Nebraska won the weekend series but couldn’t complete the sweep, as the Huskers fell 4-1 in the series finale against Iowa on Sunday at Hawks Field at Haymarket Park.

Nebraska (27-14, 10-5 Big Ten) scored a run on two hits and an error, while Iowa (24-17, 10-8 Big Ten) recorded four runs on eight hits.

Tyler Stone doubled and drew a walk, while Case Sanderson had a hit and a walk. Josh Caron drove in the Huskers’ lone run of the game.

Will Walsh dropped to 4-3 on the season, allowing three runs on five hits in 4.2 innings of action. Casey Daiss pitched one inning, giving up one run on a hit. Grant Cleavinger, Evan Borst, Rans Sanders, Kyle Perry and Kyle Froehlich combined to blank the Hawkeyes over the final 3.1 innings, holding Iowa to just two hits.

Iowa grabbed a 1-0 lead in the opening frame after a two-out walk, followed by an RBI double to left field.

A two-out solo homer to the left-field berm doubled the lead for the Hawkeyes in the second inning.

The Huskers plated their lone run of the game behind a pair of hits in the fourth inning. Riley Silva reached on a fielder’s choice, before Stone’s double to right-center had runners on second and third with one out for the Big Red. Caron lifted a sacrifice fly to right, scoring Silva and trimming the deficit to 2-1.

The Hawkeyes got the run back in the next half inning with a two-out solo homer into the Iowa bullpen in the top of the fifth.

Cole Evans opened the bottom of the fifth with a walk and later stole second, before moving to third on a wild pitch. The NU offense couldn’t get a timely two-out hit to bring home Evans and cut into the deficit.

Iowa had a runner on third with one out in the sixth after a leadoff double and a groundout to second. A wild pitch allowed the runner on third to jog on home to give the Hawkeyes a 4-1 advantage.

The Huskers were retired in order over the final three innings to preserve the three-run victory for the Hawkeyes in the series finale.

Nebraska returns to action with a midweek matchup at Creighton on Tuesday, April 30 at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha.

HUSKERS TIE FOR SEVENTH AT BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIP

Will Marshall and Gentry Scheve both produced top-20 finishes to lead the Nebraska men’s golf team to a tie for seventh at the 2024 Big Ten Championship presented by Old National Bank in Columbus, Ohio on Sunday.

Marshall, a fifth-year senior from Elburn, Ill, put together his best tournament finish of the season on the 7,240-yard, par-70 layout at the Scioto Country Club. He closed his conference championship appearance with a final-round 74 (+4) to lead the Huskers on Sunday. Marshall also led NU with an opening-round 73, before adding a 78 on Saturday. He finished with a three-round total of 225 (+15) over 54 holes to tie teammate Gentry Scheve for 19th in a field that featured 70 individuals.

Scheve, a senior from Emporia, Kan., capped his impressive conference tournament performance with a final-round 78 (+8) to match Marshall with a team-best 225 (+15). Scheve’s effort included a second-round 71 (+1) after opening the tournament on Friday with a 76.  

The top-20 finishes by Marshall and Scheve marked Nebraska’s best individual Big Ten Tournament showings since Tanner Owen and Jay Cottam tied for 16th in 2019. Nebraska's tie for seventh in the team standings also marked its best conference tournament finish since 2019, when the Huskers took fifth.

With Marshall and Scheve leading the way, the Huskers moved up one spot in the final team standings into a tie for seventh at 904 (300-298-306). Junior Hamish Murray contributed a final-round 76 (+6) while fellow junior Harry Crockett added a 78 (+8) to complete Nebraska's 306 team score on Sunday. Murray (Sydney, Australia) and Crockett (Oxted, England) tied for 52nd overall with three-round totals of 232 (+22). Sophomore Davis Johnson rounded out the Husker contingent in a tie for 57th at 234 (+24).

The Huskers matched No. 88 Rutgers and No. 89 Wisconsin at 904 (+64) in the final team standings. Nebraska ended the tournament three strokes in front of No. 84 Michigan and Penn State (907), five shots ahead of Iowa (909) and nine strokes in front of No. 98 Minnesota (913). The Big Red also beat Maryland (934) by 30 strokes. 

No. 44 Northwestern (863) pulled away for the team title at 863 (+23). The Wildcats fired the best final round of the tournament with a 289 (+9) to finish 15 shots ahead of runner-up Illinois (875), after the No. 18 Illini put up Sunday’s second-best round with a 292 (+12). No. 28 Purdue (886), No. 74 Michigan State (889), No. 37 Ohio State (890) and No. 46 Indiana (902) rounded out the teams ahead of the Huskers. 

