Max Anderson and Brice Matthews met expectations, and then some, for the Nebraska baseball team this season.
The two breakout stars have been the brightest spotlight during an up-and-down season for head coach Will Bolt’s squad, earning multiple award nominations this year.
The latest recognition came on Tuesday as Anderson and Matthews were named First-Team All-Big Ten selections by the conference’s head coaches. The Huskers had four total all-conference selections as outfielder Gabe Swansen earned a second-team bid, and pitcher Shay Schanaman was named a third-team honoree. Additionally, pitcher Corbin Hawkins was selected as the Huskers’ winner of the Sportsmanship Award that honors one player from every team in the league.
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Anderson, who earned his all-conference bid as a second baseman, was one of just two unanimous selections in the entire conference, alongside Michigan State’s Brock Vradenburg. Anderson started in all of the Huskers’ 53 games this year and finished the regular season with a .412 batting average, 19 doubles, two triples, 21 home runs, 69 RBI and 49 runs scored. He is one of only two players in the nation hitting at least .400 at the plate with 21-plus home runs and 65 or more RBI this season, and he is third nationally with 93 hits this season.
Anderson was named Big Ten Freshman of the Year, was selected as a second-team all-conference member and earned multiple Freshman All-American honors in 2021. His numbers dipped a bit last season, but he bounced back in tremendous, record-setting fashion in 2023.
On the Husker program’s single-season charts, Anderson is tied for the fifth-most home runs (21) and sixth-most extra-base hits (42). On Saturday, during Nebraska’s win over Purdue in the regular season finale, the Omaha native became the first-ever Big Ten player to hit 15 home runs in a conference season with a traditional conference schedule.
The junior has also racked up a pair of national award nominations over the past four days. On Monday, he was named one of 25 semifinalists for USA Baseball’s Golden Spikes Award, which names the top amateur baseball player in the nation. On Saturday, prior to setting that Big Ten record against the Boilermakers, Anderson was named a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Tropphy, awarded annually to the top college baseball player in the country in conjunction with the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association and the St. Petersburg Chamber of Commerce.
Anderson and Matthews were each named one of 60 semifinalists for the honor, which is known as the most prestigious award in the sport.
Matthews earned that nomination, and his First-Team All-Big Ten honor, after having a transcendent season himself. Matthews, who started in 50 of 53 games this year, finished the regular season with a .380 batting average with 11 doubles, two triples, 20 home runs, 65 RBI and 61 runs scored. With 20 home runs and 19 stolen bases, Matthews went into the season’s final stretch inching closer to becoming the first player in program history to hit 20 homers and steal 20 bases in a season. He likely would have set that record over the weekend, but he sat out the three-game series against Purdue with back tightness.
On a national scale going back to at least 2011, six players have reached the 20-20 club, including two in the regular-season. With 20 home runs, Matthews is tied for eighth with Steve Stanicek for the most home runs in a single-season by a Husker.
Matthews earned his All-Big Ten bid as an At-Large selection as a shortstop. Maryland shortstop Matt Shaw was named Big Ten Player of the Year and nabbed the first-team selection at the shortstop spot.
Anderson and Matthews weren’t the lone Huskers to enjoy breakout campaigns.
Swansen, a sophomore, hit just .154 with six hits, one home run, one double, six RBI and six runs scored in limited action (39 at-bats in 20 games) as a freshman last year. This season, however, Swansen’s increased role (165 at-bats across 48 games) led to substantial production with a .303 average, 50 hits, 11 doubles, 17 home runs, 54 RBI and 43 runs scored.
Schanaman was also a hugely valuable piece for Nebraska as he made a transition in his role on the mound. After being used as a reliever during his first two years with Nebraska, Schanaman was a starting pitcher in 2021 and 2022 who made 25 starts as part of 28 total appearances. For his fifth year as a graduate player in 2023, he was moved back to the bullpen, where he finished 3-5 with six saves, a 3.35 ERA, 62 strikeouts and 25 walks across 48.1 innings during 23 appearances. And he allowed a .208 opponent batting average, the lowest mark in his career since allowing a .163 opponent average during 22.2 innings (19 appearances) as a freshman in 2019.
Michigan’s Connor O’Halloran was named the conference’s Pitcher of the Year, Indiana’s Devin Taylor is the Freshman of the Year, and Maryland’s Rob Vaughn was a unanimous pick as Coach of the Year.
All of them will compete in the Big Ten Baseball Tournament this week, which began on Tuesday morning and will continue tomorrow with the No. 4 seed Huskers taking on No. 5 seed Rutgers at 2 p.m. Wednesday in Omaha.
Check out Inside Nebraska’s conference tournament preview to get you primed for the matchups, players to watch and more.
Discuss the Huskers’ path in the Big Ten Baseball Tournament and their All-Big Ten selections on the Insider’s Board.
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