Huskers Win Third StraightHuskers Win Third Straight
Baseball

Huskers Win Third Straight

Box Score

Lincoln ? Brad Furnish (Lucas, Texas) allowed one hit over five innings, while Alex Gordon (Lincoln, Neb.) and Curtis Ledbetter (Lawrence Kan.) homered and combined for seven RBI, leading No. 19 Nebraska to a 13-7 win over Northern Colorado Wednesday afternoon at Hawks Field.

Furnish (2-0) overcame a rocky start where he allowed a pair of first inning runs to pick up his second win of the year. The freshman left-hander allowed one hit and matched his career high with seven strikeouts, as Matt Sutton’s fifth inning single was the only hit he allowed. Furnish retired 11 straight at one point and allowed one base runner in his final four innings of work.

"Brad looked great after the first inning," Nebraska Head Coach Mike Anderson said. "Having two freshman pitchers on midweek games do what they did against a team that we consider to be very good hitting makes us very happy."

Furnish was backed by an offensive attack that pounded out 15 hits and scored in six different innings. Gordon went 2-for-4 with his 15th homer of the season, drove in four runs and scored three times, while Ledbetter went 3-for-4 with a homer and three RBIs. Freshman Tyler Vaughn (Colorado Springs, Colo.) also enjoyed a big day at the plate, getting a career-high three hits, as eight starters had at least one hit in the win, the Huskers’ third straight.

"We have been talking about every inning, every at bat, every pitch, staying focused and not losing that focus," Anderson said. "We did a good job of that today."

Nebraska took control of the game in the third, scoring three runs off UNC starter Pat O’Neil, including Ledbetter’s sixth homer of the season. Gordon drew a leadoff walk, one of seven issued by O’Neil (6-2) in four innings, before Ledbetter launched a 2-2 pitch into the berm in left, giving the Huskers a 4-2 lead. After a walk and a single, Vaughn gave the Huskers a three-run lead with an RBI single.

Ledbetter drove in his third run of the day one inning later with an RBI single before the Huskers (29-12) added a three-spot off UNC reliever Jeremy Whitman on an RBI single by Joe Simokaitis (St. Louis, Mo.) and a two-run single Gordon, who extended his hit streak to 12 games.

Gordon added a two-run homer in the seventh, while John Ray and Ty Tartler both hit two-run homers for Northern Colorado, which fell to 25-17 on the season. Craig Troxell also had a pair of hits and scored twice for UNC.

The Huskers return to action on Friday evening to begin a three-game series with No. 10 Texas A&M. The series continues Saturday and Sunday and fans are encouraged to bring donations for the homeless on Saturday, as volunteers will be stationed around the ballpark entrances.

                       Northern Colorado at #19 Nebraska
                  Apr 28, 2004 at Lincoln, Neb. (Hawks Field)

Northern Colorado 7 (25-17)

Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB  Avg.
------------------------------------------------------------
Shane Roberts cf.........  4  1  0  0   1  1  3  0   1  .317
Ryan Symons 1b...........  4  0  0  0   0  1  7  0   0  .284
Brennan Garr 3b..........  4  2  2  0   0  0  2  2   0  .338
John Ray c...............  3  1  1  2   1  1  4  1   1  .300
Brad Baker 2b............  2  0  0  1   0  1  3  2   0  .379
Kevin Magill 2b.........  1  0  0  0   0  1  2  1   0  .227
Craig Troxell ss.........  4  2  2  0   0  0  2  3   0  .353
Matt Sutton lf...........  3  0  1  0   0  2  0  0   0  .295
Brad Beaman ph..........  1  0  1  0   0  0  0  0   0  .353
Patrick Wiley dh.........  2  0  0  0   0  2  0  0   0  .340
Ty Tartler ph/dh........  2  1  1  2   0  1  0  0   0  .214
Jon Dyson rf.............  3  0  0  0   0  1  0  2   1  .245
Chad Clark ph...........  1  0  0  1   0  0  0  0   0  .239
Pat O'Neil p.............  0  0  0  0   0  0  1  0   0     -
Jeremy Whitman p........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0     -
Tyler Pearson p.........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0     -
Evan Linn p.............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0     -
Totals................... 34  7  8  6   2 11 24 12   3

