Josh Caron’s big day launches Huskers to Big Ten Tournament final

LINCOLN, Neb. (KLKN) – The Nebraska baseball team did the unthinkable Saturday night, becoming the first team to make the Big Ten Championship after losing the first game of the tournament since 2009.

The Huskers took down the Hoosiers 10-3, beating them for the second time today at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha.

Indiana put the pressure on Nebraska early, loading the bases with two outs in the first inning.

Miscommunication in the infield, a dropped ball in the outfield, and a walk forced starting pitcher Drew Cristo to load up the strike zone.

That’s exactly what Christo did, striking out the batter to get out of the early jam.

The Huskers struck first in the second inning, getting a two-out, bases-clearing double from Joshua Overbeek to give Nebraska a 3-0 lead.

Indiana answered immediately in the top of the third inning.

Back-to-back singles from Josh Pyne and Nick Mitchell allowed Brock Tibbitts to squeak an RBI single past the second baseman, making the score 3-1 in Nebraska’s favor.

That’s all the production that Cristo allowed.

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He shut down the dangerous Indiana lineup, finishing the game with 5.0 innings pitched, while only allowing five hits and fanning five.

Insert the scorching hot Josh Caron.

Caron hit a solo-shot in the bottom of the third inning into the left field bullpen to give the Huskers a 4-1 lead.

This was Caron’s third home run of the day after hitting two in the first game with the Hoosiers.

Nebraska went deep again in the fifth inning, this time thanks to Gabe Swansen.

Swansen’s two-run shot into the left field bullpen gave the Huskers a commanding 6-1 lead.

Nebraska extended their lead in the sixth inning after Overbeek put one off the center field wall for an RBI double, making the score 7-1.

Indiana’s offense came back to life in the seventh inning, but was quickly put in check by the Huskers.

A couple of bloop hits led to an RBI single to left field from Tyler Cerny, cutting Nebraska’s lead to 5.

The bottom of the seventh inning saw more runs come across the plate for Nebraska.

RBI singles from Rhett Stokes and Overbeek extended Nebraska’s lead to 7.

The Huskers put on the finishing touches in the eighth inning.

A solo home run from Ben Columbus gave Nebraska a 10-2 lead, putting the game out of reach.

The Nebraska pitching staff was lights out to end the game.

Senior Kyle Froehlich pitched 2.0 innings while only allowing three hits and striking out two.

Kyle Perry pitched for one inning, giving up no hits and only walking one batter.

Casey Daiss ended the game for the Huskers, pitching one inning while allowing two hits and one run.

Swansen led the Huskers from the plate, going 4-for-5 with two RBIs. Overbeek and Stokes each had two hits, with Overbeek racking up four RBIs.

Indiana was led by Pyne with two hits.

Nebraska will take on the No. 8 seeded Penn State Nittany Lions for the Big Ten title Sunday afternoon in Omaha.