Indiana Baseball Falls 4-2 to Nebraska, Plays Elimination Game Saturday Night

After scoring 22 combined runs in its first two games of the Big Ten Tournament, Indiana's bats went cold Saturday against Nebraska starting pitcher Will Walsh, who threw a complete game in a 4-2 Nebraska win in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals.

Indiana starting pitcher Ty Botwell allowed three earned runs and struck out nine batters across 4.1 innings on Saturday. / Indiana Athletics

Nebraska starting pitcher Will Walsh hurled a complete game against Indiana to give the Cornhuskers a 4-2 win in Saturday's Big Ten Tournament semifinal matchup at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Neb.

With this loss, Indiana will get another chance to defeat Nebraska on Saturday at 6 p.m. ET. The winner will advance to the Big Ten Tournament championship game at 3 p.m. ET on Sunday, and the loser will be eliminated.

Following a 14-7 win on Thursday, Indiana's offense picked up where it left off initially. In the first inning, third baseman Josh Pyne and right fielder Nick Mitchell ripped back-to-back doubles to give the Hoosiers a 1-0 lead.

Indiana starting pitcher Ty Bothwell retired six of the first seven batters, but he ran into trouble in the third inning. He hit the first batter he faced, then struck out two Cornhuskers and allowed a single. With two outs, Josh Caron belted a three-run home run off Bothwell to give Nebraska a 3-1 lead.

The Hoosiers answered back in the bottom half, thanks to a leadoff triple from Mitchell. First baseman Brock Tibbitts made it a 3-2 game with a sacrifice fly, scoring Mitchell.

Bothwell's day was done after 4.1 innings of work, finishing with five hits, three earned runs, no walks and nine strikeouts.

And after scoring 22 combined runs in its first two games and two runs in the first three innings on Saturday, Indiana's bats went cold. The Hoosiers didn't get a hit during the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh innings, but they threatened a rally in the eighth.

Shortstop Tyler Cerny started it off with a single, and Tibbitts reached on a fielder's choice. But centerfielder Carter Mathison hit a ground ball that Nebraska turned into an out at second base, shutting down Indiana's hopes of a comeback.

Reliever Drew Buhr kept Indiana in the game throughout the later innings, providing 4.2 innings of quality work. He allowed just four baserunners, but Caron blasted his second home run of the game in the eighth inning to give Nebraska a 4-2 cushion.

With one final chance, Indiana made things interesting in the ninth but couldn't complete the comeback. Second baseman Jasen Oliver led off the inning with a single, and catcher Jake Stadler reached on a fielder's choice. But strikeouts from designated hitter Joey Brenczewski and pinch hitter Andrew Wiggins ended the game.

Nebraska starting pitcher Will Walsh will likely own the best outing of any pitcher in this year's Big Ten Tournament. He went the distance against Indiana, allowing six hits, two earned runs, one walk and five strikeouts across 121 pitches in nine innings.

Winning the Big Ten Tournament would give Indiana an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, but the Hoosiers are squarely on the bubble for an at-large bid, should they lose Saturday or Sunday.