Nebraska baseball fans have a big weekend ahead, and it all starts a day earlier than usual.
The Huskers (32-18 overall, 14-7 Big Ten) travel to East Lansing to square off with Michigan State (23-25, 10-11) in a three-game series with some major stakes on the table beginning Thursday.
It’s a complicated set of tiebreaker rules and procedures, but the bottom line is that there is a ton at stake for Nebraska (and Michigan State) this weekend.
Below is a look at the updated Big Ten standings, this weekend’s schedule around the conference, a breakdown of the conference’s tiebreaker procedures, plus scenarios and potential seeds for the Huskers.
In addition, we have a preview of what’s on tap for Nebraska and Michigan State on the final weekend of the Big Ten’s regular season. It includes a look at the starting pitching matchups, the most important stats to know, key players to watch during the series and more.
But first, one last look back at a rather wild week for Nebraska.
Nebraska suffered inarguably its worst loss of the season last Wednesday when it blew a 6-2 lead with one out in the eighth inning against South Dakota State. Then, the Huskers bullpen blew a second consecutive late lead just 48 hours later when Indiana scored seven runs in the ninth inning for a 10-5 win in the series opener.
The Huskers were on the verge of cruising to a victory in what was a “no-win situation” against the Jackrabbits, who are ranked No. 245 in the national RPI*, and then took leads of 3-2 (seventh inning) and 5-3 (eighth inning) on the way to a likely win in a pivotal game against the Hoosiers.
They squandered both of them.
*By comparison, Nebraska is ranked a Big Ten-best No. 31, ahead of No. 33 Maryland as the only B1G teams in the Top 50.)
It looked like it would be more of the same in Game 2 (Nebraska took a 2-1 lead in the seventh, but Indiana pulled even at 2-2 the next half-inning) and in Game 3 (Nebraska held a 2-0 lead through four innings that was erased by the sixth inning for another 2-2 tie).
Lo and behold, though, Will Bolt’s team bounced back in a massive way in both games. The Huskers showcased some impressive mental toughness, starters Mason McConnaughey (7.1 IP, 5 H, 2 ER, 3 BB, 10 K on 101 pitches Saturday) and Jackson Brockett (5.0 IP, 4 H, 2 ER, 2 BB, 3 K on 71 pitches Sunday) were terrific, and the bullpen had a huge rebound game led by Caleb Clark and Drew Christo, who each earned a win over the weekend.
Clark threw 2.2 scoreless innings in relief of McConnaughey in Game 2 (1 H, 1 BB, 2 K, 1 HBP on 38 pitches) to set up Saturday night hero Cole Evans. The Husker senior stepped to the plate in the 10th inning with two men on, two men out and sent the first pitch he saw careening into the Lincoln night sky for a three-run walk-off home run and a 5-2 win in extras. That set off a raucous celebration at home plate and fed into a pivotal Game 3 on Sunday.
Christo then followed up by entering in relief of Brockett and firing four shutout innings (4.0 IP, 2 H, 0 BB, 2 K on 60 pitches), an outing highlighted by Christo retiring the final seven batters he faced in what was perhaps his finest performance – and perhaps most important – in his three-year Husker career. Clutch pitching from those two set up Evans to become a hero once again as he drove in the go-ahead run on a double in the sixth inning, and Josh Caron added an insurance run on a single in the seventh in a 4-2 series-clinching victory.
In all, it was a wild, heart-stopping week for the Huskers. Somehow, they exited that five-day stretch holding sole possession of second place in the Big Ten standings. And they set themselves up with a chance to capture either a shared or outright conference regular-season championship and the No. 1 seed in the Big Ten tournament.
Nebraska has already clinched a spot in the Big Ten tournament for the ninth time in the 11 years that the conference will have held a tournament since the Huskers joined the conference in 2012. (The tournament was cancelled in 2020 and 2021.)
If Nebraska finishes atop the standings – for either a shared or outright title – it will be the program’s third Big Ten title (2017 and 2021, both of which were outright championships).
In order to do so, the Huskers will likely have to sweep Michigan State on the road, first, and then hope Purdue can give them some help as the Boilermakers host first-place Illinois. They will still be alive, though, for a shared or outright title with a 2-1 finish depending on outcomes around the conference.
The Spartans, who are in a three-way tie with Maryland and Ohio State for seventh in the Big Ten and have Minnesota and Penn State just behind them, will be plenty motivated this weekend. Michigan State, believe it or not, had it even worse than Nebraska fans as the Spartans blew a 12-2 lead in the sixth inning against Minnesota en route to a disastrous 15-12 loss on Sunday. MSU is still in play for either the league tournament’s No. 7 or 8 seed – the final two spots in the B1G tourney.
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