Huskers Stay Alive on Saturday

Josh Caron homered twice and drove in all four runs in Nebraska’s 4-2 win against Indiana to stay alive on Saturday morning at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha.

Nebraska (37-20) scored four runs on seven hits and an error, while Indiana (32-23-1) totaled two runs on six hits.

Will Walsh tossed a complete game for the Huskers, allowing six hits and two earned runs with five strikeouts. It marked the southpaw’s second complete game in his career as Walsh threw a complete-game shutout last season against Michigan State in the Big Ten tournament.

Caron finished 2-for-4 with a pair of home runs and four RBI, recording his fifth multi-hit game over his last six starts. Joshua Overbeek and Rhett Stokes also added a pair of hits to give them both knocks in consecutive games. Ben Columbus reached in two of his four plate appearances for the Big Red.

Overbeek began the contest with a leadoff double, but the Huskers were retired in order to bring an end to the top half of the first. Doubles on consecutive pitches from Walsh gave the Hoosiers a 1-0 lead in the opening frame.

Both pitchers posted scoreless innings in the second, before Silva was hit for the 25th time this season to start the third frame. Overbeek followed it up with a single into left field for his second hit of the game to put runners on first and second for the Big Red.

Caron then parked a 433-foot home run, that jumped 112-mph off the bat, into the left-field bleachers to give NU a 3-1 advantage over Indiana.

Columbus singled on the next pitch, but a strikeout ended the inning with the Huskers up by a pair. A triple to lead off the bottom half of the third inning set the table for the Hoosiers as an RBI sacrifice fly to deep centerfield cut the Husker lead in half.

Indiana went quietly in the fourth inning as Walsh worked around a hit batter to hold the game at 3-2. A leadoff double from Stokes and Overbeek’s fielder’s choice to start the fifth were nullified by three straight Husker outs.

On the mound Walsh continued to deal, keeping the Hoosiers off the board across the fifth, sixth and seventh innings. The southpaw set down the final two batters on strikes to end the latter inning, giving him his second and third punchouts of the game.

After an out to start the eighth frame, Caron launched his second home run off the day 432-feet into the left-field concourse. It marked the junior’s second multi-homer game of the season and gave the Sun Prairie, Wisc., native his fourth long ball of the tournament.

Walsh forced a flyout to begin the bottom of the eighth inning, before a single brought an end to 12 straight Hoosier at-bats without a hit. However, the junior quickly responded with a pair of fielder’s choices to end the threat and keep the Huskers in front 4-2.

Silva was plunked for the 26th time this season, and second of the day, before Stokes singled to put a pair of runners on base in the ninth. Two straight flyouts sent the game to the bottom half with the Huskers ahead by a pair of runs.

Despite a single to begin the inning, Walsh settled in and recorded a punchout and groundout to bring the Hoosiers down to their final out. On his 121st pitch of the morning, the southpaw notched his fifth strikeout of the day to secure the 4-2 Husker victory.

Nebraska takes on third-seeded Indiana in an elimination game later tonight at 5 p.m. at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, with the winner advancing to Sunday’s championship game.