Huskers win first game with ‘continuous offensive effort’

Nebraska baseball flexed its offensive muscles in a 12-2 victory over UConn on opening night in Arizona.

Nebraska baseball looked to beef up its offense in the offseason, often going early in its season opener against UConn, going 16 for 12 hits in a 12-2 mercy-rule victory over the Huskies in seven innings on the opening night of the MLB Desert Invitational in Arizona.

Nebraska (1-0) had six different hitters record multiple hits, led by senior Dylan Carey, who went 3-5 with four RBIs, while Joshua Overbeek and Cole Kitchens each drove in three runs for the Huskers, who took a 4-1 lead after one inning before taking advantage of UConn's bullpen to get a bit of Case 4-Nebra in the Case 3-5 game in a limited road game.Sanderson, Overbeek and Carey combined to go 8-for-12 with eight RBIs Friday night.

“It was a relentless offense all night,” Nebraska head coach Will Bolt said on the Huskers Radio Network."Every time we scored, we came back from four down. That's the type of competition we're looking for. You're not always going to get runs and hits, you just work at them. I thought we really set the tone in the first inning."

A two-run single by Nebraska starter Ty Horn in the top of the first inning gave UConn a 1-0 lead, but the lead was short-lived.The Husker lineup got a sympathetic look at UConn starter Charlie West, who put runners on first and second with two outs in the first and walked before Carey singled and drove an RBI single to left.Max Buettenback walked to load the bases, and Kitchens, playing in his first game as a Husker, walked the bases.He cleared a double into the right corner to give Nebraska a 4-1 lead in the first.

Nebraska was able to take a 5-1 lead in the second on an RBI grounder's choice by Overbeek.

"It was a lot of fun to watch," Bolt said of his offense.

Horn, who took over the Friday night role this season, got off to a strong start, but saw his pitch rise quickly with late strides in his starts.The right-hander threw 4.2 innings, allowing one run on three hits while striking out six and walking four.He hit in the fifth, but a two-out walk in the 99th pitch of the night sent the Huskers to the bullpen for reliever Caleb Clark.Clark left the game, striking out the first UConn batter he faced on three pitches to bring the Hackers back to the plate.

"Ty did a great job and that was just the end of the inning," Boult said. They got two runs, which probably cost him a couple of pitches, but he came out and downplayed it."When we were trying to increase the lead, he kept us in the game."

Nebraska struck in the sixth inning when Jett Buck singled and Case Sanderson followed with a single, one of his three hits on the night, and Orbeck followed with an RBI double that scored Buck and scored Sanderson on an error.Curry followed with an RBI single to give Nebraska an 8-1 lead.

UConn scratched Clark's run in the seventh, and Nebraska moved to reliever Tucker Timmerman, who closed the inning with a double play to give Nebraska an 8-2 lead.In the seventh, Jeter Worthley led off with a double and Buck's RBI double.Sanderson's groundout to Rhett Stokes put Nebraska up 10-2 before Carey's one-out, two-run triple ended Overbeek's game.because of the game rule of grace.

On the night, Nebraska went 7-for-11 with runners in scoring position and went 8-for-14 with two runs.

“Innings with two outs, that was the difference in the game,” Bolt said.“In extended innings, we got them in the bullpen early and got away from them late.”

Clark earned the win while pitching 1.2 innings, allowing one run while striking out three and walking two.

"We got each other all night," Bolt said."Everything you want to see and want to see, we played together."

Nebraska resumes action Saturday at 7:30 PM (CT) as the Big Red faces Northeast.