It was worth the wait for Nebraska baseball. After Friday’s game was postponed to Saturday morning due to rain, the Huskers (30-27) upset No. 4 Oregon, 7-3, to advance to the single-elimination bracket semifinals of the Big Ten Tournament at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha. Nebraska will take on Penn State at 5:30 p.m., in a rematch of last year’s Big Ten Tournament final, won by the Huskers, 2-1.
Nebraska jumped on the Big Ten regular-season champion Ducks (42-14) in the first inning, as Gabe Swansen clubbed a two-run home run to put the Cornhuskers on the board in the first. An RBI double by Hogan Helligso in the second pushed the lead to 3-0. Oregon responded with a run in the bottom of the second, but then the Huskers opened their lead further. An RBI single by Riley Silva in the top of the fourth opened the lead to 4-1. In the top of the fifth, a two-run double by Case Sanderson pushed the NU lead to 6-1. Then in the eighth, Cayden Brumbaugh drove in a run with a single to center, pushing the lead to 7-1. The Ducks scored two in the bottom of the ninth but drew no closer as Nebraska hung on to win.
Jackson Brockett (4-3) was excellent on the mound, allowing just one earned run in six innings. He surrendered six hits and two walks while striking out four. Will Walsh earned his first save of the year, pitching three innings while allowing two earned runs and six hits to finish off the game for Nebraska. Silva paced the Huskers’ lineup from the top of the order, hitting 3-for-4 with an RBI. Swansen was 2-for-5 with two RBI and a home run.
Nebraska now advances to tonight’s semifinal against Penn State, with the winner of that contest taking on the winner of Iowa/UCLA in championship game tomorrow afternoon. Pregame coverage begins at 5 p.m. on KLIN.