Nebraska baseball’s turbulent season comes to a close in Chapel Hill Regional

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) — The Nebraska baseball team’s season came to an end Sunday afternoon, losing 17-1 to Oklahoma at Boshamer Stadium in the Chapel Hill Regional.

The Huskers finished with a 1-2 record in the regional, losing to Oklahoma in game one on Friday and beating Holy Cross on Saturday.

SEE ALSO: Husker baseball staves off elimination against Holy Cross in Chapel Hill Regional

As a team, Nebraska only managed five hits and committed five errors, while Oklahoma tallied 18 hits and committed one error.

Hogan Helligso led the Huskers from the plate, going 2-for-4 with two singles. Dylan Carey had the lone RBI for Nebraska.

Will Walsh started the game for the Huskers, pitching two innings while giving up six hits, seven runs and only striking out one batter.

Tucker Timmerman pitched 0.1 innings, giving up two runs on three hits. Drew Christo pitched 3.1 innings, giving up four hits, five runs and four walks.

Jalen Worthley pitched 1.1 innings, giving up one run on two hits and fanning one batter.

Gavin Blachowicz pitched the eighth inning, giving up two runs on three hits.

TJ Coats finished out the pitching carousel for Nebraska, pitching a hitless ninth inning and striking out one batter.

Oklahoma’s bats were red-hot to start the contest, totaling nine runs in the first three innings of play.

In the first inning, Jaxon Willits hit a single through the left side of the infield to bring home two runs, giving the Sooners a 2-0 lead.

Two batters later, Sam Christansen reached on a fielder’s choice, but a throwing error by Rhett Stokes allowed another run to cross home plate, making the score 3-0.

Easton Carmichael started off the third inning with a moonshot to left field to extend the Sooners’ lead to four.

Willits came through for the Sooners again, hitting an RBI double to left-center field to give Oklahoma a 5-0 lead.

Scott Mudler followed that up with an RBI double of his own, increasing the Sooners’ lead to six.

Christansen then tripled to left-center field to give the Sooners a 7-0 lead.

To round out a six-run third inning, Kyle Branch hit a sacrifice fly to center field and Dawson Willis knocked an RBI single to give the Sooners a 9-0 lead.

The Sooners’ bats continued to stay hot in the fourth inning, as Branch hit an RBI single up the middle to extend Oklahoma’s lead to 10.

The scoring barrage from the Sooners continued in the sixth inning.

A sacrifice fly from Willis was followed by an RBI single from Dasan Harris to make the score 12-0 in Oklahoma’s favor.

Carmichael topped off the inning with a three-run homer to right center field, making the score 15-0.

Nebraska finally got on the board in the bottom of the sixth inning, as Carey was able to beat out the throw from the third baseman to plate a run.

The Sooners finished out their scoring in the eighth inning with an RBI double from Harris and sacrifice fly from Dickerson to make the score 17-1.

Head Coach Will Bolt gave credit to the Sooners after the game. “Obviously we ran into a buzzsaw today. Disappointed that we didn’t play very well,” said Bolt. “Give credit to Oklahoma. They capitalized on our mistakes. I thought their starter did an excellent job.”

It was a turbulent season for the Huskers, finishing its 2025 campaign with a 33-28 overall record and a 15-15 record in the Big Ten.

An up-and-down regular season ended with a second-straight Big Ten Tournament title and a berth in the NCAA Tournament.

Despite the tough loss Sunday, Bolt was proud of the way this team fought this season. “Regardless of how this game ended, I know our team had to fight a lot of odds this year,” said Bolt. “To get here from where we were sitting early in conference and early April, it was a great accomplishment by our players. I’m forever thankful for how hard they fought.”

BACK-TO-BACK: Husker baseball tops No. 2-seeded UCLA, repeats as Big Ten champions

The Huskers are graduating 11 seniors, with some household names leaving the program.

Joshua Overbeek, Riley Silva, Gabe Swansen, Jackson Brockett and Drew Christo are just a few of the notable starters leaving.

Nebraska will look to reload in 2026, headlined by ace pitcher Mason McConnaughey, who suffered a season-ending injury in March.