Was 2025 a Success for Nebraska Baseball?

On the latest HuskerMax Today, Nick Handley and Kaleb Henry discuss the Nebraska baseball season and whether or not it is considered a success.

Below is a lightly edited transcript, and continue scrolling to watch the full segment.

Kaleb: Nebraska's season, 33-29, and it is it's phenomenal to look at this season as a whole in all of its ups and its downs. Those ups including wins over Vanderbilt, what Nebraska was able to do through the Big Ten Tournament with Oregon and UCLA, who are regional hosts, winning the series against Oregon State, winning at Kansas, splitting with K-State.

But then the other side of it to where, yes, they finished higher up in the league, but you dropped a series to Iowa. You don't want to do that. You lost the series with Omaha and Creighton over the course of the regular season. You went and you got swept in a Big Ten series at UCLA.

Nebraska pitcher Pryce Bender delivers at Creighton on April 15, 2025. | Nebraska Athletics

The highs were absolutely high, where it's like, this team can be a top 25 team. But then when the sand settled on a lot of other portions of the season, it makes sense that they're hovering around .500.

Nick: I think it has layers to it. I think there are a lot of things to unpack that I'm still kind of doing with this season because... I can't remember if it was yesterday or right after the game against Oklahoma, the end of the season, that somebody had asked me, well, do you consider the season a success? And I said, a hundred percent it is.

When you're you're holding up any type of hardware, that's a success. And given where the season was headed after March, you're wondering if they're going to get back to Omaha (for the Big Ten Tournament). The ability for this team to figure out, okay, this is the team that we have to play with right now. We don't have a Mason McConaughey right now. We don't know when Tucker Timmerman is going to be back.

Nebraska pitcher Mason McConnaughey | Nebraska Athletics

This is the team that we have to play with right now. Let's start building off of that. Let's start getting our rotation for the weekend set without having our lead arm in Mason McConaughey and try to utilize other guys. All right, let's try to set up our bullpen and see how that's going to look.

Look, injuries happen, and I'm not trying to make excuses, but they happen in various times of the year where I felt like Nebraska was just trying to keep their head above water. I do think that for the expectations of this team going into the season, those expectations were because you assumed you would have a healthy Mason McConaughey and a bona fide number one. And what that does for what you want to do on a Sunday, whether you want to be able to have depth like a guy in between Jackson Brockett and Will Walsh.

I think that's where a lot of the expectations started. But then you also look at a team that, returned a lot of their offensive slug from a year ago with the exception of a Josh Caron. And Josh Caron was a huge one to lose, but you had to make up for that production in multiple ways. But then it was almost like a team-wide slump in March, which I got to be honest, I've never seen anything like that.

Gabe Swansen celebrates his homer to get Nebraska on the board first. — Gabe Swansen celebrates a home run. | Amarillo Mullen

I think the expectations in the preseason were based on what the rotation would look like and really what that offense could give you and I don't think anybody thought that this is gonna be a devastatingly Oregon-like offense but I think you felt like this is a team that could hover close to .300, could be maybe a collectively a .290 team, could have a couple of guys in that lineup that would be, you know, thirteen or more home run type of guys, 75-plus RBI guys.

Kaleb: Did Gabe Swanson figure something out at the end of last year to have for the entirety of this year?

Nick: That was a big part of it. Absolutely. I think there are three guys that I would have looked at and said, okay, these could be your 10 home run plus guys. Gabe, definitely one of them. Dylan Carey, I think, would have been one of those guys, too. And then I also think Joshua Overbeek. I think those are three guys that you look at and say, these guys have 10 plus home runs, 65 plus RBI type guys. Slugging over .500, maybe even close to .600 type guys. Those are going to be your dudes. And then you're going to fill in around them.

Joshua Overbeek celebrates reaching safely after a Michigan State fielding error to tie the game in the ninth inning. — Joshua Overbeek celebrates reaching safely after a Michigan State fielding error to tie the game in the ninth inning in the Big Ten Tournament. | Amarillo Mullen

Caden Brumbaugh was a consistent hitter. There wasn't as much major power with Caden Brumbaugh, but he was getting on base and he was able to drive the baseball a lot. You look at guys like Rhett Stokes and Riley Silva that really had their moments a year ago, Rhett Stokes especially in the postseason last year, that you thought, okay, between those two, what are you going to get offensively? But you should be able to get a lot from a year ago with that.

I just think that the success they had with – really good chunk of that production coming back and a good chunk of those arms. Obviously, you lose a Brett Sears, that's a big deal too. But knowing that you had Mason McConaughey ready to take that step forward and a lot of exciting arms behind them, I understand why the expectations were high.

And Coach Bolt, he didn't shy away from that in the preseason either. I mean, he really wanted to see this team in a position to where they could put together the type of resume that they could be in the conversation of hosting a regional.

Nebraska head coach, Will Bolt, meets Creighton head coach, Ed Servais, at home plate prior to the game at Haymarket Park. — Nebraska head coach Will Bolt. | Amarillo Mullen

Kaleb: There is this side of it that because you're at the end of the year and everything is over, and especially the way Sunday went against Oklahoma, and a lot of the conversation turned to, well, the conference championship, all it's doing is covering up for how bad of a season it actually was. And I don't think either of us are going to say it was a great season from a wins perspective or from a lot of individual success perspective.

But I will say this. A year ago, I got hammered on social media as the championship game for the Big Ten against Penn State was getting late, and people started talking, do you bring Brett Sears in? Do you bring him in for an inning to get the save?

And I, at the time, I was saying no, because I want him as healthy as possible, max rest going into a regional, because I want to advance out of a regional. And I got hammered for it before the decision was for him to come in. And the reason being from a lot of people, anytime you get a chance to put a trophy in the case to win your league, you take it. And I was like, that's fine. I absolutely get that.

