Will Jesske hit one of Nebraska's six extra-base hits Saturday as the Huskers finished the regular season with a 14-2 win at Purdue.
WORLDHERALD NEWS SERVICE
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Nebraska pushed around Purdue for more than three hours Saturday in a regular-season baseball finale with little on the line for either team.
What the Huskers bring back on their charter flight is clarity about what's next -- and a little momentum.
NU run-ruled the Boilermakers 14-2 in eight innings at Alexander Field in an exclamation-point effort that secured a sixth league series win in its last seven tries. Fifteen hits, six pitchers and no errors were more than enough for NU to enter the postseason above .500.
"Played well in all three facets," coach Will Bolt said during his postgame radio interview. "That's what we're capable of."
Nebraska (28-27, 15-15 Big Ten) ends in a three-way conference tie for eighth with Penn State and Rutgers. The Huskers take seeding priority because of tiebreakers over both.
The results unofficially set up No. 8 NU to play No. 12 seed Michigan State on Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Schwab Field. Oregon -- which secured the No. 1 seed after finishing a sweep of Iowa -- also will be in the three-team Pool A and faces the Huskers on Friday at 6 p.m.
On a wild final day of action around the Big Ten featuring walk-offs and comebacks, Nebraska led 8-0 after three innings and cruised the entire way. Will Jesske finished 4 for 5 and Cael Frost helped secure the run-rule victory with a two-run blast to right-center field in the eighth.
The Husker offense knocked Purdue left-handed starter Easton Storey from the game after oneplus frame. Case Sanderson's bases-loaded single up the middle gave the visitors a quick 2-0 lead. Second-inning consecutive RBI hits came off the bats of Riley Silva, Joshua Overbeek and Cayden Brumbaugh before a Gabe Swansen sacrifice fly.
A Robby Bolin sac fly and wild pitch added two more runs in the third. A Swansen leadoff triple in the fourth set up Dylan Carey for his own sac fly.
"That's how you play team baseball," Bolt said. "You're never out of the inning, you're never out of an at-bat and you're never out of the game. You just keep going."
Nebraska used a bullpen approach to effective results. Jackson Brockett went two scoreless innings and 40 pitches -- a designed move with a spot in next week's Big Ten tournament already secured -- followed by short appearances from Gavin Blachowicz, Pryce Bender, Caleb Clark, Blake Encarnacion and Grant Cleavinger.
Purdue got as close as 9-2 in the fifth on a Keenan Spencer single against Bender. Spencer also had an RBI hit in the third off Blachowicz.
The Boilermakers (31-23, 1119) end their year at 15th in the Big Ten.
The Huskers were already assured of at least another week of baseball. They shrugged off Friday's walk-off defeat and head home with a better vibe as they aim to win four straight times -- something they haven't done all season -- to repeat as league tourney champs.
Said Bolt: "Really good response by our team today all the way around."
NDSU hammers UNO
FARGO, N.D. -- North Dakota State put together a 16-hit attack to pull away from UNO for a 12-2 win in the final game of the regular season.
The first two games of the weekend series were rained out, but the Bison were ready to go when they took the field Saturday.
NDSU (17-31, 13-15 Summit League) led 4-0 before UNO (1928, 12-16) got on the board with a Drew Borner RBI single in the fourth and a Tyler Palmer triple in the fifth.
But the Bison put the game away with a six-run sixth inning when they amassed five hits and three walks against three Mav pitchers.
UNO and North Dakota State will play again in the opening round of the Summit League tournament, which begins Wednesday at Anderson Field.
They will play at 6 p.m., while the noon game will be between top-seeded Oral Roberts and South Dakota State. The tournament final is scheduled for 1 p.m. on May 24.