, and Jeter Worthley finished 3-for-6 with two RBI and two runs scored.
Case Sanderson was 1-for-3 with a triple and two RBI, and Dylan Carey added a double and an RBI. With the double, Carey tied Will Bolt for the all-time program record with 56 career doubles. Miken Miller, Cole Kitchens and Max Buettenback recorded one hit each.
Jalen Worthley earned his second win of the season in 0.2 innings of work on a night where nine Huskers pitchers took the mound on Tuesday. Ryan Harrahill worked a scoreless inning, and Chase Olson followed with 1.2 shutout frames and four strikeouts.
Tucker Timmerman worked 1.1 scoreless innings to keep the Wildcats at Bay before Caleb Clark pitched the ninth inning.
Nebraska jumped on top early, plating two runs in the first when Worthley doubled to right-center to score Moyer and Miller singled home Worthley to give the Huskers a 2-0 lead.
Kansas State answered with two runs in the second on an RBI groundout and a balk after a pair of one-out doubles to tie it at two.
The Huskers responded with four runs in the third to grab a 6-2 advantage. Wild pitches aided the Big Red throughout the inning, as Moyer scored on one, Sanderson scored on another and Grego delivered the big blow with a two-RBI single to shallow center that plated Miller and Buck to push the lead to 6-2.
K-State stormed back with six runs in the fourth to take an 8-6 lead. Two RBI singles and an RBI double did most of the damage for the Wildcats before a balk and a wild pitch tacked on two more to make it an 8-6 game through four innings.
The Big Red answered emphatically in the fifth with five runs to retake control. An RBI fielder’s choice off the bat of Moyer plated the first run of the rally, and Worthley singled home Grego to lock the game at eight. Sanderson ripped a two-RBI triple down the right-field line to give the lead back to the Huskers before Carey laced an RBI double to left to push the lead to 11-8.
Grego’s solo homer to left field in the sixth made it 12-8, and he capped his big night with a two-run shot to left in the eighth to extend the lead to 14-8.
Kansas State added a run in the ninth on an RBI single, but it wasn’t enough as Nebraska held on for the five-run victory.
Nebraska returns to Big Ten play, as the Huskers welcome Indiana for a three-game series at Hawks Field at Haymarket Park on Friday-Sunday, March 27-29.
