Swansen shines on 6-RBI day as Nebraska baseball dominates rematch Ohio State
Three days after Ohio State run-ruled Nebraska in the two squad’s Big Ten Tournament opener, the Huskers got a shot to return the favor.
While Will Bolt’s squad came up a run short of an early ending to Friday afternoon’s elimination tilt, it didn’t take any of the heat out of a 12-5 victory. Nebraska (36-20), for a second year in a row, has punched a ticket to the semifinals of the conference tournament.
Gabe Swansen and Mason McConnaughey are two of the colossal reasons why.
The former went 4-for-5 at the dish with a three-run bomb, two-RBI single and drove in another with a double. Swansen’s six RBIs tied the most in any game of his collegiate career. Meanwhile, McConnaughey set a new career mark with 11 strikeouts in six innings of work and posted yet another quality start.
Bolt wasn’t surprised at his team’s response.
“It’s what we do,” Bolt said. “We’ve done it all year and it’s not a fluke at this point. Baseball is a tough game and it’s built for tough people. This group of guys, they want it. It doesn’t always go their way, but they’re very, very resilient.”
Here’s more on Nebraska’s wire-to-wire win and Swansen’s improbable renaissance.
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Unlike in the Huskers’ first meeting with Ohio State, Nebraska threw the first punch.
With two outs and two aboard, Gabe Swansen crushed his second home run of the tournament into the Buckeye bullpen in right field. Dylan Carey’s leadoff double to start the second followed by a Rhett Stokes single helped the Huskers out to a quick 4-0 advantage.
Ohio State countered with a run in the third on Trey Lipsey’s single to left which drove in a leadoff walk from McConnaughey.
Once again, Swansen came through with an answer and a critical two-out hit. The native of Johnston, Iowa, scorched a ball into the right-center gap that helped the Huskers regain their four-run lead. But, the Buckeyes didn’t go away quietly and clawed back into the game with runs in the fourth and fifth.
That’s when McConnaughey emptied the tank.
“Me and coach Childress kinda talked and it was kinda inning by inning,” McConnaughey said. “Don’t look too far ahead in the game, just try to get the inning, the sixth, and if it works out go to the seventh.”
Ben Columbus gave his starter some run support with a solo shot to right that made it 6-3. McConnaughey responded by hanging a zero in the sixth and recording his 10th and 11th strikeouts of the afternoon, the second came on his 101st pitch.
Nebraska blew the game wide open over the next two frames. With one run already in via Josh Caron’s seventh-inning double to left, the Buckeyes elected to intentionally walk the bases loaded for Swansen. He promptly punched a bouncer through the left side to drive in a pair and make it a 9-3 game.
“I love that honestly,” Swansen said of the decision to load the bases in front of him. “That’s what you want to be in as a baseball player, you want those situations.”
A barrage of five Husker singles in the eighth ballooned the advantage to 12-3.
That nine-run cushion was enough for Nebraska’s bullpen to protect despite allowing a pair of runs in the ninth.
“We’re built to win,” Bolt said. “We’ve just got to keep it going.”
Swansen’s renaissance continues
Gabe Swansen’s turnaround began three weeks ago.
In a quiet midweek bullpen session at Haymarket Park, Swansen went yard against live pitching. Then he smoked a ball to right against Michigan State and was robbed of a triple the next week. Harbingers of what was to come.
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Three games into the Big Ten Tournament, the 2023 Third-Team All-Big Ten selection is batting a cool .583 with three doubles, two home runs and seven RBIs. That’s five extra-base hits and counting after entering the week with three.
Swansen lost his starting job after mustering one hit in his first 16 at-bats to begin the year. The key to a rebound is relatively straightforward.
“Putting less pressure on yourself,” Swansen said. “Staying relaxed at the plate, having a simple approach and the rest will deal with itself.”
Relying on the basic foundation is how he got through the rough times this season.
“It’s just baseball, it’s the way you’ve got to think about it,” Swansen said. “It’s a game of ups and downs and it’s never easy. So just trusting my guys and them showing love to me and me showing love to them, it’s never ending.”
Of Swansen’s hits, two came with two outs and two with two strikes. That represented a teamwide improved approach that saw the Huskers strike out just four times against a team that tallied 10 Nebraska punchouts on Tuesday.
“We were aggressive, but there weren’t a lot of weak early outs either,” Bolt said. “You’ve gotta have that balance there and you have to hit really well with two strikes because we were aggressive and on-time at the front of the count.”
At a time when the Huskers needed it most, one of the team’s best bats from 2023 has caught fire in a big way.
What’s next for Nebraska baseball?
Nebraska returns to Big Ten Tournament play against Indiana on Saturday morning at 9:00 a.m. CT. The Huskers will need to beat the Hoosiers twice in order to advance to Sunday’s championship game. NU took the series from Indiana 2-1 during the regular season. Fans can watch on the Big Ten Network and can hear the game on the Huskers Radio Network.
