Longhorns Even Series with 11-4 Win

Lincoln ?Top-ranked Texas used a five-run sixth inning to break open a one-run game, as the Longhorns evened the series with an 11-4 victory in front of 8,163 at Hawks Field Saturday afternoon.

Alex Gordon went 2-for-3 with a pair of walks and an RBI while Joe Simokaitis went 2-for-4 with an RBI, as the duo combined for half of the Huskers’ eight hits in the losing effort. Freshman Bryce Nimmo also scored three times in the loss.

Nebraska (27-5, 6-2 Big 12) trailed 3-1 in the fifth before Andy Gerch pulled the Huskers within 3-2 with a bases-loaded RBI single to left. Unfortunately, that would be as close as NU got, as Texas scored five runs off reliever Johnny Dorn. A solo homer by David Maroul pushed the lead to 4-2 before run-scoring hits by Drew Stubbs, Seth Johnston and Taylor Teagarden and a sacrifice fly off the bat of Calvin Beamon pushed the margin to 8-2, giving the Longhorns all the breathing room they needed.

Johnston had four hits, including a homer, and four RBIs, while Teagarden had three hits and an RBI for Texas, which evened the series after Nebraska’s 4-3 win in 16 innings on Friday.

Adrian Alaniz (2-0) earned the victory, fanning a career-best nine Huskers over 6.1 innings. The right-hander allowed four runs on seven hits, while Buck Cody pitched the final 2.2 innings of shutout relief for the save. With the win, Texas improved to 28-6 overall and evened its Big 12 mark at 5-5.

Zach Kroenke suffered the loss, allowing three runs on seven hits over the first four innings, as he dropped to 4-1 on the year. It also marked the first time a Husker starting pitcher had dropped a decision in 2005.

Nebraska Head Coach Mike Anderson said that the Longhorns were the better team on Saturday, but the Huskers have a great opportunity to take the series with a win in Sunday’s finale, which is schedule for 1:30 p.m.

“Today was the first time that we just flat out got beat,” Anderson said. “They beat us in all facets of the game, so you have to give them a lot of credit. It was our first loss like that this season, and in the game of baseball, these types of things just happen, but I think that we will respond well tomorrow.”

Texas took a 2- 0 lead off the Husker left-hander, scoring an unearned run in the second on a pair of Husker miscues and a solo homer by Johnston to lead off the third.  The Huskers closed to within 2-1 in the bottom of the third, as Bryce Nimmo drew a two-out walk and scored on Simokaitis’ double to right center.

Texas regained the two-run lead in the fourth, as a walk to Maroul and a single by Nick Peoples put runners on first and second with one out. Robby Hudson, who went 3-for-4, then singled to center to put UT up 3-1.

Trailing 8-2, the Huskers rallied on Alaniz in the seventh, as an error and a single put runners on first and second before Gordon’s RBI single trimmed the lead to five runs. Andy Gerch drew a walk to load the bases before pinch hitter Rryan Wehrle’s sacrifice fly to center off Buck Cody pulled NU within 8-4.

Will Crouch capped the Longhorn scoring with a three-run, pinch-hit homer off Jeremy Becker in the eighth.

The Huskers and Longhorns will conclude the series Sunday afternoon at 1:30 p.m., as Brian Duensing (5-0, 1.72 ERA) takes on Randy Boone (4-2, 2.62 ERA).

--Huskers?

                            #1 Texas at #4 Nebraska
                  Apr 09, 2005 at Lincoln, Neb. (Hawks Field)

Texas 11 (28-6,5-5 Big 12)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
Stubbs, Drew cf..........  5  1  1  1   0  2  4  0   1
Johnston, Seth ss........  4  3  4  2   1  0  2  3   0
Teagarden, Taylor c......  4  1  3  1   1  0  9  1   0
Kainer, Carson dh........  1  0  1  0   0  0  0  0   0
 Beamon, Calvin ph.......  1  0  0  1   0  0  0  0   0
 Crouch, Will ph.........  1  1  1  3   0  0  0  0   0
Wheeless, Chance 1b......  5  0  0  0   0  1  6  0   2
Incaviglia, Thomas lf....  5  0  0  0   0  0  2  0   3
Maroul, David 3b.........  4  2  1  1   1  2  0  0   0
Peoples, Nick rf.........  5  2  3  0   0  1  1  0   0
Hudson, Robby 2b.........  4  1  3  1   0  0  3  5   0
Alaniz, Adrian p.........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 Cody, Buck p............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 39 11 17 10   3  6 27  9   6

Nebraska 4 (27-5,6-2 Big 12)
Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
Nimmo, Bryce cf..........  4  3  1  0   1  0  5  1   0
Simokaitis, Joe ss.......  4  1  2  1   1  1  2  3   0
Gordon, Alex 3b..........  3  0  2  1   2  0  3  0   0
Fusilier, Brandon lf.....  1  0  0  0   0  1  0  0   1
 Gerch, Andy lf..........  2  0  1  1   1  0  0  0   2
Buckman, Brandon dh......  3  0  0  0   0  2  0  0   3
 Wehrle, Ryan ph.........  0  0  0  1   0  0  0  0   0
Ledbetter, Curtis 1b.....  4  0  0  0   0  2  8  0   2
Bruce, Daniel rf.........  4  0  1  0   0  1  1  1   0
Christy, Jeff c..........  4  0  0  0   0  1  6  2   0
Opitz, Jake 2b...........  4  0  1  0   0  1  1  4   0
Kroenke, Zach p..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 Dorn, Johnny p..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  1  0   0
 Wertz, Luke p...........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
 Becker, Jeremy p........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 33  4  8  4   5  9 27 11   8

Score by Innings                    R  H  E
Texas............... 011 105 030 - 11 17  2
Nebraska............ 001 010 200 -  4  8  2

E - Johnston(8); Teagarden(2); Fusilier, B.(3); Ledbetter, C(5). DP -
Longhorns 1; Huskers 2. LOB - Longhorns 6; Huskers 8. 2B - Teagarden(15);
Simokaitis(5). HR - Johnston(3); Crouch, W.(3); Maroul(2). HBP - Kainer, C..
SF - Beamon(3); Wehrle, R.(1). SB - Peoples, N.(4); Nimmo, B.(4). CS -
Johnston(7); Nimmo, B.(1).

Texas                  IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF  NP
Alaniz, Adrian......  6.1  7  4  2  5  9 26 31 134
Cody, Buck..........  2.2  1  0  0  0  0  7  8  21

Nebraska               IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF  NP
Kroenke, Zach.......  4.0  7  3  2  1  4 17 19  64
Dorn, Johnny........  2.0  8  5  5  0  0 12 13  41
Wertz, Luke.........  1.2  1  2  2  2  1  5  7  30
Becker, Jeremy......  1.1  1  1  1  0  1  5  5  19

Win - Alaniz (2-0).  Loss - Kroenke, Z. (4-1).  Save - Cody (1).
HBP - by Kroenke, Z. (Kainer, C.). BK - Alaniz(1). PB - Christy, J.(7).
Inherited runners/scored: Cody 3/1; Becker, J. 2/2. Pitches/strikes: Alaniz
134/76; Cody 21/16; Kroenke, Z. 64/38; Dorn, J. 41/27; Wertz, L. 30/17; Becker,
J. 19/12.
Umpires - HP: Jeff Henrichs  1B: Ken McQueen  3B: Randy Wetzel
Start: 1:06p.m.   Time: 2:59   Attendance: 8163