Morris; Pitchers Lead Huskers to 4-1 Triumph

Lake Charles, La. - Jed Morris went 2-for-4 with a pair of RBIs, while Jamie Rodrigue and Steve Hale combined for a five-hitter, as the No. 11 Nebraska baseball team improved to 3-2 on the season with a 4-1 win over Louisiana-Monroe Saturday afternoon.

Morris, who is batting .333 with six RBIs, sparked the Husker offense, delivering an RBI single in a two-run first and adding a key RBI double in the eighth after the Indians closed to within 2-1.

"They did a good job of keeping us off balance of balance, but we were able to capitalize with runners in scoring position early on," Morris said. "We strung together some hits early and that gave Jamie a chance to settle down and pitch well."

Nebraska struck for a pair of runs in the first and made the lead stand up, relying on outstanding pitching and a sterling defensive effort en route to its second straight win at the Bank One Lake Area Classic.

Nebraska Coach Dave Van Horn was pleased with the performance of the Husker pitchers, who walked one hitter, and an NU defense that played its second straight error-free contest.

"It could have been a hitters' day with the light air and the wind blowing out, but our pitchers really did a good job by keeping them off balance," Van Horn said. "Our pitchers came out and filled the zone with strikes and it was good to see Jamie pitch six strong innings before Steve shut them down."

The Huskers wasted little time jumping out on the Indians, stringing together three straight hits off Monroe starter Justin Lobello (1-2) to open the first. With runners on the corners, Morris put the Huskers on the scoreboard with an RBI single before Brandon Eymann's fielder's choice plated Drew Anderson with NU's second tally.

"I thought that was important for us to score early," Van Horn said. "We talked as a team before the game about coming out and playing with the lead and had three straight hits to open the game. We didn't get that get the big hit to score three or four runs, but we scored early and were able to pick up some runs late."

Lobello pitched well in defeat for Monroe, allowing three runs on six hits in a career-long 7.1 innings of work.

The score would remain 2-0 until the bottom of the sixth when Louisiana Monroe, which dropped to 3-4 on the season, trimmed the Husker lead to one run after Ben Jones' two-out RBI double scored Jaime Estrada, who walked to lead off the inning. Rodrigue got out of the jam, his only serious threat of the afternoon, by getting Ted White to ground to second to end the inning.

The junior left-hander went the first six innings in his first start of the season, allowing one run on four hits, while striking out four Indians to improve to 1-0 on the season. Steve Hale pitched three innings of one-hit ball for his first save of the year.

The Huskers added single runs in the eighth and ninth innings for the final margin. In the eighth, Leise, who went 2-for-4 with two runs scored, opened the inning with a single, moved to second on an Anderson sacrifice bunt before Morris roped a shot down the first base line, scoring Leise. Ryan Bonesio chipped in NU's final run of the afternoon, driving in Brandon Eymann, who had doubled earlier in the inning.

The Huskers conclude play at the Bank One Area Classic Sunday morning when they take on Southern Miss at 11 a.m. The Golden Eagles' audio broadcast can be accessed on the Huskers.com website.