Huskers Advance to Big Ten Title Game

Nebraska advanced to its second consecutive Big Ten Championship game with a 6-3 win against Penn State in front of 8,541 fans on Saturday night at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha.

Nebraska (31-27) scored six runs on 12 hits, while Penn State (33-23) totaled three runs on nine hits.

Devin Nunez was 2-for-4 with a pair of doubles, and Hogan Helligso drove in two runs on a 2-for-4 effort on Saturday. Cayden Brumbaugh and Dylan Carey tallied two-hit performances, while Gabe Swansen belted a two-run homer. Riley Silva, Rhett Stokes and Case Sanders added one hit each.

Tucker Timmerman allowed three runs on four hits in 3.1 innings of work. Drew Christo improved to 3-2 on the season after dealing three shutout frames. The senior allowed just three hits and struck out three batters with one walk.

Luke Broderick picked up his 12th save of the season to move into a tie with Josh Roeder (2014) for seventh-most in a season by an NU pitcher in program history. The junior recorded four strikeouts and allowed two hits and three walks in 2.2 innings of action.

Nebraska broke the scoreless deadlock with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second inning behind a trio of hits. Swansen drew a leadoff walk, while bunt singles from Sanderson and Carey loaded the bases for the Big Red with no outs.

Helligso came through for the NU offense, ripping a two-RBI single through the left side with two outs to give the Huskers a 2-0 lead through two innings.

Penn State had a runner in scoring position with a single, followed by a wild pitch, in the top of the third inning. The Nittany Lions plated their first run of the night and cut the deficit in half with a two-out RBI double to the left-center alley.

A pair of solo homers in the top of the fourth gave Penn State its lone lead of the night at 3-2 going into the bottom of the fourth inning.

The Huskers responded immediately with two runs on three hits in the bottom of the fourth to take the lead right back. Back-to-back singles from Stokes and Helligso had runners on first and second, before Silva lifted an RBI double to right-center field to bring home Stokes from second base.

Helligso moved to third on Silva’s double and scored on Robby Bolin’s RBI groundout to second base to give the Big Red a 4-3 lead through four innings.

Nebraska grew the lead to 6-3 in the bottom of the seventh off the bat of Swansen. A one-out single through the left side from Brumbaugh set the table for Swansen’s 368-foot two-run blast in the bleachers in right-center field.

Broderick worked around a single and a walk in the each of the eighth and ninth innings to keep the Nittany Lions off the board and preserve Nebraska’s 6-3 win on Saturday night.

Nebraska will face No. 13 UCLA in tomorrow’s Big Ten Championship game at 2 p.m. on BTN at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha.