Dorn Pitches No. 7 Huskers past Creighton, 10-2

Lincoln ? Johnny Dorn (Grand Island, Neb.) tossed eight innings of two-hit ball, leading seventh-ranked Nebraska to a 10-2 victory over Creighton Tuesday evening.

The freshman right-hander dazzled Hawks Field crowd of 7,278 ? the largest regular-season crowd in the ballpark’s history ? tossing 7.2 innings of no-hit ball and was four outs away from the first individual no-hitter by a Nebraska pitcher in 51 year before pinch hitter Dave Schultz broke up the no-hitter with a two-out single past a diving Joe Simokaitis between third and short.

Dorn (3-1) scattered two hits and fanned a career-high 10 ? the most by a Husker freshman since the 1999 season ? without allowing a walk, lowering his season ERA to 1.71. The win, NU’s 14th in the last 15 contests, also snapped Creighton’s 12-game winning streak.

Nebraska Head Coach Mike Anderson was impressed with the poise shown by the right-hander, who was making his fourth career start, in front of the fifth-largest home crowd in school history.

"It really was a special night tonight," Anderson said. "it was Nebraska-Creighton baseball in front of a great crowd with a freshman pitcher who goes out and performs like Johnny Dorn did. With the pressure as high as it was, it was incredible for Johnny to do what he did tonight."

Dorn, who helped Nebraska improve to 22-3 on the year, was bolstered by a Nebraska offense that scored six runs to chase Creighton starter Tony Bilek after 1.1 innings.

The Huskers loaded the bases on a pair of walks and a Curtis Ledbetter single before Daniel Bruce gave NU a 1-0 lead with a run-scoring single. Jeff Christy’s walk and a Jake Opitz sacrifice fly made it 3-0 before Jesse Boyer’s RBI single chased Bilek after 10 batters. Joe Simokaitis then greeted reliever Trevor Benson with a two-run double to right center, giving the Huskers a comfortable 6-0 cushion

Boyer paced the Husker attack, going 3-for-5 with career-best three RBIs while Simokaitis and Opitz had two RBIs apiece, as Nebraska improved to 12-0 at home on the season.

Bilek, the first of six Creighton pitchers, allowed six runs on three hits in dropping to 2-1 on the season.

The Huskers extended the lead, scoring once in the fourth on an Opitz RBI single before plating two runs in the sixth, highlighted by Boyer’s second hit of the evening.

Creighton (20-6) got on the board in the eighth, on a two-run double by Colin Shockey off Dorn before Boyer’s third RBI of the night, an RBI double to center in the bottom of the eighth, capped NU’s 10-hit attack.

The Huskers will host Oklahoma State in a three-game series beginning Friday night at 6:35 p.m. All three games will be carried on the Pinnacle Sports Network and also video streamed on Huskers.com.

   

Box score (NCAA) Creighton at #7 Nebraska Mar 29, 2005 at Lincoln, Neb. (Hawks Field)

Creighton 2 (20-6)

Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB Avg. ------------------------------------------------------------ Shockey cf............... 4 0 1 2 0 1 3 0 0 .255 Dutton ss................ 4 0 0 0 0 1 0 4 2 .297 Daeges,Zach dh........... 4 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 .351 Norquist 1b.............. 4 0 0 0 0 3 11 0 0 .330 Lapito 3b................ 3 0 0 0 0 1 2 3 0 .313 Daniel c................. 2 0 0 0 0 1 5 0 0 .254 Gradoville c............ 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 .357 Roth 2b.................. 3 0 0 0 0 1 2 3 1 .371 Odenreider lf/rf......... 2 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 .262 Daeges,Matt rf........... 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .176 Hinrichs rf............. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .194 Schultz ph.............. 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 .320 Kester pr/lf............ 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .125 Bilek p.................. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - Benson p................ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - Ogilvie p............... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - Reese p................. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - Bird p.................. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 - Bowers p................ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Totals................... 29 2 2 2 0 11 24 12 3

Nebraska 10 (22-3)

Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB Avg. ------------------------------------------------------------ Boyer, Jesse rf/lf....... 5 1 3 3 0 0 2 0 0 .360 Simokaitis, Joe ss....... 5 0 1 2 0 1 0 4 0 .300 Gordon, Alex 3b.......... 5 0 0 0 0 1 0 4 2 .404 Fusilier, Brandon lf..... 3 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 1 .353 Adams, Trey rf.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 .293 Buckman, Brandon dh...... 2 1 1 0 2 1 0 0 0 .397 Ledbetter, Curtis 1b..... 4 1 2 0 0 1 13 0 0 .371 Bruce, Daniel cf......... 4 1 1 1 0 1 0 0 1 .338 Christy, Jeff c.......... 1 4 1 1 3 0 9 2 0 .286 Opitz, Jake 2b........... 2 1 1 2 1 1 1 2 0 .250 Dorn, Johnny p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - Bohanan, Ryan p......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .143 Totals................... 31 10 10 9 7 6 27 12 5

Score by Innings R H E ------------------------------------------- Creighton........... 000 000 020 - 2 2 1 Nebraska............ 060 102 010 - 10 10 0 -------------------------------------------

E - Daniel(2). DP - Bluejays 1. LOB - Bluejays 3; Huskers 5. 2B - Shockey(7); Boyer, J.(4); Simokaitis(4); Christy, J.(3). HBP - Lapito; Daniel; Odenreider. SF - Opitz, J.(1).

Creighton IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP ERA -------------------------------------------------------- Bilek............... 1.1 3 6 6 3 1 6 10 36 9.22 Benson.............. 1.2 1 0 0 0 3 6 6 28 1.17 Ogilvie............. 2.0 4 1 1 0 0 8 8 29 3.71 Reese............... 0.1 1 2 1 2 1 2 4 22 2.72 Bird................ 1.2 0 0 0 1 0 5 6 22 2.25 Bowers.............. 1.0 1 1 1 1 1 4 5 19 7.71

Nebraska IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP ERA -------------------------------------------------------- Dorn, Johnny........ 8.0 2 2 1 0 10 26 29 92 1.71 Bohanan, Ryan....... 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 3 3 13 1.23

Win - Dorn, J. (3-1). Loss - Bilek (2-1). Save - None. HBP - by Dorn, J. (Lapito); by Dorn, J. (Odenreider); by Dorn, J. (Daniel). PB - Christy, J.(5). Pitches/strikes: Bilek 36/21; Benson 28/17; Ogilvie 29/19; Reese 22/11; Bird 22/12; Bowers 19/9; Dorn, J. 92/60; Bohanan, R. 13/9. Umpires - HP: Patrick Spieler 1B: Bruce Allen 3B: Joe Wells Start: 6:35p.m. Time: 2:09 Attendance: 7278 Game: NU25