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BIG TEN CHAMPIONS: Nebraska Outlasts Penn State 2-1 for First Big Ten Tournament Title

The Huskers fight all the way back from an opening-game loss to take the Big Ten Conference Tournament Championship. NU is the first team since Ohio State in 1995 to drop its first game and emerge as champions.

Kaleb Henry

Nebraska Athletics

Nebraska baseball has won the Big Ten Conference Tournament Championship.

NU outlasted Penn State 2-1 in the league title game Sunday. This is the first conference tournament championship for the Big Red since joining the Big Ten.

Nebraska has won five conference tournament titles in program history: 1999, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2024.

No Big Ten team since Ohio State in 1995 had dropped its first game and ended up as the champion. That tournament consisted of only four teams where the Buckeyes had to play four games. Nebraska played in six games over six days.

The Huskers improve to 39-20 ahead of the NCAA Tournament beginning next weekend. Penn State's season comes to a close at 29-24.

The Nittany Lions struck first when a pickoff throw to second went awry, scoring the runner from third. From there, No. 8 seed managed just one more hit.

Nebraska didn't get on the board until Josh Caron belted a home run over the right field wall in the seventh inning. Then, in the top of the ninth, Gabe Swansen, who had two of Nebraska's six hits on the day, crushed a double that scored Cayden Brumbaugh.

After Jackson Brocket posted a sensational 8.0 innings, the Big Ten Pitcher of the Year took the hill for the save. Brett Sears worked a 1-2-3 ninth inning to take the title back to Lincoln.

Caron, with a conference tournament record six home runs this week, was named the tournament's most outstanding player. Huskers on the All-Big Ten Tournament team are Swansen, Caron, Josh Stokes and Will Walsh.

Nebraska will learn its regional destination Monday. The Selection Show airs at 11 a.m. CDT on ESPN2.

Nebraska Athletics

Nebraska's Path to the Big Ten Conference Tournament Championship

  • Tuesday: No. 7 seed Ohio State run rules Nebraska in seven innings. | Recap, Photos
  • Thursday: The Huskers get a gem on the hill form Brett Sears and Drew Christo to eliminate Purdue. | Recap, Photos
  • Friday: Nebraska avenges their opening game loss to Ohio State by sending the Buckeyes home. | Recap, Photos
  • Saturday 1: Will Walsh tosses a complete game to send NU to a do-or-die semifinal game. | Recap, Photos
  • Saturday 2: Nebraska crushes Penn State to reach its first conference tournament title game since 2019. | Recap, Photos

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Kaleb Henry
KALEB HENRY

Kaleb Henry is an award-winning sports reporter, covering collegiate athletics since 2014 via radio, podcasting, and digital journalism. His experience with Big Ten Conference teams goes back more than a decade, including time covering programs such as the Nebraska Cornhuskers, Oregon Ducks, and USC Trojans. He has contributed to Sports Illustrated since 2021. Kaleb has won multiple awards for his sports coverage from the Nebraska Broadcasters Association and Midwest Broadcast Journalists Association. Prior to working in sports journalism, Kaleb was a Division I athlete on the Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville Track and Field team where he discussed NCAA legislation as SIUE's representative to the Ohio Valley Conference Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. 

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