photo by: Kahner Sampson/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas pitcher Boede Rahe celebrates after earning the final outs of the Jayhawks' win over Nebraska on Tuesday, April 21, 2026, in Lawrence.

Last season, the Kansas student section became one of the biggest stories in college baseball, creating an atmosphere that rivaled the best in the nation.

On Tuesday night, the Jayhawks set a new Hoglund Ballpark attendance record with 2,674 fans taking in a 9-7 win over No. 20 Nebraska.

“That was an unbelievable experience,” Kansas head coach Dan Fitzgerald said. “They are absolutely bonkers. I’ve been a part of so many incredible environments and so blessed in my career to play in some of the coolest places in college baseball — I’ve never played in an environment like that (with) the constant cheering at the end of the game where I felt like it was third down.”

The Jayhawks were led by an unlikely candidate out of the bullpen. Senior right hander Toby Scheidt entered the game in the third inning and gave Fitzgerald’s Jayhawks 3 1/3 innings of three-hit, zero-run baseball. Scheidt also set his career high in batters faced with 14.

“Early on it was sinker-heavy,” Scheidt said of his outing, “because I had a couple of righties there, but then we got to the lefties and went to the four-seam, and it was feeling good today.”

On the offensive side, sophomore center fielder Tyson Owens shone. The Las Vegas native finished the contest 4-for-4 with a home run and three RBIs. Owens’ home run knotted the score at 4-4, and following a fielding error by Nebraska, senior first baseman Josh Dykhoff gave Kansas the lead with a two-run shot off the right-centerfield score board.

“(Tyler Hancock) does a great job with us, just breaking down their pitches and telling us exactly what we need to do, gives us a plan,” Owens said. “And (they) threw me the pitch I wanted and I just executed the plan.”

“I think this offense has a different type of belief in itself that any time they score, we know we can score more, I guess,” Dykhoff said. “There’s just a lot of belief in one through nine and everybody, our offense is just so deep.”

The Jayhawks got on the board in the bottom of the second after the Huskers took a 1-0 lead in the top of the inning. Owens reclaimed the lead for Kansas when he scored two runs on a double to the gap that plated left fielder Brady Ballinger and catcher Augusto Mungarrieta, and the Jayhawks tallied another on an RBI groundout from Dykhoff.

However, Kansas didn’t hold that lead for long.

Nebraska tagged senior right hander starter Kannon Carr with two runs in the top of the third that would chase him from the game. Scheidt took over and after an RBI single plated the final runner left from Carr, he took control.

The teams remained scoreless until the bottom of the sixth when Owens and Dykhoff launched balls over the fence, and the Jayhawks took a 6-4 lead into the final three innings.

Kansas received three much-needed insurance runs in the seventh courtesy of a leadoff walk that came around to score on a triple by junior shortstop Tyson LeBlanc and another two-run home run, this time off the bat of Mungarrieta.

Nebraska clawed back with three runs in the top of the eighth to make it a two-run game. The Huskers loaded the bases after sophomore right-handed pitcher Riane Ritter hit the first two batters and then walked the third on six pitches. Fitzgerald went to the bullpen and brought on redshirt junior Boede Rahe. Rahe gave up an RBI single that moved the Huskers station to station before rolling a 5-4-3 double play that plated another Nebraska run. A single up the middle scored another, but the Huskers’ runner got caught in a rundown and tagged out before the inning could develop further.

In the ninth, Rahe stayed in for the save and slammed the door, working around a one-out single to strike out the next two batters swinging.

The Jayhawks are now 6-1 against former Big Eight foes, with season sweeps over Missouri and Nebraska and a 2-1 series win against Oklahoma State.

“These rivalries are — they’re what college sports are built on,” Fitzgerald said. “It’s super fun. And these guys, I’ve been so blessed to coach so many awesome teams, but these guys love competing as much as any team I’ve ever been around.”

The final big rivalry opponent on KU’s schedule this season is Kansas State, which the Jayhawks will travel to play this weekend. Game one of the three-game set is scheduled for Friday at 6 p.m. in Manhattan.

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