IU baseball entered Saturday at the Big Ten Tournament with wins in its first two games and high hopes of bolstering its potential NCAA Tournament résumé.
The third-seeded Hoosiers needed to win just one game of a potential two on Saturday against No. 2 seed Nebraska to advance to the conference championship game. The Cornhuskers’ close win Saturday morning forced a win-or-go-home game for both teams around five hours later.
The nightcap’s result was never really in doubt. Nebraska dominated at the plate with seven extra-base hits and rolled to a 10-4 victory at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha.
A win over Nebraska (37-20) would’ve significantly helped Indiana (32-24-1) strengthen its case for an NCAA Regional bid. Instead, the Hoosiers may have to sweat out Selection Monday, when the bracket is revealed at 12 p.m. ET on ESPN2.
Nebraska worked around traffic on the basepaths throughout Saturday evening’s game. Indiana got at least one hit in six of its nine innings at bat, and it had at least one baserunner in seven innings. IU racked up 10 hits in total. But the Hoosiers couldn’t come up with the clutch hits they needed, as they left 12 runners on base in the game.
IU stranded the bases loaded in the top of the first inning — and similarly to what happened in the morning game, the wasted opportunity turned into quick momentum for Nebraska. The Cornhuskers took a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning on a bases-clearing double by junior Joshua Overbeek.
IU got on the board the next inning, on an RBI single by junior Brock Tibbitts. But the Hoosiers were never able to really get back in the game. The Huskers got that run right back in the bottom of the third, and then tacked on more in the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth innings to run away with the win. Indiana got one back in the seventh and scored twice in the ninth, but it was too little, too late.
Junior Josh Pyne continued to swing a hot bat for the Hoosiers, with a 2-for-5 game and a run scored. Juniors Carter Mathison and Nick Mitchell both also had two-hit nights.
First team All-Big Ten outfielder Devin Taylor was pulled from the morning game before the eighth inning. The sophomore played in the second game as IU’s designated hitter and went 1 for 5 with a run scored.
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