Morris Homers Twice in 5-2 Husker Win Over Cal Poly
Morris went 2-for-3 with a pair of solo homers, his 18th and 19th of the season, helping the Huskers complete the weekend sweep over Cal Poly, as Nebraska, which has won five of its last six, improved to 35-17 on the season.
In the series, Morris, who has homered in five straight games, went 6-for-10 with four homers and 10 RBIs. The Seabrook, Texas, native had five extra-base hits, including a game-winning two-run double in Friday's 4-3 win, and slugged 1.900 over the weekend.
"He is on fire right now," Nebraska Van Horn said. "It is almost like why do you pitch to him. Even when he hit his last home run, it was a 3-1 breaking pitch that was supposed to be down and out of the zone. He (Correia) left it in the zone, and Jed hit it out of the ballpark.
"Sometimes as a hitter when you get it rolling, the ball just looks big and when you hit it, it just seems to find a hole, and in Jed's case, it seems to go out of the ballpark."
"I'm seeing it (the ball) pretty good right now, said Morris, who leads the Big 12 with 19 homers and 66 RBIs, said. "I'm not thinking too much, just letting my hands go to the ball and hitting it hard. It is getting in the air, and the wind was blowing out, and I got a couple out today."
Nebraska belted three homers, including Jeff Leise's 10th of the year, off Cal Poly ace Kevin Correia, who allowed five runs on six hits in 6.2 innings to fall to 10-5 with the loss. The sweep was NU's first since mid-March and only the third time Cal Poly was swept all season.
While Nebraska supplied most of its offense with the long ball, freshman left-hander Brian Duensing improved to 4-1 on the season, throwing 5.2 innings of one-run ball. The Omaha, Neb., native scattered seven hits, but struck out five in recording his fourth straight win.
The Huskers jumped to a 4-0 lead on the Mustang starter, scoring a pair of runs in both the third and fourth innings. John Grose, who finished with two hits, opened the third with a single and eventually came around to score on a passed ball by Cal Poly catcher Kyle Wilson. Leise then gave the hosts a two-run lead with a solo homer to right center one pitch after Grose scored. Morris belted his first homer of the day, a solo homer to right, to open the fourth. With one out NU loaded the bases before Will Bolt's sacrifice fly to center gave the Huskers a four-run cushion.
The Mustangs closed to within 4-1 in the fifth on an RBI single by Bryan Gant, who had three of Cal Poly's 11 hits on Sunday and finished the weekend with eight hits in 13 at-bats.
NU stretched the lead to 5-1 on Morris' second homer of the afternoon, a solo shot to right in the seventh, while the Mustangs tallied a run in the ninth on Kyle Wilson's RBI single to left.
Van Horn was pleased with the squad's performance, as NU held Cal Poly, which entered the weekend with a .320 team average, to eight runs in three games.
"We did a good job of making the big play or making a big pitch all weekend," Van Horn said. "Our pitchers did the best job all weekend of keeping us in games and giving us a chance to win. They never gave up a big inning. If you can hold a good hitting team like this to two or three runs a game, it is a great job by our staff.
The Huskers make their last trip of the regular season Wednesday evening when they travel to Omaha's Rosenblatt Stadium for a showdown with in-state rival Creighton. First pitch in the rubber match between the Huskers and Bluejays is set for 7 p.m., as nearly 12,500 tickets have been sold for the game, which will also be televised state-wide on Nebraska Educational Television.
Notes: Senior Will Bolt set a pair of Nebraska career record in Sunday's win. The infielder from Conroe Texas broke Darin Petersen's school record for career assists (604 from 1992-95) and now has 609 in his four-year career. In addition, his sacrifice fly was the 13th of his career, breaking a mark he shared with five other players