Huskers Take Care of Fourth-Ranked Ducks
Nebraska won its pool and clinched a spot in Saturday evening’s semifinal with a 7-3 win against No. 4 Oregon at the Big Ten Baseball Tournament on Saturday morning at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha.
With the win, the Huskers advance to tonight’s semifinal matchup against ninth-seeded Penn State at 5 p.m.
The Big Red improved to 5-2 against ranked teams this season while picking up their third victory against a top-five foe.
Nebraska (30-27) scored seven runs on 11 hits, while Oregon (42-14) totaled three runs, 12 hits and four errors.
Riley Silva had a 3-for-4 day with an RBI and a run scored. Cayden Brumbaugh scored one and drove in a run on two hits, while Gabe Swansen went 2-for-5 with a homer, two RBI and two runs scored.
Case Sanderson drove in a pair of runs, while Joshua Overbeek, Devin Nunez and Hogan Helligso tallied one hit each.
Jackson Brockett recorded his second quality start of the season to improve to 4-3 on the year. The southpaw held the Ducks to just one run on six hits across six innings of work. The Omaha, Neb., native struck out four and issued two walks.
Will Walsh collected his first save of the season after dealing three strong innings. The Leawood, Kan., native surrendered two runs on six hits with two strikeouts and a walk in three innings.
The Huskers sprinted out to a two-run lead in the top of the first off the bat of Swansen. Silva led off the game with a single to center, before Swansen unloaded a 413-foot two-run homer to left.
The Big Red capitalized on an Oregon error in the top of the second to grow the lead to three. Robby Bolin reached on a one-out fielding blunder at first, setting the table for Helligso’s first-pitch RBI double down the right-field line that gave the Huskers a 3-0 lead.
Oregon immediately got the run back in the bottom of the second off a pair of hits. A double down the right-field line, followed by an RBI single up the middle, plated the Ducks’ first run of the day and made it a 3-1 game.
Nebraska scored a run in the fourth and added two more in the fifth to stretch the lead to five. Nunez lined a no-out double to right field and advanced to third on a groundout, before Silva smacked an RBI single up the middle to expand NU’s lead to 4-1.
Brockett worked around a single and induced a double play in the bottom of the fourth to maintain the three-run advantage, while the Big Red grew the lead to 6-1 behind three hits and an error in the top of the fifth frame.
Consecutive singles from Brumabugh and Swansen, joined with an errant relay throw, had runners on second and third with no outs for the Huskers. Sanderson came through for the Big Red, lifting a full-count pitch to right field for a two-RBI single to build the lead to 6-1.
Bolin drew a leadoff walk in the eight and moved to second on Silva’s sacrifice bunt attempt. An infield single from Overbeek kept Bolin at second and put runners on first and second with two outs, while Brumbaugh’s RBI single to center plated Bolin from second and gave the Big Red a six-run lead.
The Ducks loaded the bases in the bottom of the eighth with a trio of singles, but Walsh drew a first-pitch groundout to third to keep Oregon off the board and maintain Nebraska’s lead through eight innings.
A leadoff double down the left-field line and a bunt single had runners on first and second for Oregon with no outs in the bottom of the ninth. The Oregon offense kept it going with an RBI double to left-center field that scored one and kept runners on second and third with no outs.
The Ducks scored their final run of the day on a sacrifice fly to deep left field, before Walsh retired the next two batters with a pair of flyouts to clinch Nebraska’s 7-3 win.