Josh Caron, Gabe Swansen revel after securing Nebraska’s first-ever Big Ten Tournament championship

Nebraska won its first-ever Big Ten Tournament championship on Sunday after defeating Penn State 2-1 despite trailing for the first seven innings.

The Huskers scored their first run in the seventh when catcher Josh Caron hit a solo shot to right field off Penn State ace Travis Luensmann. Caron, who was honored as the Most Outstanding Player of the tournament after the game, remained stoic when discussing the emotions that came with winning his first-ever conference championship.

“I’m pretty excited. This was just a completely surreal day now,” Caron said postgame. “I can’t I can’t say enough about how this team is just so tough and we’re just so resilient and just couldn’t be prouder of these guys.”

His homer was what kick-started the Nebraska offense to score to go-ahead run in the ninth inning. Not to mention his efforts behind the plate catching for Huskers ace Jackson Brockett. Brockett logged a quality start on the mound despite having allowed an earned run on a pitching error in the first inning. He finished the game allowing one earned run on four hits and a walk while striking out five of the 29 batters that he faced across 8.0 innings.

“That was that was a lot of fun, no doubt,” Caron said about his role in Sunday’s win. “Just trying to keep my head down and focus on my approach and not get too caught up in the moment. And just fans, the atmosphere and everything just sticking to myself and trusting everything. It was quite a ride.”

The game-winning rally for the Huskers began with Ben Columbus to lead off the ninth inning. He singled to center field to get the inning started. Cayden Brumbaugh came in to pinch run, which ended up being a gutsy call for head coach Will Bolt with the leading run on base and two outs. After a review, Brumbaugh was safe as slugger Gabe Swansen stepped up to the plate. He belted to double to left center field to bring Brumbaugh home to represent the eventual game-winning run.

At the end of the day, Swansen says it’s a team effort that helped lead the Huskers to their first-ever Big Ten Tournament championship. They’re now the first team since Ohio State in 1995 to win the tournament after losing their first game.

“I think it started on the mound. Brockett really showed out today,” Swansen said. “Put his best foot forward and dominate out there. And then we just stayed in it, stayed in the fight at all times. Never out of it. I mean, we’ve been punched in the face a lot this year considering the first game of the Big Ten Tournament even this year, and we’ve been able to respond well … We’ve got a lot of great players on this team. A lot of great hitters up and down the lineup and we know we have a lot of great guys.”

According to the latest list from D1 Baseball, Nebraska is not projected to host a regional despite winning their conference tournament. As of Sunday’s projections, the Huskers are expected to find themselves as a 2-seed in whichever region they end up in.

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