2024 Big Ten Champions team photo | Amarillo Mullen

To me, I was like, there's higher goals for this team because at that point, they were going to get an at-large bid into the NCAA tournament. They weren't playing for their life in the same way they were this year. It works out for Nebraska. They win the Big Ten tournament a year ago over Penn State.

Now this year, why isn't this the same case? They got a chance to put a trophy in the case. I know that the rest of the season wasn't great and obviously didn't get out of a regional again here. But to me, it's the same thing. If you get a chance to put a trophy in the case, that is a notch for success for your program.

I'll say it, I took the business on social media and I was wrong. They put a trophy in the case and it felt good and it was good for this team and it was good for this program a year ago. It's just as good for this team and this program this year to get that Big Ten championship, put a trophy in the case, the third in five years.

Nebraska players hold up the trophy after winning the 2025 Big Ten Baseball Tournament. | Nebraska Athletics

Nebraska baseball has four Big Ten championships, has four Big Ten trophies in fourteen years. You've got four in less than a decade. There have been 25 Big Ten championships handed out regular season and tournament since Nebraska joined the Big Ten. They have four of them. And three of them have come in the last five years.

No, the regional success hasn't been there. But guess what? The regional success hasn't been there for 20 years either. I don't think that's a Will Bolt thing.

And now I'm speaking specifically to people who throughout the season were on the "Fire Will Bolt Train". And I'm not going to ask you to comment on that because of what you do with the Huskers Radio Network. But I'll say it because I'm not with the network.

The Nebraska baseball team poses with the 2021 Big Ten Conference championship trophy. — The Nebraska baseball team poses with the 2021 Big Ten Conference championship trophy after posting the best league record over the regular season. | Nebraska Athletics

I think it's asinine to try to have that conversation in the middle of a season coming off of a Big Ten championship, and then that same season ends with a Big Ten championship. It hasn't gone the way Nebraska fans have wanted, and I guarantee you it has not gone the way Will Bolt and company want it to go. But there are three trophies in that case that weren't there five years ago. And to me, that says a lot about this program and what Will Bolt is doing.

Nick: I have no problem saying this about the conversations around the coaching staff and if there should be changes. My answer to that is it's coming from a lot of people that don't know the program and the inner workings of the program. And maybe that's where I have a bit of an advantage. And I understand that's where maybe my perception could be a little bit skewed too.

But I think what they did this year was even more remarkable than a year ago because of the ability to have a group that really took it on the chin during the first wave of conference play, where it would be very easy to accept that as your fate if you have a weak culture. And this is where I know sometimes we overdo the culture conversation in all sports many, many times. But I think when you see examples of a strong one, I think it's important to bring that up.

Dylan Carey celebrates an RBI double to get Nebraska's first run of the game. — Dylan Carey celebrates an RBI double. | Amarillo Mullen

And who creates that culture? Well, it starts with the head coach and then the coaches that he has around him. You think of a guy like Rob Childress. I mean, that is a no BS type of guy, but a guy that one hundred percent connects with his his players. Will Bolt's the same way, you know, one hundred percent connects with his players, knows the time to hit the right buttons and also knows the times to let his upperclassmen maybe lead the way and say less. All of those assistant coaches, that entire staff. I mean, that's a connected group.

It wasn't just the fact that Nebraska took advantage of the schedule when it lightened up, but the way that they had to win those series in a variety of ways still, I think, to me, amplified that players, coaches, coaches were still on the same page, that everybody understood the situation that they still had in front of them.

And then you get to a situation into the Big Ten Tournament, you play your way in, and to your point, you're absolutely right. There's a little bit more extra emphasis and sense of urgency on those games, knowing that this is your only ticket to the NCAA tournament. Yeah. You got a little bit of luck, a lot of luck with, with, with a drop fly ball. But again, just like when the schedule lightens up, can you take advantage of it?

Devin Nunez (16) celebrates his home run with the Husker dugout. | Amarillo Mullen

They were still alive in the game, but they didn't win right there. They still had to go out and take advantage of that situation. Then they had to come right back through a weather situation, come right back and play two games on that Saturday, one of which against a team that was fantastic, didn't play very well in the regional, but a team that their power numbers were unbelievable. And they were throwing their guy that had been almost unhittable in a lot of occasions and had a few complete games and everything. Nebraska got him out in the fourth inning.

And then on the Sunday game, a team that Nebraska had fallen three times to against a pitcher that was on a heater, he doesn't even get out of the second inning. They had to go through the two best teams in the Big Ten to win that title. And they did that.

So to do that at the end of the year, to be able to take inventory of all the crap that happened both on the field and the injuries and some of the illnesses and stuff off the field and, of course, the emotional drag that you have and always being reminded of Greg Sharp and that just – that way we started the season with that emotion for this team to be able to, and I say team, it's the coaching staff and the players to take inventory, to just refuse to accept that fate for this season that had such promise going into it.

Tucker Timmerman waves a towel as the game winds down to the final outs. — Tucker Timmerman waves a towel as a game winds down to the final outs. | Amarillo Mullen

To me, that is strong leadership. To me, that is strong upperclassmen. To me, that's a strong culture. And if you got a strong culture, you've got a chance to do some pretty special things. I think that was more evident in the last month and a half of this season than really even the last four months of last year, which was a very special season.

So when I hear that about coaching changes and whatnot, that's why I just say you've got to look at the full picture. You've got to look at all of the inner workings, what they were going up against? And sure, is it that much different than other teams? Maybe not. But the fact that they still got themselves in a position to win a tournament title and get an automatic bid to the NCAA tournament, what are we talking about here then?

Watch the full conversation below.

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