Northwestern’s Daniel Svard (211) captured the conference individual title on the strength of a final-round 68 (-2). Svard managed a one-shot win over runner-up Jackson Buchanan from Illinois who finished at 212 (+2), including an even-par 70 in the final round. Northwestern’s James Imai and Michigan State’s Ashton McCulloch tied for third at 215 (+5).

Svard, Buchanan, Imai, McCulloch, Herman Sekne (Purdue), Neal Shipley (Ohio State) and August Meekhof (Michigan State) claimed spots on the Big Ten All-Championship Team. Sekne added recognition as the conference's Les Bolstad Award winner.

Big Ten Championship
April 26-28, 2024
Columbus, Ohio
Scioto Country Club (Par 70, 7,240 Yards)

Final Team Results
1. (44) Northwestern - 280-294-289=863 (+23)
2. (18) Illinois - 290-296-292=878 (+38)
3. (28) Purdue - 288-301-297=886 (+46)
4. (74) Michigan State - 286-291-312=889 (+49)
5. (37) Ohio State - 291-297--302=890 (+50)
6. (46) Indiana - 290-309-303=902 (+62)
T7. (89) Wisconsin - 290-303-311=904 (+64)
T7. (88) Rutgers - 292-305-307=904 (+64)
T7. Nebraska - 300-298-306=904 (+64)
T10. (84) Michigan - 305-304-298=907 (+67)
T10. Penn State - 294-306-307=907 (+67)
12. Iowa - 294-310-305=909 (+69)
13. (98) Minnesota - 293-316-304=913 (+73)
14. Maryland - 307-316-311=934 (+94)

Final Individual Results
1. Daniel Svard, Northwestern - 68-75-68=211 (+1)
2. Jackson Buchanan, Illinois - 71-71-70=212 (+2)
T3. James Imai, Northwestern - 68-74-73=215 (+5)
T3. Ashton McCulloch, Michigan State - 71-69-75=215 (+5)
T5. Herman Sekne, Purdue - 73-72-72=217 (+7)
T5. Neal Shipley, Ohio State - 74-69-74=217 (+7)
T5. August Meekhof, Michigan State - 67-74-76=217 (+7)
T8. Hunter Thomson, Michigan - 76-74-69=219 (+9)
T8. Ethan Tseng, Northwestern - 71-74-74=219 (+9)
10. Cameron Adam, Northwestern - 73-71-76=220 (+10)

Nebraska Individuals
T19. Will Marshall - 73-78-74=225 (+15)
T19. Gentry Scheve - 76-71-78=225 (+15)
T52. Hamish Murray - 76-80-76=232 (+22)
T52. Harry Crockett - 83-71-78=232 (+22)
T57. Davis Johnson - 75-78-81=234 (+24)

SERIES FINALE WITH NORTHWESTERN CANCELED

After both teams waited for nearly 24 hours, the weather did not allow the resumption of Saturday's softball game between Nebraska and Northwestern. As a result, the series finale was canceled.

Nebraska led Northwestern 5-0 in the top of the fourth inning before weather delayed - and ultimately suspended- the game at 3 p.m. on Saturday. The game was scheduled to resume at 11 a.m. on Sunday but a series of lightning delays and rain showers forced the cancelation of the game shortly before 2 p.m., as a final lightning dealy forced Northwestern to leave to keep its travel plans.

The Wildcats won both games of the weather-shortened series.

With a late break in the weather, Nebraska was able to honor eight seniors on Senior Day, and photos of that event are linked above.

Stats from the first three-plus innings of game three will not count, but below is a recap of how Nebraska took its 5-0 lead in a game that would not finish.

Recap of Nebraska Taking a 5-0 Lead (stats will not count)
In the top of the first inning, Billie Andrews led off with a home run. Samantha Bland and Sydney Gray followed with singles and a wild pitch put Huskers on second and third with no outs. Emmerson Cope was then retired on a diving play by the third baseman, but Bland scored on the RBI ground out to give Nebraska a 2-0 lead. Bella Bacon then capped the three-run inning with a clutch two-out, RBI single to right field that scored Gray.

The Huskers added two more runs in the bottom of the third. Bacon reached on a one-out infield single before Brooke Andrews reached on an infield single with two outs. Katelyn Caneda then hit a fly ball to deep left field that was dropped for a two-run error that gave Nebraska a 5-0 lead.

The first two Wildcats reached in the top of the fourth to give Northwestern a pair of base runners with no outs before the game was delayed and never resumed.