Nebraska baseball does the improbable

Winning the Big Ten tournament looked improbable for Nebraska because of what happened in the opening round. Let's dive into it all (and more).

Photo courtesy Nebraska Athletics

Approximately 30 minutes prior to first pitch of Sunday’s Big Ten Baseball Tournament championship game between Nebraska and Penn State, the conference had an announcement to make:

The Big Ten Baseball Tournament will return to Charles Schwab Field in Omaha through 2027.

Exciting, yes? It is, but that’s really not the biggest news of Sunday — for Husker fans, at least.

Nebraska did the improbable — more on that shortly — and defeated Penn State, 2-1, on Sunday to win the Huskers’ first-ever Big Ten baseball tournament championship.

There’s a lot to all of this, so let’s dive in (point by point).

The improbable is probable

Winning the Big Ten tournament looked improbable for Nebraska because of what happened in the opening round. The Huskers faced Ohio State on Tuesday, May 21, and were run-ruled by the Buckeyes, 15-2. Ouch.

The loss put Nebraska in the losers bracket, forcing the team to battle back to get to the championship game. Doing so meant Nebraska became the first team ever to make it to the Big Ten title game after losing the first game of the tournament. Nebraska had to win four elimination games — which included two on Saturday against Indiana — to get to Sunday’s championship.

Nebraska was able to turn it around with its pitching. In that first game against Ohio State, Nebraska allowed 15 runs (and the game was cut short after 7 innings). Over the four games that followed – which does not include Sunday’s game — the Huskers allowed 12 runs total over 36 innings. Talk about a solid rebound after a disappointing (to say the least) first game in the tournament.

“A lot of memories come flooding back of being part of dogpiles as a player, winning championships as a coach,” head coach Will Bolt said post-game. “I’m not sure I’ve ever been around a group of young men quite like these and just how absolutely resilient they are.”

I’ll also leave you with this from Kaleb Henry: “Nebraska is the first team since Ohio State in 1995 to lose the opening game of the Big Ten Tournament and win the championship. That was with only four teams back then.”

Again, Nebraska made the improbable probable over the past week.

What’s next?

Well, the NCAA Tournament is what’s next. Nebraska is a lock¹ but what can we  expect at this point?

Both Baseball America and D1Baseball released a final projected field of 64, and this is where Nebraska fell:²

Baseball America: Nebraska is projected as the 2-seed in the Norman, Oklahoma, regional against Oklahoma, Georgia Tech and Bryant.

D1Baseball: Nebraska is projected as the 2-seed in the Lexington, Kentucky, regional against Kentucky, TCU and Northern Kentucky. 

The official field of 64 will be announced later today at 11 a.m. CT on ESPN2. Nebraska will watch the NCAA Tournament Selection Show privately before meeting with the media after.

For now, Bolt is confident this isn’t the end for this team.

“I love this place,” Bolt said. “I spent most of my young life at Nebraska. It means everything to me. Family, faith and baseball. That’s kind of what I know.

“I’m happy to be part of another championship team. It’s a story I’ll tell for a long time but the story’s not done being written this year. I’m thrilled for this championship and hungry for more.”

Here’s the upcoming schedule:

• Selection show: Monday, May 27 at 11 p.m. CT | ESPN2

• Regionals: Friday-Monday, May 31-June 3

• Super regionals: Friday-Sunday, June 7-9 or Saturday-Monday, June 8-10

• First day of MCWS games: Start Friday, June 14

• MCWS finals: Saturday-Monday, June 22-23/24

No place like Omaha

Let’s go back to that news from early Sunday. Omaha — the home of seven Big Ten Baseball Tournaments — will host the tournament through 2027. The Big Ten Conference announced the three-year extension prior to the championship matchup.

Omaha has hosted the tournament in 2014, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023 and 2024.

It’s clear the conference is a big fan of Omaha, and it helps that it will be centrally located for most of the teams when Washington, Oregon, UCLA and USC join the conference this year.³ It’s not just the conference that likes Omaha. Penn State’s coach praised the city and fans for what they’re helping build for the conference during Sunday’s game. That’s been consistent across the board.

Speaking of fans, 13,300 showed up for Sunday’s matchup. It likely would have been more but the original 2 p.m. first pitch was moved to 10 a.m. to avoid the chance of severe weather. As it turns out, there was no severe weather but the change likely kept some fans from attending the earlier start time.

Some extra notes to know

The following notes are courtesy of Nebraska Athletics. The Huskers send these kinds of notes out following games and matches for all sports, and they’re usually filled with interesting stats.

If you’re curious, here’s what we received Sunday afternoon:

• Nebraska claimed its fifth conference baseball championship in program history joining the 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2005 seasons where the Huskers were tournament champions in the Big 12.

• The championship win is the Huskers’ first as a member of the Big Ten Conference after runner-up finishes in 2013, 2014 and 2019.

• Josh Caron launched six home runs across the Big Ten Tournament which passed Purdue’s Dan Black (5) in 2008 for the most home runs in a single Big Ten Tournament.

• Caron's 28 total bases also set a new tournament record, surpassing Ohio State’s Steve Caravati who finished the 2005 tournament with 26 total bases.

• Nebraska set a Big Ten Tournament record with 17 doubles in six games, surpassing Michigan (2022) and Indiana (2009) with 16.

• Nebraska's pitching staff recorded 56 strikeouts over six games, setting a new Big Ten Tournament record for most punch outs by a team in the tournament.

1. The Huskers would’ve made it regardless of Sunday’s outcome.

2. These projections came before Sunday’s win over Penn State. We’ll see how much — if at all — anything shifts.

3. Random note, but Wisconsin will remain the only university in the Big Ten without a baseball team.