Huskers Conclude Season at Stillwater Regional

Nebraska saw its season end with a 17-11 loss to Florida in an elimination game on Sunday afternoon at O’ Brate Stadium. 

 

Nebraska (40-22) totaled 11 runs on 11 hits with three errors, while Florida (30-28) scored 17 runs on 16 hits.

 

Gabe Swansen led the Huskers going 2-for-5 with a two-run homer and double. His four total home runs in the Stillwater Regional finish as the most by a Husker in regional play since Matt Hopper (4) in the 2003 Lincoln Regional.

 

Across the postseason, the junior finishes 19-for-38 (.500) with six doubles, seven home runs and 16 RBI. He also ends the season with an extra-base hit in eight of Nebraska’s nine postseason games.

 

Overbeek launched a two-run blast of his own and drove in four runs, while Dylan Carey produced a two-run double in the sixth. Ben Columbus reached in four of five plate appearances, walking twice and recording a single and double. Rhett Stokes tallied two knocks with an RBI and Clay Bradford added an RBI double.

 

Jackson Brockett fell to 3-3 on the season after allowing seven runs, six earned, on six hits across 1.1 innings. Kyle Froehlich retired eight of nine batters in his 2.2 innings of work, allowing just one hit.

 

Casey Daiss, Evan Borst, Kyle Perry combined to throw four frames while Ty Horn retired all three batters faced in the ninth inning.

 

Nebraska grabbed the lead in the top of the first inning following Case Sanderson’s one-out walk. After a deep flyout to the warning track, Swansen hammered a two-run home run to left field that traveled 410 feet and put the Huskers up 2-0.

 

Florida responded in the bottom half after a throwing error and four-pitch walk put a pair of Gators on base. A wild pitch and RBI single through the right side from Colby Shelton evened the game at two with an inning in the books.

 

Silva reached in the second on a walk and stole his team-leading 32nd base of the season to advance into scoring position. Overbeek then parked a two-run long ball into the left-field bullpen  that put Nebraska back in front 4-2.

 

The Gators managed five runs on six hits in the bottom of the second inning, as three straight singles to lead off the frame cut the deficit to one. Jac Caglianone then gave Florida a 6-4 advantage with a three-run shot down the right-field line.

 

A hit batter and two consecutive singles padded the Gators' lead to 7-4 after only two innings.

 

Both teams went quietly in the third and fourth frames, before the game entered a lightning delay in the top of the fifth after Sanderson’s double. The delay put the game on halt for two hours and four minutes and resumed at 4:41 p.m. with Swansen at the plate.

 

After a scoreless inning from Daiss, Nebraska began the sixth with a walk from Columbus and an infield single from Stokes. Carey then slapped a two-run double down the left-field line to plate both Huskers and cut the deficit to just one run.

 

Florida, however, answered with four runs in the sixth and six runs in the seventh to take an 11-run lead.

 

Columbus doubled to begin the eighth, and a free pass to Stokes put two runners on base. A pinch-hit RBI double from Bradford and two-run single from Overbeek made it 17-9 in the top of the eighth.

 

Horn entered and struck out a pair of batters to set down the side in order in the eighth inning for the Huskers. After a double by Swansen, RBI knocks from Columbus and Stokes pulled NU within six, but the Huskers fell 17-11.

 

Nebraska concludes its 2024 season with a 40-22 overall record and its 18th regional appearance in program history. The Huskers also claimed their first Big Ten Tournament title since joining the conference in 2012-13.