On a night devoted to honoring the memory the recently passed Voice of the Huskers, Greg Sharpe, No. 24 Nebraska baseball came up with a 6-4 upset win over No. 16 Vanderbilt Saturday night in Scottsdale, Ariz. The Huskers rode the bat of Gabe Swansen, who drove in all six of NU’s runs against the Commodores.
Swansen made his presence felt early. The bases were loaded in the top of the first with Cayden Brumbaugh leading off the game with a single, followed by walks by Max Buettenback and Dylan Carey. With one out, Swansen ripped a double into the left-center field gap, driving in all three runners to give Nebraska a 3-0 lead. Vanderbilt tallied two runs in the first to cut the lead to 3-2. But in the third, the Huskers answered. After Case Sanderson singled to left, Swansen again ripped a double, this time down the left-field line to score Sanderson and restore the Huskers’ lead to 4-1.
Vanderbilt tallied a run in the fifth to cut Nebraska’s lead to 4-2. But again Swansen came up big in the seventh. After Sanderson drew a walk, Swansen clobbered a two-run homer to left to push the lead back to 6-2. The Commodores scored one in the eighth, but came no closer and Nebraska hung on to win.
Ty Horn got the start and steadied after a bumpy first and threw 4.2 innings, allowing three earned runs and four hits. Jalen Worthley came out of the bullpen and grabbed the win, throwing 1.2 innings of one-hit, shutout relief. Tucker Timmerman threw 2.1 innings of relief, allowing one earned run and registering the last out of the eighth despite having a ground ball carom off his face to second base. Timmerman left the field with a towel on his face but appeared to be otherwise ok. Luke Broderick earned the save, sitting down Vandy 1-2-3 in the ninth with one strikeout.
Swansen paced the offense by hitting 3-for-4 with six rbi, including two doubles and a home run. Brumbaugh was 2-for-5 with a double to contribute at the top of the order.
Nebraska continues its first weekend of play in Arizona Sunday at 6 p.m. as the Huskers take on San Diego State. Pregame coverage begins at 5:30 p.m. on KLIN.