A weekend that had held nothing but frustration for the Nebraska baseball team finally turned with one sixth-inning swing by Jeff Tezak at Haymarket Park Sunday afternoon.

The Huskers — beaten by Missouri in 11 innings Friday and 4-3 losers Saturday — put a halt to the nation’s hottest team with a 12-run outburst in the sixth en route to a 16-1 laugher that was shortened to seven innings.

Tezak, NU’s designated hitter, lit the fuse to the biggest inning Nebraska’s had since scoring 13 runs in a 50-3 clobbering of Chicago State in 1999 by driving a fastball from Brant Combs onto the grass berm behind left field for a grand slam.

Andrew Brown, who tied a school record with three doubles  and raised his average from .239 to .278, followed with another homer, and two batters later, Craig Corriston hit a two-run shot off Ryan Allen.

The Tigers needed two more pitchers to get out of an inning in which NU got 10 of its season-high 17 hits.

“I think it’s just one inning that we’ve got to continue to try to get every time,” said Tezak, one of three Huskers who had two hits in the sixth. “Obviously, we’ve had some good games, but we haven’t been consistent with it. That’s the thing we need to do, fight every game, because we came out and had to try to salvage the series, where we want to be sweeping series.”

Tezak, who went 3-for-5 to raise his batting average to .383, also had a two-run double off Allen.

Bryce Nimmo, who went 3-for-3, had a pair of singles during the uprising, while preseason All-American Ryan Wehrle, who entered the game with a .189 average, had both of his hits in the inning.

“The thing I want to take from that, from the offensive standpoint, is some of the guys that have been struggling got some big hits and hopefully they can build on it and get themselves going,” coach Mike Anderson said after his team improved to 12-9 overall and 2-4 in the Big 12. “We have to have that. Without it, there’s no chance for this team. We need the Browns, the Wehrles to get going.”

Before the sixth, Anderson said the only thing he felt comfortable about was having Johnny Dorn on the mound. And as it turned out, the right-handed junior would have been fine without the late support.

While throwing the fourth complete game of his career (the first that was less than nine innings), Dorn scattered five hits and struck out nine (two short of his career high) to improve his record to 4-1. That also gave him 25 wins in his career, which puts him No. 3 on NU’s all-time chart.

Nebraska had given Dorn a 1-0 lead in the second inning, then provided him with all the run support he’d need by scoring two more times in the fourth. But the Tigers, who’d won the first two games with late two-out rallies, were still hoping to pull off another comeback before falling apart in the sixth.

“You had a team that was ready to make some changes in the way they were doing things (and so) it was bad timing for those guys on the mound,” Missouri coach Tim Jamieson said after his club lost for the first time in 15 games. “But we’ve got to be better than that. We still have a chance to win the game in the sixth inning.”

Even so, Jamieson was able to leave feeling OK about the work that his 20-6 team did over the weekend.

“They’re a better offensive team than what they showed the last two days,” he said of the Huskers. “We’ll take the first two and get out of here. Any time you win two up here, it’s a big deal. They’re going to be a tough team to beat up here.

“Our club went through the same thing early. You’re doubting yourself and confidence is an issue. Their pitchers, I thought, pitched well. The hitters, you could just see they’re not confident. Maybe they are now.”

For the second straight weekend, Nebraska outscored its Big 12 opponent by 10 runs over a three-game series but won just once.

“We haven’t done anything yet,” Dorn said. “(For) a team to come in here and win a series against us, that doesn’t happen too often and I don’t think it’s going to happen any more this year.”

Nebraska concludes its seven-game homestand by taking on Northern Colorado at 6:35 p.m. Tuesday and 1:35 p.m. Wednesday, then heads to Texas A&M for the weekend.

Reach Curt McKeever at 473-7441 or cmckeever@journalstar.com.