Buckeyes blast Huskers, hand Nebraska loss in Big Ten Tournament opener

Nothing went Nebraska’s way on Tuesday night. In the most lopsided Big Ten Tournament game since 2010, the No. 2-seeded Huskers fell to No. 7 Ohio State 15-2 in seven innings.

The loss marked the largest margin of defeat in the 2024 season. None of the last 26 Big Ten Tournament champions tasted defeat in their opening-round matchup.

For head coach Will Bolt, the most disappointing part of a rock-bottom night came on the mound. Runs were going to be tough to come by against Buckeye ace Landon Beidelschies.

“We were gonna have to win a 3-2, 5-3 game,” Bolt said. “Our inability to get off the field without a crooked number, that was the most important.”

Nebraska coughed up eight runs in the fourth and four more in the fifth on the road to an 0-1 start in tournament play. Here’s more on the loss and why the Huskers did not start newly named Big Ten Pitcher of the Year, Brett Sears.

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Nebraska’s fourth inning was an unmitigated disaster.

Trailing 3-0 following Jackson Brockett’s exit after the third, the Huskers turned to Caleb Clark. Ohio State pounced. In an inning that lasted 22 minutes, the Buckeyes plated eight runs on seven hits to stretch its lead to 11-0.

A triple, three singles and a trio of doubles made up the OSU run. Two of those hits drove in multiple runs and five of the nine Buckeyes to reach did so with two strikes.

“It’s not like Caleb Clark has been a garbage-time pitcher for us,” Bolt said. “We came in thinking he was going to give us a stop, we were going to have a chance to come right back in the game and they were having none of that. They were taking great swings and there was just not much we could do about it to get off the field.”

For catcher Josh Caron, Nebraska need look no further than the mirror when it comes to pointing fingers.

“We’ve got to be better as a staff and just be on attack and be able to make a pitch when you need to to get off the field,” Caron said. “That’s the bottom line.”

Caron put the Huskers on the board in the home half with a solo homer to right-center. That marked his 11th blast of the season. But, it didn’t take long for Ohio State to get that run and more back. The Buckeyes loaded the bases on a hit batter, single to first and a walk against Bobby Olsen. Then proceeded to push across three runs on bases-loaded walks and added another on a groundout.

In the span of five innings, Ohio State tied their total runs from the team’s visit to Lincoln in early April and held a 15-1 advantage.

Nebraska’s bats did little to answer the Buckeye barrage. Dylan Carey delivered the Huskers’ only other run via a single to left. As a team, NU logged 12 strikeouts and tallied four hits in 25 at-bats (.160). The Husker hit total was the second-lowest of the season.

In three straight games, Nebraska has struck out 10 or more times.

Landon Beidelchies was excellent in five innings of work with eight strikeouts while allowing one earned run on two hits.

Caron said the Huskers need to be more dedicated to their approach.

“We always talk about being ready to hit the fastball early in the count,” Caron said. “I think we haven’t been doing a good enough job of that. We’ve been taking early in the count and that forces you to hit with two strikes. Obviously, it hasn’t gone our way as of late and an adjustment needs to be made to be a little more aggressive and more on time on the fastball.”

On the decision not to start Sears and other lineup changes

Ohio State head coach Bill Mosiello didn’t mince words when it came to Sears.

“I wasn’t surprised at all,” the Buckeye skipper said. “I don’t want to speak for them, but I think they’re already in the regionals. So, you would never bring your No. 1 guy on that short of days rest. I was hoping he wasn’t gonna go, but I was about positive he wouldn’t.”

Bolt said he didn’t see Sears as an option after the right-hander tossed 94 pitches on Thursday.

“I think Brett’s thrown as much this year as he’s thrown his entire life,” Bolt said. “I think it’s just the right move to make. I didn’t think it was the move to make to throw him on the first day of the tournament on four days rest after he threw 95 pitches. I just didn’t think that was the right move for our team given the current situation.”

Two changes that seemed a bit more surprising were the insertions of Will Jesske and Gabe Swansen into the starting lineup. The former made his fourth start of the year on Tuesday while the latter drew his 17th. Bolt said both players were selected due to their success against left-handed pitching this season. Swansen went 1-for-2 with a double against Beidelschies while Jesske was 0-for-2.

On the year, Jesske is batting .333 against left-handed pitching in 18 at-bats while Swansen is hitting .143 in 21 appearances. Rhett Stokes (38/.237), Cole Evans (51/.235), Garrett Anglim (30/.333) and even the left-handed Ben Columbus (27/.333) have better numbers against southpaws.

“We wanted to try to give our guys the best chance and Jesske found the barrel tonight and Swansen hit a double,” Bolt said. “So, those two guys were probably two of the better ones as far as taking good swings tonight.”

What’s next for Nebraska baseball?

Nebraska will face Purdue on Wednesday night in an elimination game. First pitch is set for 7:00 p.m. CT. The Boilermakers dropped their Big Ten Tournament opener 8-6 to Indiana on Tuesday afternoon. Husker fans can watch the game on the Big Ten Network and can listen on the Huskers Radio Network.