Cornhuskers Turn the Tables on the Illini, Winning 12-5

TL;DR

The Nebraska Cornhuskers defeated the Illinois Illini 12-5, showcasing a strong offensive performance. J’Shawn Unger earned his ninth save of the season, while Carson Jasa secured his eighth win.

Key points

Nebraska scored three runs in the second inning
Carson Jasa recorded five strikeouts but struggled with walks
J’Shawn Unger secured his ninth save of the season
Both teams committed two errors during the game
Nebraska's offense added runs in the eighth and ninth innings

Nebraska CornhuskersIllinois IlliniCarson JasaJ’Shawn Unger

J’Shawn Unger gets his 9th save of the season today against Illinois | Nebraska Athletics After a slow start last night, the Cornhusker offense did not waste much time finding its groove today. The bottom half of the lineup teed off on Illini righty starter Mitch Dye in the second inning, putting three runs up on the score board and Nebraska never looked back. Jett Buck led it off with a single and moved to second when Illini third baseman Kyle Schupman bobbled a grounder hit by Joshua Overbeek. With two on and no outs, Drew Grego drove in the first run of the game with a single of his own. Rhett Stokes loaded the bases as he stroked the third single of the inning. Up came Trey Fikes, who hit a little nubber that the pitcher had to go to first with. That scored Overbeek. Back to the top of the order, Mac Moyer drove a ground ball deep to the second baseman for a 4-3 out, but scored Drew Grego. That put Nebraska up 3-0 after their second at-bat. The Scarlet and Cream scored three more in the third inning, thanks in large part to Dye walking Case Sanderson and hitting Will Jesske to start it off. Overbeek drove both of them in two batters later. Grego followed with his second single and then Stokes drove in Overbeek on a ground ball out. Nebraska would have scored at least another run in the inning had Illinois shortstop J.R. Nelson made a brilliant play to rob Fikes of an RBI hit.

Stokes brings home Overbeek on an RBI ground out.

M3 | Nebraska 6, Illinois 0 pic.twitter.com/QmOnIAlHO6

— Nebraska Baseball (@HuskerBaseball) April 25, 2026 Big Red fans got a ride on the Carson Jasa roller coaster today. The Colorado flame-thrower dazzled in the first two innings with five strikeouts. He did walk and hit a batter, which is kind of to be expected. However, at that point he dominated and it looked like a long day for Illinois batters. In the third and fourth innings, Jasa found it more difficult to find the strike zone. The Illini scored one in the third and one in the fourth. It could have been far worse as they loaded the bases in the bottom of the fourth, but a fortunate ground ball to Overbeek at third resulted in a double play to get the Cornhuskers out of the inning. Jasa walked three batters in that inning. Nebraska drove starter Mitch Dye from the game in the fourth and scored two unearned runs, though they left the bases loaded. They also had something cooking in the fifth getting the first two runners on base but were not able to convert any runs. Going to the bottom of the fifth, Nebraska held an 8-2 lead. Jasa gave up a lead-off single and then hit his second batter of the game. He was missing big on some pitches, but survived to induce ground balls that his infielders turned into outs and did not surrender any additional runs. Illinois relievers were able to keep Nebraska off the board in the sixth and seventh innings. Tucker Timmerman came on in the sixth in relief of Jasa. He sat them down in order thanks to an inning ending double play that he started, making a great snag of a sharp hit grounder. Dylan Carey was also brilliant on that play making a difficult catch and still getting off a good throw. 1-6-3 double play ends the sixth.