Nebraska ties series up with offensive explosion to defeat Ducks

Oregon baseball was up 5-0 after three innings of play, and everything was going well.

But the Nebraska bats got off the deck in the fourth inning to hit three home runs and score six runs in the frame to take a 10-8 win over the Ducks to tie the weekend series at PK Park.

With the loss, Oregon drops to 25-10 overall and 9-5 in Big Ten play. Meanwhile, the Cornhuskers move to an impressive 27-8 record overall and 12-2 in Big Ten action.

Ryan Cooney was pretty much up 4-0 by himself after two innings as he had a pair of two-run doubles in the early going. Naulivou Lauaki made it 5-0 in the third on an RBI single.

But then the collapse began.

Dominating through three innings, Oregon starter Collin Clarke just didn't have it in the fourth. Case Sanderson, Dylan Carey, and Joshua Overbeek all homered in the inning. Sanderson came up again later in the frame to knock in two more runs.

Nebraska scored two more in the fifth, and it was 8-5 Cornhuskers. Lauaki continued his great day at the plate with a home run of his own to make it 8-6, and then two innings later, he homered again to bring the Ducks to within a run at 8-7 after seven innings of play.

With the momentum in the Duck dugout, the Cornhuskers were able to score two big insurance runs in the eighth on Sanderson's second big fly of the day. Oregon tried to mount a comeback in the ninth thanks to an RBI double from Burke-Lee Mabeus, but that was all the Ducks could muster.

The two teams will meet on Sunday for the rubber game of the series as Oregon will have Cal Scolari (4-0, 2.81) on the mound to go up against Nebraska's Cooper Katskee (5-0, 2.79 ERA).

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This article originally appeared on Ducks Wire: Nebraska hits three homers en route to a 10-8 win and tie the series