Swansen, Husker Bullpen Lead Senior Day Sweep of Penn State
Max Anderson beats the throw to home plate on Gabe Swansen's sacrifice fly in the first inning. | Full gallery
Amarillo Mullen photo
Conference tournament seeding, intra-squad statistical races, Senior Day, Mother’s Day – it all came together Sunday in Lincoln as Nebraska took down Penn State 8-5, earning a three-game sweep on the regular season’s penultimate weekend and clinching a spot in the Big Ten Tournament.
Powering the offense was sophomore left fielder Gabe Swansen, who drove in five runs. Star junior second baseman Max Anderson continued his All-America campaign by going 3-for-4 and raising his average to a team-best .409 in the process.
Once sophomore starter Will Walsh finished his four innings, allowing three runs – two earned – on five hits and no walks with a pair of strikeouts, the bullpen got the job done. After a tight victory Saturday night, sophomore Corbin Hawkins and seniors Shay Schanaman and Kyle Perry held off the Nittany Lions for the final five innings.
The first inning was eventful, as Nebraska (29-20-1 overall, 13-8 Big Ten) fell behind but then snatched the lead right back. Two straight two-out hits and a Husker throwing error got Penn State (24-22 overall, 6-14 Big Ten) a 1-0 lead. Then, star junior shortstop Brice Matthews led off the home half with a four-pitch walk, moved to second on senior center fielder Casey Burnham’s sacrifice bunt, and scored on Anderson’s double to left. It is Anderson’s 65th RBI, tying him with Matthews for the team lead. Anderson scooted home on Swansen’s sac fly, and sophomore Josh Caron followed with a solo homerun to make it 3-1 Big Red.
Nebraska scored again in the second and threatened to break the game open. Burnham was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, which gave NU a 4-1 advantage. Anderson then grounded into a double play, his only fruitless at-bat of the game.
After a Nittany Lion two-run HR in the fourth, Swansen answered with one of his own in the fifth, pushing the Husker lead to 6-3.
After Hawkins handled two scoreless innings, he ran into trouble in the seventh. Three singles and another throwing error, this time from Caron on a stolen base attempt, cut Penn State’s deficit to 6-4. Bullpen ironman Shay Schanaman inherited two runners, one of whom scored on a groundout. After hitting the next batter, which put two on with two out in a 6-5 game, Schanaman earned a strikeout to end the threat.
Fellow senior Kyle Perry relieved Schanaman with one out in the eighth and made quick work of the next PSU batters. Looking for insurance, NU found it in the form of a two-run double from Swansen, who came to the plate with the bases loaded after the Nittany Lions intentionally walked Anderson in order to face him. Swansen made them pay, extending the Husker lead to 8-5. That proved to be the final score after Perry’s 1-2-3 ninth inning, earning the senior his second save of the season.
Celebrated for the final time at Haymarket Park on Senior Day were position players Casey Burnham, Efry Cervantes, Griffin Everitt, Charlie Fischer and Luke Sartori, along with pitchers Jake Bunz, Michael Garza, Mason Ornelas, Kyle Perry and Shay Schanaman.
The Huskers hit their 89th and 90th dingers of 2023, now just three homers shy of the school record 93 set in 1985. Matthews, who has hit 20, has a narrow lead on Anderson’s 19, and Swansen is hot on their heels with 16.
The final regular season series starts Thursday against Purdue. The Boilermakers sit tied with Michigan State for the eighth and final Big Ten Tournament bid at 10-11 in conference play. Nebraska will play game one in West Lafayette at 5 p.m. CDT Thursday.