No. 12 Huskers Roll to Eighth Straight Win

Lincoln ? Alex Gordon had two hits, including a grand slam, and matched his career high with five RBIs, as No. 12 Nebraska posted a 14-7 win over New Mexico Tuesday afternoon at Hawks Field.

The sophomore third baseman belted his 11th homer of the season to highlight a seven-run fifth inning, propelling the Huskers (23-5) to their eighth straight win. Gordon now leads NU with 11 homers and is tied for the Big 12 lead with 44 RBIs, as he also drove in five runs against Northwestern in the season opener.

Gordon was one of five Huskers to record multiple-hit days, as Curtis Ledbetter and Chad Steele also had two hits and drove in a pair of runs, while Daniel Bruce went 2-for-4 with four runs scored. Braden Keith led NU’s 15-hit attack with three hits and scored twice, as all nine starters had at least one hit.

Tim Schoeninger (3-0) struck out four in 1.2 innings for the win in relief of start Jon Klausing, while Brett Jensen, Jeremy Becker and Colin Shockey all tossed scoreless innings of relief.

After New Mexico (10-18-1) closed to within 7-5 in the top of the fifth on Josh Mader’s three-run homer and an RBI double by Sean Murray, the Huskers put the game out of reach with seven runs in the bottom of the frame. A walk and a pair of singles loaded the bases for Gordon, who sent Mike Smith’s 1-0 offering over the fence for his second career grand slam, putting NU up 11-5.

NU, which has won 16 of its last 17 games, continued the outburst against Lobo reliever Jesse Kibler on a two-run single by Tyler Vaughn and an RBI single by Braden Keith. In all, the Huskers sent 12 men to the plate in the inning to take commanding 14-5 lead.

Earlier Gordon broke a 1-1 tie in the third, with an RBI double to center, scoring Bruce, before run scoring hits by Joe Simokaitis and Chad Steele, who had a pair of doubles, gave the Huskers a 4-1 lead. Nebraska added to the cushion in the fourth on a two-run, bases-loaded single by Ledbetter and a bases-loaded walk to Steele. NU built a 7-1 lead off New Mexico starter Petr Pacas (1-2), who allowed seven runs on eight hits in 3.1 innings to take the loss.

Murray went 4-for-5 to pace the Lobos while Mader, who drove in five runs, and Matt Young, who scored three times, also had three-hit efforts, combining for 10 of New Mexico’s 14 hits.

The Huskers begin a three-game series against Texas Tech beginning Friday, April 9, at 6:35 p.m. Tickets for all three games are available by calling 800-8-Big Red.

                           New Mexico at #12 Nebraska
                  Apr 06, 2004 at Lincoln, Neb. (Hawks Field)

New Mexico 7 (10-18-1)

Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB  Avg.
------------------------------------------------------------
YOUNG, Matt cf...........  4  3  3  0   1  0  2  1   0  .365
FOOTE, Matt 2b...........  4  1  0  0   1  1  1  0   0  .182
MADER, Josh ss...........  5  1  3  5   0  0  1  3   0  .365
SALAS, Joe dh............  5  1  2  0   0  1  0  0   3  .243
MURRAY, Sean lf/rf.......  5  0  4  1   0  0  4  1   0  .339
STOVALL, Daniel 1b.......  4  0  0  0   0  1  6  1   0  .301
BINGHAM, Brandon ph.....  1  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0  .100
SPITALERI, A.J. c........  4  0  1  0   0  1  4  2   2  .327
DABBS, Chris rf..........  2  0  0  0   0  2  1  0   1  .293
HAYMORE, Garrick rf/lf..  2  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0  .276
GRADY, Tim 3b............  4  1  1  0   0  0  4  1   2  .196
PACAS, Petr p............  0  0  0  0   0  0  1  2   0     -
SMITH, Mike p...........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0     -
KIBLER, Jesse p.........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0     -
SMITH, Jackie p.........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0     -
LETZ, Kevin p...........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0     -
Totals................... 40  7 14  6   2  6 24 11   8

Nebraska 14 (23-5)

Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB  Avg.
------------------------------------------------------------
Shockey, Colin cf/p......  5  1  1  0   1  2  1  0   1  .333
Bruce, Daniel rf.........  4  4  2  0   0  1  1  0   2  .289
Gordon, Alex 3b..........  4  3  2  5   2  0  0  3   0  .392
Ledbetter, Curtis dh.....  6  1  2  2   0  1  0  0   0  .283
Belcher, Kevin lf.......  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0  .000
Simokaitis, Joe ss.......  3  1  1  1   2  0  2  3   0  .340
Smith, Al 1b.............  2  1  1  0   3  0 10  1   2  .267
Steele, Chad c...........  3  0  2  2   1  1  4  0   0  .267
Bowden, Johnny c........  1  0  0  0   0  0  3  0   2  .167
Vaughn, Tyler 2b.........  4  1  1  2   1  1  4  4   4  .143
Keith, Braden lf/cf......  5  2  3  1   0  0  1  0   0  .365
Klausing, Jon p..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  1  2   0     -
Schoeninger, Tim p......  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0     -
Jensen, Brett p.........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0     -
Becker, Jeremy p........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0     -
Totals................... 37 14 15 13  10  6 27 14  11

Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
New Mexico.......... 001 042 000 -  7 14  2
Nebraska............ 103 370 00X - 14 15  1
-------------------------------------------

E - MADER(6); GRADY, T.(5); Simokaitis,(5). DP - Lobos 1; Huskers 2. LOB -
Lobos 8; Huskers 11. 2B - MURRAY(8); Gordon, A.(10); Ledbetter, C(4);
Steele, C. 2(9). HR - MADER(1); Gordon, A.(11). HBP - Bruce, D. 2. SB -
YOUNG(9); Gordon, A.(6); Ledbetter, C(2).

New Mexico             IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF    ERA
-----------------------------------------------------
PACAS, Petr.........  3.1  8  7  6  4  3 16 22   7.88
SMITH, Mike.........  0.2  3  4  4  3  0  5  8  15.83
KIBLER, Jesse.......  1.0  4  3  3  2  1  6  8  34.71
SMITH, Jackie.......  1.0  0  0  0  1  0  4  5   5.73
LETZ, Kevin.........  2.0  0  0  0  0  2  6  6   8.00Nebraska               IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF    ERA
-----------------------------------------------------
Klausing, Jon.......  4.1  7  5  4  1  2 21 22   6.94
Schoeninger, Tim....  1.2  4  2  2  0  4  9  9   3.57
Jensen, Brett.......  1.0  2  0  0  0  0  5  5   0.60
Becker, Jeremy......  1.0  0  0  0  1  0  2  3   1.50
Shockey, Colin......  1.0  1  0  0  0  0  3  3   0.00

Win - Schoeninger, (3-0).  Loss - PACAS (1-2).  Save - None.
WP - PACAS 2(5); Klausing, J.(2); Schoeninger,(2). HBP - by PACAS (Bruce, D.);
by PACAS (Bruce, D.). BK - PACAS(1). PB - Bowden, J.(1). Inherited
runners/scored: SMITH, M. 2/1; Schoeninger, 1/1.
Umpires - HP: Bruce Allen  1B: Bill Goa  3B: Tom Svehla
Start: 1:37p.m.   Time: 2:59   Attendance: 2368
SMITH, M. faced 4 batters in the 5th.
Game: NU28