Horn, Nunez lead Nebraska past UCLA for back-to-back Big Ten Tournament championships

By Canadian Press on May 25, 2025.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Ty Horn threw eight shutout innings, Devin Nunez hit a two-run home run and eighth-seeded Nebraska defeated regular season co-champion UCLA 5-0 on Sunday to win the Big Ten Baseball Tournament.

The Cornhuskers (32-27) have won back-to-back conference tournaments for their only championships since joining the Big Ten in 2011.

Dylan Carey’s RBI-double in the second inning opened the scoring. Still in the second, Case Sanderson scored on a passed ball and Carey scored on a single by Rhett Stokes.

Nunez’s two-run home in the third made it 5-0 and Horn (3-4) continued to shut down the second-seeded Bruins. His toughest inning was the sixth, when a double by Mulivai Levu gave UCLA runners on second and third with one out. Horn responded by striking out the next two batters to end the threat.

Horn went eight innings, allowing three hits with six strikeouts, three walks and one hit batter. Casey Daiss pitched the ninth inning, allowing one hit and striking out two.

UCLA starter Landon Stump (6-1) took the loss. He was charged with three runs in 1 1/3 innings.

UCLA (42-16) tied for first place with Oregon in the teams’ first season in the Big Ten. Fellow newcomers USC and Washington finished fourth and fifth, respectively, but it was Nebraska that came from the eighth seed to win the tournament.

The Cornhuskers defeated Purdue and Michigan State in pool play, then defeated top-seeded Oregon and Penn State on Saturday to reach the championship game. ___

AP college sports: https://apnews.com/hub/college-sports

The Associated Press

12
-11