Nebraska Baseball is Big Ten Champs!! (2024)

You could feel a buzz building this entire week throughout a Nebraska team, the stadium, and the fan base throughout the state and beyond. Nebraska lost their first game of the 2024 Big Ten Tournament, and you could feel and see a let down in the number of fans showing up for the next game. But then they won, and won, and won again, and before you know it, the fans started to believe. And when Josh Caron hit home run number 5 in game 2 against Indiana, you could feel the entirety of the program and fan base was ready to take on a Penn State team that has been as hot as anyone over the last two and a half weeks. They needed to win 5 of their last 6 games just to make Omaha and were undefeated since arriving.

Travis Luensmann, younger brother of former Husker Chad, started on the mound for the Nittany Lions. The ace threw 95 pitches on short rest Wednesday, and was back out on short rest today. That didn’t seem to bother him one bit early, as he filled up the strike zone with a ton of movement on his sinker. He was perfect the first time through the Husker lineup.

Penn State got things going right away. They won a 3-2 walk to lead off the game against Jackson Brockett. Brockett actually twisted his ankle on the last pitch of that at bat and fell to the ground. He then retired the two most dangerous hitters in the Penn State lineup, but two straight singles that went just where Husker infielders couldn’t do anything with them, loaded the bases.

Brockett made a pickoff attempt at second base that got away from the infielder, and allowed the runner on 3rd to score. Brockett could have folded, especially after giving up another single, but he forced a groundout and retired the side.

Nebraska finally broke up the perfect start and put some pressure on Luensmann in the 4th. Josh Overbeek hit into the shift from the left handed box but it was hit hard enough to the second baseman’s backhand side that he couldn’t glove it and get it to his throwing hand cleanly. A perfectly executed hit and run by Case Sanderson put runners on the corners with no outs. Josh Caron popped up the short stop in shallow left field, bringing up Ben Columbus. Harvell loves the way Columbus can handle the bat, so he put the squeeze on. However, Columbus popped the ball up slightly to the first base side, right where the right handed Luensmann falls off the mound. He threw a strike to third and completed the double play.

The pitchers kept dueling with Brockett retiring 14 straight at one point, and Luensmann keeping Nebraska off the board the first two times through the order. But that all came to a halt in the top of the 7th. Josh Caron put his name in the record books and they can start engraving his name on the MVP trophy. He launched his 6th home run of the week, and tied the game up at 1-1. Coach Will Bolt said he told Caron before the game, “I’ve already seen Dan Johnson hit 5 home runs in a tournament before, so go hit 6.”

Penn State coach Mike Gambino said he’s had an agreement with Luensmann that only the two of them would decide when he would pitch, and when he was going to be taken out of a game. Coach Gambino said Luensmann walked by him stood on the top step of the dugout after the top of the 7th and said, “I’m done.” This was the 4th time in a row he had pitched on short rest for an extended outing, a point fellow senior Adam Cecere wanted to make clear in the post game. He more than earned his spot on the All-Tournament Team.

Penn State went to another starter in Jaden Henline to take over and try and match Brockett. He made it until 2 outs in the top of the 9th. Ben Columbus singled to center field, and was replaced by pinch runner Cayden Brumbaugh. Then while Gabe Swansen did his usual long at bat with numerous foul balls, Brumbaugh swiped second base. Swansen worked the at bat to a full count and the crowd roared to life in approval. Then as Swansen recalls, “I found a slider that hung a bit and just hit it.” That hit split the defenders and Swansen cruised into second base as Brumbaugh sprinted home and gave the Huskers their first lead of the day at 2-1, and the crowd of over 13,000 lost their minds. All when the boys in red were down to possibly their final strike.

In the bottom of the 9th, the crowd was greeted with a surprise that Bolt said was the plan all along, Big Ten Pitcher of the Year Brett Sears walked in from the right field bullpen and climbed up on the mound.

Sears would face the dangerous 3-4-5 hitters of Penn State, but the batters had gotten used to the softer tossing lefty in Brockett and since he didn't have to pitch long today, Sears had even more juice in his fastball, hitting 93-94. He got 2 quick strikes on Cecere, before getting a pop up that short stop Dylan Carey had to go get way out in center field since Riley Silva was back by the warning track for Cecere’s power. Then a full count strikeout on the next batter, and finally a lazy fly ball to the most fitting man possible. Gabe Swansen had the toughest regular season you could imagine for a returning All conference player, but he had the tournament of a lifetime, only overshadowed by the Caron home run numbers, and he got to get the ball for the final out.

Nebraska becomes the first team to lose the first game in the current format and come all the way back to win the title. As every opposing coach has eluded to in their post game press conferences, this was not a surprise. Nebraska had the pitching talent to do a lot of damage in a tournament setting, even from the losers bracket.

Combine that with 3-4 guys getting red hot at the plate at various times in the tournament and you have a team that showed how resilient it can be. Something not lost on Coach Bolt as they no turn to prepare for the coming NCAA tournament. “I told them, you get one hiccup every week (in the postseason).” ““5 wins is all that stands between us an Omaha. You have to be able to visualize that.” I think the way this week went, this team can do that now.