Komine Lifts No. 11 Huskers to 6-4 Win over No. 13 Texas A&M

Lincoln -- Senior All-American Shane Komine struck out 14 Aggies in eight innings, as the No. 11 Nebraska baseball team improved to 9-5 overall and 2-2 in the Big 12 with a 6-4 win over No. 13 Texas A&M in front of a crowd of 2,107 at Hawks Field Friday afternoon.

The Honolulu native upped his season record to 4-0, scattering three hits and allowing one unearned run in a 134-pitch performance. The senior has now won 15 consecutive decisions dating back to March of 2002, while NU has won 17 straight conference openers with the senior right-hander on the hill. His 14 strikeouts tied a season high set at McNeese State last month, marking the 20th time in his career he has struck out 10 or more hitters in a game.

"Shane did a great job today," Nebraska Coach Dave Van Horn. "His pitches were breaking all over the placeand he did a good job of keeping their hitters off balance."

After his performance, Komine, who is 17-0 at home in his four years at NU, saw his season ERA drop to 1.22, while holding opponents to a .131 average in five starts. He has struck out 49 hitters in 37 innings this season.

"I'm pleased with the whole team's effort today," Komine said. "I threw a lot of curveballs today and tried to mix it up a bit. It's up to the pitchers to go out first and put a zero on the board."

While Komine kept the Aggies, who dropped to 17-6 and 5-2 in conference play, at bay, junior Jed Morris and senior Jeff Blevins provided the offensive support. Morris, a native of Seabrook, Texas, went 3-for-4 with a homer, two RBIs and three runs scored, while Blevins was 2-for-3 with a pair of RBIs in the win.

Aggie starter Justin Moore suffered the loss, allowing six runs on 11 hits in 6.2 innings to dip to 2-1 on the season.

Nebraska jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first as Morris crushed an RBI double off the center field wall to score Drew Anderson from first. Jeff Blevins knocked in NU's second run of the frame with an RBI single to left.

The Aggies cut the Husker advantage to one in the top of the third, as Tim Petru scored on an Erik Schindewolf grounder to first. Petru, who walked to lead off the inning, stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error by Morris before scoring to trim the NU lead to 2-1.

Morris then atoned for his mistake, hitting a solo homer, his fourth of the season, to right center in the third, extending NU's lead to 3-1.

The Aggies had their best chance off Komine in the sixth, loading the bases, but could not capitalize. Neal Stephenson, who had two of A&M's six hits, led off the inning with a double down the first-base line. Walks to Coby Mavroulis and Ty Garner loaded the bases with two outs, but Komine picked off Mavroulis at second to end the threat.

The Huskers broke open the contest with a three-run seventh off Moore. Jeff Leise's RBI single plated Daniel Bruce before two-out RBI singles by Matt Hopper and Jeff Blevins pushed the margin to 6-1.

Texas A&M cut the Husker lead to 6-4 in the ninth, scoring three times off NU relievers Jason Burch on RBI fielder's choice by Eric Schindewolf and a two-out, two-run single by Matt Alexander. Waylon Byers then struck out Neal Stephenson to end the game, earning his first career save.

"I could have cared less (about the three runs in the ninth)," Coach Dave Van Horn said. "We played a great game. We played a whole game. We hit the ball hard and we had outstanding pitching and defense today.

The two teams continue the three-game set Saturday afternoon at Hawks Field at 2 p.m. Junior left-hander Jamie Rodrigue (2-0, 1.35 ERA) will take to the mound for the Huskers and will be opposed by A&M right-hander Khalid Ballouli (3-0, 3.25 ERA).