Anderson, Matthews Lead Group of 5 Huskers in All-Big Ten Accolades

The Big Ten Conference announced its awards and All-Conference teams for baseball on Tuesday and 5 Huskers received recognition for their efforts on the year.

It comes as no surprise after the remarkable seasons the two have put up that Brice Matthews and Max Anderson both picked up First Team All Big Ten honors.

Max Anderson was one of two unanimous selections on the team, and it’s easy to see why. He led the nation in total bases with 179, and was 3rd in the nation with 93 hits. He led the Big Ten in hits, total bases, batting average (.412), and slugging percentage (.792). Anderson was also second in the conference with 21 home runs, and set a record for home runs in conference play with 15, 69 RBIs, and an OPS of 1.250. He also only committed 2 errors on the season, while mainly playing a new position at 2B.

(Don’t forget to vote for Max Anderson for the Golden Spikes Award up to 25 times per day!)

Brice Matthews was amount the conference leaders in multiple categories before sitting out the final series against Purdue to allow his back to get some extra rest. He still led the league in OPS at 1.267, and was top 5 in numerous categories with .380 batting average, 20 home runs, 19 steals, 65 RBIs, 61 runs scored, 0.496 OBP, .771 slugging %, and 43 walks. One of the most impressive stat lines by a leadoff hitter in recent memory for the conference.

Making 2nd Team All-Big Ten following a breakout sophomore campaign was Gabe Swansen. Swansen hit 17 home runs on the year, good for 6th in the conference. His 13 home runs in conference games were 2nd to Anderson. Swansen was also 10th in RBIs with 54 and 8th in slugging percentage at .679. He also hit .303 on the season, with an impressive 11 doubles, and scored 43 runs.

Making his first all conference team on the Third Team was super senior Shay Schanaman. Schanaman returned to NU for his Covid year with the understanding he would go back to the bullpen, where he had so much success early in his career. Schanaman went 3-5 with a 3.35 ERA, and 62 strikeouts in 48.1 innings in 23 appearances for Nebraska. Schanaman is also climbing the career Nebraska charts. He is now 5th with 243 strikeouts, and 8th with 78 career appearances.

The Big Ten also release their sportsmanship award that honors a player on each team. For Nebraska that was relief pitcher Corbin Hawkins.