Nebraska 13 (29-12)

Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB  Avg.
------------------------------------------------------------
Boyer, Jesse lf..........  3  2  1  0   1  0  0  0   0  .308
Belcher, Kevin lf.......  1  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0  .000
Bruce, Daniel cf.........  5  2  1  0   1  2  1  0   2  .250
Gordon, Alex 3b..........  3  3  2  4   2  0  2  1   0  .391
Ledbetter, Curtis 1b.....  4  1  3  3   1  1  7  1   1  .323
Mullinax, Jake 2b........  2  1  0  1   3  0  2  3   1  .362
Grose, John c............  2  0  1  1   1  0  9  2   2  .191
Bowden, Johnny ph/c.....  1  1  1  0   0  0  1  0   0  .231
Vaughn, Tyler dh/ss......  5  1  3  1   0  0  0  0   2  .231
Keith, Braden rf.........  2  0  1  0   0  1  4  1   0  .313
Steele, Chad rf.........  1  1  1  1   0  0  0  0   0  .244
Simokaitis, Joe ss.......  4  1  1  1   0  0  1  1   1  .303
Sillman, Mike p.........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0     -
Furnish, Brad p..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0     -
Schoeninger, Tim p......  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0     -
Becker, Jeremy p........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0     -
Shockey, Colin p........  0  0  0  0   1  0  0  0   0  .324
Totals................... 33 13 15 12  10  4 27  9  10

Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
Northern Colorado... 200 000 221 -  7  8  1
Nebraska............ 203 130 22X - 13 15  2
-------------------------------------------

E - O'Neil(2); Gordon, A.(10); Vaughn, T.(3). DP - Bears 1. LOB - Bears 3;
Huskers 10. 2B - Bowden, J.(1). HR - Ray(7); Tartler(1); Gordon, A.(15);
Ledbetter, C(6). HBP - Boyer, J.; Keith, B.. SH - Keith, B.(7). SF -
Baker(4); Grose, J.(1). SB - Boyer, J.(7); Gordon, A.(9); Simokaitis,(8). CS
- Keith, B. 2(3).

Northern Colorado      IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF  NP   ERA
--------------------------------------------------------
Pat O'Neil..........  4.0  5  6  4  7  1 14 24  87  4.74
Jeremy Whitman......  1.1  4  3  3  1  2  7  9  30  6.00
Tyler Pearson.......  1.2  3  2  2  1  0  7  8  29  5.14
Evan Linn...........  1.0  3  2  2  1  1  5  6  21  4.91

Nebraska               IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF  NP   ERA
--------------------------------------------------------
Furnish, Brad.......  5.0  1  2  1  2  7 15 18  74  3.00
Schoeninger, Tim....  1.0  1  0  0  0  0  4  4  11  5.40
Becker, Jeremy......  1.0  2  2  2  0  2  5  5  18  4.73
Shockey, Colin......  1.0  2  2  2  0  1  5  5  15  6.23
Sillman, Mike.......  1.0  2  1  0  0  1  5  5  18  3.86Win - Furnish, B. (2-0).  Loss - O'Neil (6-2).  Save - None.
WP - Pearson(1); Linn 3(6); Furnish, B.(3); Schoeninger,(2). HBP - by O'Neil
(Keith, B.); by O'Neil (Boyer, J.). BK - Furnish, B.(3). PB - Ray(4). Inherited
runners/scored: Pearson 1/0. Pitches/strikes: O'Neil 87/37; Whitman 30/19;
Pearson 29/15; Linn 21/11; Furnish, B. 74/46; Schoeninger, 11/7; Becker, J.
18/11; Shockey, C. 15/9; Sillman, M. 18/12.
Umpires - HP: Bill McGuire  1B: Frank McEntarffer  3B: Dave Boever
Start: 2:10p.m.   Time: 2:42   Attendance: 2829