Worthley’s First College Dinger Leads Nebraska to 3-0 Win Over Illini

TL;DR

Jeter Worthley hit his first collegiate home run, leading Nebraska to a 3-0 victory over Illinois. The win was marked by strong pitching from Gavin Blachowicz and Ty Horn, securing a series win for the Cornhuskers.

Key points

Jeter Worthley hit his first collegiate home run
Nebraska defeated Illinois 3-0
Gavin Blachowicz pitched into the seventh inning
Ty Horn closed the game with 2.2 no-hit innings
Nebraska remains in second place in the conference standings

Nebraska CornhuskersIllinois Fighting IlliniJeter WorthleyGavin Blachowicz

Jeter Worthley hits his first collegiate home run today against Illinois | Nebraska Athletics Considering that both teams demonstrated offensive firepower the past couple of games, today’s 3-0 Nebraska win was out of character for this series. It happened in large part to outstanding pitching from starting pitchers and the respective bullpens. Gavin Blachowicz rebounded from his rough start last weekend and pitched into the seventh inning, giving up six hits, and most importantly, only one walk. All of the hits surrendered were singles. The Kansas righthander had four strikeouts and three 1-2-3 innings. Only three Illini batters reached scoring position.

Blachowicz is dealing. No runs through four innings.

E4 | Nebraska 1, Illinois 0

Sandy looks to extend the Husker lead. pic.twitter.com/gtSJoMVZR1

— Nebraska Baseball (@HuskerBaseball) April 26, 2026 Nebraska’s offense was opportunistic today against the lefty starter Aidan Finn and the Illini bullpen. They were able to put at least one runner on base in every inning except the 8th, but took advantage of the chances they were given. Jett Buck crossed the plate in the second inning to post the first Cornhusker run. He led off the inning with a single and scored two batters later off a Rhett Stokes two-out double. Nebraska held that 1-0 lead thanks to Blachowicz, and a huge double play in the bottom of the sixth started by Joshua Overbeek that went 5-4-3 to put out Illinois’ first real threat in the game. Jeter Worthley provided the only blast in the game hitting his first collegiate home run in the top of the seventh inning. The Lincoln East grad has shown all kinds of offensive skills, but had not put one out of the park until today. That put the Big Red up 2-0 going to the bottom of the seventh. Jeter says bye bye. 👋 pic.twitter.com/LpJ1182qYN

— Nebraska Baseball (@HuskerBaseball) April 26, 2026 Blachowicz gave up a couple of singles and a fielder’s choice in the Illinois half of the inning, leading Coach Rob Childress to go to the bullpen and bring in Ty Horn. Horn was all business today, getting two outs to prevent Illinois from putting a run across and then shutting down their offense the remaining two innings. No one reached based in his 2.2 innings pitched. Horn helped himself with a great defensive play in the bottom of the 8th inning. Lead-off man Nick Groves hit a chopper toward first base. Horn charged off the mound and gloved it off his back hip and out-ran Groves to the base to record the first out of the inning. The Cornhuskers added their final run in the top of the ninth inning with a Mac Moyer one-out triple. He scored on a wild pitch, the second time that happened for him in this series. With Horn shutting the door in the bottom of the ninth, it was ball game! Nebraska 3, Illinois 0. It was also another B1G series win for the Cornhuskers, who remain solidly in second place in the conference standings behind UCLA. Ty Horn slams the door with 2.2 no-hit innings 🔥🔥