Komine Fans 12, Strong Scores Twice in 3-2 Husker Victory

San Antonio, Texas -- Sophomore right-hander Shane Komine (Honolulu, Hawaii) struck out a season-high 12 batters and tossed a five-hit complete game victory to lead Nebraska past Texas-San Antonio, 3-2, on Sunday at Roadrunner Field. Nebraska improved to 6-3 with the victory, while Komine, 2-0, improved to 8-2 as a Husker.

UTSA led 2-1 in the fourth after an RBI double from catcher Matt McIntyre scored Ryan Smith. But the Huskers rallied to tie the game in the fifth and plate the go-ahead run in the sixth. Nebraska capitalized on control problems from UTSA pitchers, scoring three runs despite being held to just three hits. Texas-San Antonio pitchers gave up eight walks, hit three batters and also had two wild pitches and a passed ball.

Head Coach Dave Van Horn was pleased with Nebraska's win.

"We were fortunate to have such a great performance from Shane on the mound today," Van Horn said. "We need to win a close game like this. We're 6-3 right now, but we're just four runs short of being 9-0. But that's baseball."

Nebraska jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first as Jamal Strong scored without a Husker hit in the inning. Strong, who extended his streak of reaching base to 30 consecutive games, was hit by starter Eric Montoya to lead off the first inning. He advanced to second and third on a pair of walks and scored on a fielder's choice by Justin Cowan.

Strong reproduced his performance to the the game in the fifth, when he led off the inning with a walk. He advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt and to third a fly out to right field, before scoring on a wild pitch.

Nebraska's only other run came in similar fashion, as Brandt Vlieger led off the sixth inning with a walk. After Stern bunted Vlieger to second, Vlieger moved to third on a single from Strong. Vlieger then scored on an error by the UTSA shortstop.

Eric Montoya suffered the loss for UTSA (4-9) after walking six and allowing three hits through six innings of work. He also struck out five. Jon Elisa pitched three hitless innings in relief but also gave up two walks.

Nebraska will host Nebraska-Omaha on Tuesday at 2 p.m., before opening the Big 12 season against Oklahoma State in Stillwater, Okla., on Friday, March 3.

The Huskers extended their winning streak to four games with Sunday's win over the Razorbacks and improved to 4-2 after dropping their first two contests of the season. Nebraska got off to a strong start as sophomore right-hander Shane Komine held Arkansas hitless through the first four innings. Nebraska tagged All-American Charlie Isaacson with his first career loss who fell to 10-1 after giving up three earned runs and three walks in three innings.

Komine, the 1999 Big 12 Freshman of the Year, improved to 1-0 on the year, with a six inning, five-hit performance. Komine yielded two runs in the fifth inning after Arkansas put together four hits in the inning. Komine gave up four walks but also struck out five batters.

Nebraska scored its first run in the second inning after Isaacson walked Jim Bailey and hit Brandt Vlieger. Freshman Jeff Leise loaded the bases after he reached on an error on a sacrifice bunt. Bailey then scored on a passed ball to give the Huskers a 1-0 lead.

Nebraska senior catcher Justin Cowan broke the game open in the third inning with a three-run home run to left field, his second home run in as many days. The Huskers then scored three runs in the fourth, fifth and eighth innings to route the Razorbacks.

Cowan, who had 10 RBI for the weekend, went 2-for-5. John Cole led the Huskers with three hits and three runs scored. He also drove in a run.