Gabe Swansen Does It Again! Nebraska Beats K-State 7-6

Replicating the tribute Kansas State gave to Greg Sharpe in Manhattan on March 25, daughters Campbell and Taylor threw out tonight’s ceremonial first pitch to start off the third game of the season between these former Big 8 rivals.

Tucker Timmerman got off to a confident start, flooding the strike zone with good pitches and putting up two clean innings to start the game, giving up only a lead-off single in the second that didn’t cause any damage. Kansas State counterpart Tanner Duke was equally effective with two clean innings of his own with Gabe Swansen being the only baserunner on a catcher’s interference.

The Beatrice native ran into a little trouble in the top of the third against the Wildcat bottom of the order. After striking out Maximus Martin looking, Timmerman gave up a double to David Bishop. Shintaro Inoue them pulled a fly ball to left-center that Gabe Swansen had in his glove on but couldn’t pull in. That scored Bishop and put the Cats up 1-0. After Dee Kennedy grounded out to Overbeek at third, Coach Childress took a walk to the mound and ended Timmerman’s day after 2.2 innings. In came lefty Colin Nowaczyk who struck out Sam Flores looking with a nice fastball on the outside black of the plate.

Nebraska struck back in the bottom half of the third as Dylan Carey ripped a line-drive single to leftfield. He moved to second on a nice sacrifice bunt by Hogan Helligso. Up came lead-off man Robby Bolin who dropped down a bunt for a base hit, inducing the K-State catcher to throw wild to first. Carey scored on the play and Bolin ended up on second base. The game was tied 1-1 after three innings.

Nowaczyk looked sharp in the top of the fourth fanning Keegan O’Connor and Bear Madliak with high fastballs sandwiched around a fly out to center by Seth Dardar. The freshman from Elkhorn was dealing! After getting the lead-off batter out in the top of the fifth, he gave way to Pryce Bender.

Tanner Duke had a solid start for Kansas State as it was not Coach Pete Hughes’ plan to go pitcher-by-committee in this midweek game. The tall righthander worked five complete innings giving up one run and two hits, while striking out three and giving up two free passes.

Bender couldn’t find the plate in the top of the sixth, walking the first two batters. Coach Childress saw enough and went to the bullpen once again, calling for Grant Cleavinger. He got a big strike out of Flores for the first out of the inning.

Coach Childress then brought on Drew Christo for the right-on-right matchup against Keegan O’Connor. The big fella from Elkhorn pounded the fastball in on the batter’s hands and then got the second big K of the inning with a 95-mph fastball at the knees. However, things don’t seem to come easy for Drew Christo.

After going down 3-0 in the count to lefthanded hitting Seth Dardar, Coach Bolt signaled to put him on, bringing up righthander Bear Madliak. Christo walked him on a full count, bringing in Shintaro Inoue, who had walked to lead off the inning. Lincoln East alum A.J. Evasco then flew out to rightfield to end the inning. None the less, Kansas State took a 2-1 lead.

Kansas State went to the bullpen and brought in Donte Lewis, and the Big Red offense was ready. Max Buettenback led off with a single against the shift. Lewis then walked Swansen and hit Tyler Stone to load the bases with no outs. Case Sanderson came to the plate 0 for 6 this season with the bases loaded. Down 0-2 in the count, the Missourian stroked a nice single to left field to score two!

Joshua Overbeek drove a deep fly ball to centerfield that Maximus Martin chased down for the first out of the inning. Carey then ripped his second line-drive single to left that should have scored Stone. However, the big fella slipped rounding third base and had to stay there. No worry though as Hogan Helligso stroked a single of his own up the middle to put Nebraska up 4-2. The inning could have been bigger for the Cornhuskers, but unfortunately a ball hit by Robby Bolin on the screws went right to Dee Kennedy at third base, who beat Sanderson back to the bag for the unassisted double play to end the inning.

Kansas State didn’t stay down for long as they greeted new Cornhusker pitcher Casey Daiss with double, single, single and a run scored to start off the top of the seventh inning. A rattled Daiss then threw the ball into centerfield on an ill-fated pickoff attempt. No outs and runners on second and third brought Coach Childress to the mound once again and the call to the bullpen for Luke Broderick. This was certainly earlier than they had hoped to bring him into the game.

Broderick struck out Kennedy for the first out, but with the infield pulled in with two runners in scoring position, Sam Flores smacked a two-strike single through the right side to score two. Kansas State had regained the lead 5-4.

Nebraska’s offense was not up to the challenge after the seventh inning stretch, going three up, three down. Gabe Swansen struck out looking on a nasty pitch from Adam Arther to end the inning. Coach Will Bolt questioned the call and then let home plate ump Trey Nelson know what he thought a little louder and more animated. The Cornhusker coach got tossed and spent the rest of the game in the clubhouse.

Neither team was fooling around in these late innings on the mound as the top relievers were on the mound for both teams. Arther in particular has been very effective this season with an impressive 1.86 ERA.

Broderick put the Cats down in order in their half of the eighth inning. Nebraska got its lead-off batter, Tyler Stone, on base with a walk. Jaron Cotton came in to pinch-run to get more speed on the bases. However, for the second time in the game, a hot shot was hit right at Kennedy at third, who this time fired it across the diamond to double-off Cotton. Overbeek then grounded out to Kennedy to end the eighth.

Kansas State tacked on a run in the top of the ninth without a hit and thanks in large part to Broderick’s pitches in the dirt that Helligso couldn’t handle. Gavin Blachowicz came on to finish it up and got a couple more strikeouts to set down the Cats. Going to the bottom of the ninth, Kansas State was up 6-2.

Millard West alum Ty Ruhl came on to pitch and end it for Kansas State. Dylan Carey led off with his third single of the game. Cael Frost then pinch hit and chased a high fastball to strike out. Up came Robby Bolin who kept it going with his second single of the game.

With two on and one out, it was time for Cayden Brumbaugh to get his first hit of the game. Well, he didn’t get a hit, he got hit, and the bases were loaded. With Thunderstruck blaring in the stadium, lefty Lincoln Sheffield came on to pitch to Max Buettenback. Sheffield was better and struck him out for the second out.

How many times this season, and last, has Gabe Swansen come up in big moments? Down two, bases loaded, two outs . . . and the Johnston, Iowa native lashes a line-drive down the third base line on the second pitch he saw from Sheffield. Carey scored. Bolin scored. And Cayden Brumbaugh never slowed down after leaving first base to score the winning run. Swansen’s double did it for the Big Red. Ball game! Nebraska 7, Kansas State 6.

The Minnesota Golden Gophers come to town this weekend for a very important Big Ten series for both teams. Nebraska sits in a four-team tie for tenth with a 9-12 conference record. Minnesota sits at 14^th at 7-14. The Cornhuskers have only won three conference series thus far this season and have not swept any of them. Getting three against Minnesota would be a big boost for them heading into the final stretch of the regular season. Game one is on Friday night, first pitch scheduled for 6:02 p.m.

Extra Innings:

· With the win tonight Nebraska prevents a series sweep for the Cats

· Nebraska pitchers struck out 14 Wildcats tonight, but untimely miscues and timely Kansas State hitting was the difference in the game tonight.

· With his lead-off single in the sixth inning, Max Buettenback extended his hitting streak to ten games. Robby Bolin also has a nine-game streak.

· Dylan Carey has three hits tonight. Gavin Blachowicz picks up the win.