Swansen, Sears power Nebraska baseball to 6-2 win over Purdue in Big Ten elimination game

Gabe Swansen flipped Nebraska baseball’s Big Ten Tournament script on Wednesday night. Literally.

After working a walk on a 12-pitch at bat to begin the second inning, the junior from Johnston, Iowa, sent his bat end over end toward the Husker dugout. Everything came up Nebraska from then on out.

“It really boosts the energy, that’s for sure and it kinda motivated us,” freshman outfielder Case Sanderson said. “Seeing a guy that hasn’t been playing much at all this year, seeing that fire in him and to go out there and start the inning with a 12-pitch at-bat and end up walking. It was good to see and it really sparked the inning, that’s for sure.”

Head coach Will Bolt’s Huskers put four runs on the Purdue Boilermakers in the blink of an eye, grabbed a stranglehold on a critical elimination game and didn’t look back en route to a 6-2 win. Swansen, who finished the night 2-for-4 with a double and a home run, made just his 18th start of the season as the Huskers moved to 35-20 on the year.

“I’m proud of him,” Bolt said postgame. “Tonight, I thought his at-bat with a 3-2 count with a 12-pitch at-bat, and seeing him get fired up just to contribute and to help the team with a walk, I thought that embodied the mindset we had tonight and the mindset we’ve had for most of this year.”

Nebraska’s Big Ten Tournament run lives on till Friday at the very least. Here’s more on Swansen’s efforts, the wipeout pitching combination of Brett Sears and Drew Christo as well as how the Huskers found a way to rebound.

Join HuskerOnline today and get your first month of a premium subscription for just $1!

Trailing 1-0, Nebraska’s bats woke up in a big way in the second. Swansen’s lengthy at-bat kicked things off before Dylan Carey and Cole Evans followed with a single and a double respectively to get the Huskers on the board. Then Josh Overbeek one-hopped the wall in center for a RBI double and Case Sanderson tacked on another run with his second hit of the day to make it a 4-1 lead for NU.

Swansen chased Purdue starter Luke Wagner from the game an inning later with a solo blast to left.

“It’s why we’ve continued to give him opportunities, because he has a lot of talent,” Bolt said. “He’s a great kid and a great teammate and he works hard. You like to give those guys opportunities and I trust every guy on that roster. Sometimes the hunches work out sometimes they don’t. I’m just happy for him because he put a lot of pressure on himself early in the season.”

Brett Sears took it from there.

The Big Ten Pitcher of the Year allowed a home run in the first to Big Ten Freshman of the Year Luke Gaffney. In the second, another Boilermaker came around to score after Purdue loaded the bases with one out. Sears was lights out from then on. He hung four straight zeros and retired 13 of the last 14 batters (including a streak of 10 straight) before he exited at the end of the sixth.

Postgame, Sears said he had some of his worst stuff of the season operating for a second straight week one day short on rest. His head coach agreed.

“I think I threw three changeups and one curveball and then a slider just to show-me here and there,” Sears said.

Things looked different from Gaffney’s perspective.

“He had good stuff,” Gaffney said of Sears. “He challenges the zone a lot and it’s hard to hit when you have movement and its 90-94 with sliders. He’s able to locate multiple pitches. I mean, that’s the name of the game.”

When Drew Christo took the hill, there was no drop off. He extended Sears’ streak to 16 consecutive Boilermakers retired and tallied four strikeouts. Bolt said getting the leadoff hitters and staying in the windup was key.

“We went back and forth on what the next move was going to be behind (Sears),” Bolt said. “Coach Childress was pretty adamant that Drew was going to be a good matchup. He just had the fastball command and the slider. When he’s going good, the fastball and the slider look exactly the same out of the hand and it’s really tough to pick up.”

Josh Caron provided the Huskers with some much-needed insurance in the ninth. He took a breaking ball from Purdue reliever Davis Pratt to deep left for his 12th home run of the year and a 6-2 NU advantage. Christo tagged Connor Caskenette with the first pitch of the ninth, but bounced back by coaxing a flyout and logging consecutive punchouts to seal the three-inning save.

The Huskers bounce back, again…

Nebraska’s victory over the Boilermakers marked the team’s ninth following a loss this season. Once again, the Huskers fell back on their preseason mottos of resilience and consistency. NU had to move on from Tuesday’s 15-3 loss to Ohio State and quickly.

“As soon as we woke up this morning, I think all the guys did a really good job of just flushing it and realizing we had a job to do today,” Sears said.

Sears brought the energy and moved to 9-0 on the year while posting another quality start and moving into 10th all-time in Nebraska’s single-season strikeout list (96). Sanderson’s red-hot May continued with a team-leading three-hit performance. He owns a .500 average this month with three doubles and eight RBIs.

“I’ll say this, what I think our team has is pretty rare in terms of the resolve and toughness,” Bolt said. “Are we perfect? No. I’ve said it time and time again, there’s no perfect teams out there, though. The expectations that we have in our circle are higher than anybody could possibly have for us. Just keep showing up, competing and fighting, I’ll be proud of them if they do that.”

What’s next for Nebraska baseball?

Nebraska’s Big Ten Tournament run continues Friday at 2:00 p.m. CT against the loser of Thursday’s afternoon tilt between Indiana and Ohio State. Right-hander Mason McConnaughey will start for the Huskers. Fans can watch on the Big Ten Network and can hear the game on the Huskers Radio Network.