This post was updated May 25 at 8:52 p.m.

Thousands of red-clad spectators stood and cheered as Cornhusker right-hander Ty Horn started towards home plate with two outs and runners on second and third in the bottom of the sixth.

Horn’s 2-2 offering approached redshirt senior right fielder AJ Salgado – who singled earlier in the game and homered off Horn earlier in the season.

And though the 85-mph cutter drifted over the plate, Salgado swung and missed at the offering, ending the inning and squandering the Bruins’ best scoring opportunity of the day.

Shut out for just the second time all season, No. 2 seed UCLA baseball (42-16, 22-8 Big Ten) fell to No. 8 seed Nebraska (32-27, 16-15) by a score of 5-0 in Sunday’s Big Ten tournament championship as the Huskers secured their second straight conference tournament trophy. Though the Bruins batted in the bottom half of each inning at Charles Schwab Field in Omaha, Nebraska – a neutral site – the crowd was predominantly Huskers, with the stands echoing chants of “Go Big Red.” 

“We’ve played in crowds before,” said coach John Savage. “It was an outstanding turnout. It was a home court advantage for sure. That’s the fun part about being a college athlete, is these types of moments. I don’t think we were out of character because of the crowd, per se. I just thought we couldn’t get to where we wanted to get to because of Horn.”

UCLA swept Nebraska in a three-game series at Jackie Robinson Stadium back in March, when the Huskers didn’t score more than three runs in any contest, but they quickly bucked the trend.

Sophomore right-hander Landon Stump survived just 1.1 innings – the shortest start of his season – and surrendered three runs after allowing the first five batters to reach in the second. 

Though redshirt sophomore Chris Grothues escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the second, the southpaw’s success came to an abrupt end with two outs in the third inning when designated hitter Devin Nunez launched a two-run home run, extending the Cornhusker lead to five.

Right-hander Wylan Moss relieved Grothues with two outs in the inning for his first appearance since May 2 after being sidelined with a back issue. The freshman wound up retiring all ten of the batters he faced while striking out three as the Bruin bullpen shut down Nebraska for the remainder of the game.

However, the Bruin offense wouldn’t find any success against Horn or the Huskers’ bullpen, floundering Sunday after scoring 24 runs in three games to begin the tournament. The Bruins went 1-for-17 with runners on base – including 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position – and accumulated only four hits.

“Horn really was the difference today,” Savage said. “His momentum, his consistency, his repeating, his efficiency. His attack was really impressive. I thought they took it to us on the mound, and I have to give Horn a lot of credit.”

Horn pitched his best game of the season, tossing eight shutout innings on 118 pitches while striking out six. Before Sunday, Horn had never eclipsed six innings in a game, had a 5.89 season ERA and previously allowed six runs in a four-inning start against UCLA.

Sophomore shortstop Roch Cholowsky – who homered in each of the first three games of the tournament and entered Sunday with a 21-game hit streak – was held hitless by Horn in four at-bats, striking out once.

“Everyone in the ballpark knows he (Cholowsky) had a rough day,” Savage said. “That’s how good he is. I don’t know how many 0-for-4s he’s had this year – maybe one. It happens. It’s baseball. It’s an everyday game.”

Despite missing out on an automatic bid into the NCAA tournament via winning the conference postseason crown, UCLA was still selected Sunday evening as a regional host for the first time since 2019. 

The Bruins will learn who else will join them at Jackie Robinson Stadium come the bracket’s full release 9 a.m. Monday.

“If we use this the right way, … we can really use this experience to our advantage,” Savage said. The crowd – great experience. Horn – the way he pitched. There’s a lot of Horns out there that we’re going to be facing over the next couple of weeks. We got to be ready to compete.”