Gabe Swansen on igniting Nebraska's offense vs. Purdue: 'Whatever it takes to win'

No. 2 seed Nebraska defeated No. 6 seed Purdue 6-2 during Wednesday night’s Big Ten baseball tournament matchup. The Huskers scored four runs in the second inning in what would eventually be the difference in the final score.

During his mid-game interview, Nebraska head coach Will Bolt identified Gabe Swansen‘s 12-pitch at-bat to begin the second inning as the moment that the tides shifted in Nebraska’s favor.

“I was leading off the inning so I was just trying to do whatever I could to help the team out by getting on base and I ended up being a pretty long AB,” Swansen, who flipped his bat in elation after the walk, said postgame. “I saw a lot of pitches so I did my job and eventually it stacked up and we scored some runs after it. … I just want to win. Whatever it takes to win — just whatever we got to do, we’ll do it.”

Swansen finished the game going 2-4 at the plate with an RBI and a walk. His hits included a home run in the third inning — which he led off after doing the same the inning before with his game-changing walk — and kept his hot streak alive with a double in the fifth.

“I saw a lot of pitches the AB before which helped in kind of hunting the fastball in an advantaged count,” Swansen recalled. “I got one right over the plate and took advantage of it. … We’ve been hitting the base a bunch of times this year and we’ve just been able to respond every time. No different tonight. We just came out ready to play. Win or lose we were going out there and giving it all we got.”

All told, Nebraska’s bats logged a .315 batting average against Purdue on Wednesday. Across 38 plate appearances, the Huskers logged 12 hits — including seven that went for extra bases (five doubles, two home runs) — while reaching base five times off walks and was only struck out eight times as a group.

After the Huskers were upset 15-2 by 7-seed Ohio State in the first round on Tuesday and facing elimination with a potential loss to the Boilermakers — Nebraska ensured that its hope of winning the Big Ten Tournament stays alive for at least until Friday.

Nebraska now awaits the loser between No. 3 seed Indiana and the Buckeyes, who will do battle beginning at 2 p.m. CT and will air live on the Big Ten Network.