Wehrle Powers Huskers to 11-1 Win

Charleston, S.C. ? Ryan Wehrle had three hits with a career high five RBIs, while Tony Watson allowed one run over six innings, as No. 3 Nebraska opened the season with a 11-1 victory over Charleston Southern Thursday afternoon.

Wehrle reached base all six times, going 3-for-3 with his first career homer, a solo shot to lead off the fourth, to lead Nebraska’s 16-hit attack, as the Huskers scored four in the first and jumped to a 6-1 lead after three and a half innings.

Nebraska Head Coach Mike Anderson said the Huskers’ quick start was important and set the tone from the onset.

“It was a good start,” Anderson said. “We did some simple things that got us the win. We got some hits to go our way early in the game and it helped us relax. I though we were anxious at the plate. We had 16 hits and still have a lot of things to work on.”

The Papillion, Neb., native also shined with the glove, making a pair of spectacular plays in the eighth and ninth innings to trigger double plays, including one play where he sprawled out and began a 6-4-3 twin killing with a strike to second from he knees.

“He made two incredible plays,” Anderson said. “Those aren’t just normal highlight plays, they were spectacular.”

Wehrle backed a strong outing from left-hander Tony Watson, as Nebraska posted its fifth straight opening day win. Watson (1-0) scattered seven hits over six innings ? the longest outing of his career ? and struck out a pair. The sophomore allowed a first inning run and then settled down, holding the Bucs (2-6) off the scoreboard over his final five frames of work.

 

The Huskers, who take on No. 19 North Carolina State on Friday, got all the runs they needed in the first, scoring four times of Charleston Southern starter Mike Mead (0-2), who allowed six runs on eight hits before exiting the fourth. NU strung together three straight RBIs singles and led 3-0 before CSU recorded an out.   After Bryce Nimmo was hit by a pitch and Wehrle walked to put two on with no outs, Andy Gerch ripped a run-scoring single to left before flares by Brandon Buckman and Luke Gorsett made it 3-0 for the visitors. Jake Opitz made it 4-0 moments later, as he lofted a sacrifice fly to center to score Buckman.

The bottom of the NU lineup got the Huskers going in the second, as Nick Jaros, who went 3-for-4 and scored three times, singled to open the frame before a walk to Steve Edlefsen put two runners on with no outs. Nimmo then loaded the bases with a bunt single before Wehrle plated Jaros with an RBI single to left to make it 5-1.  The Huskers extended their lead to 6-1 as Wehrle opened the fourth with his first career homer, a blast down the line in left.

The run support was more than enough for Watson and sophomore Matt Foust, who pitched three scoreless innings to pick up his first save.

Nebraska took advantage of a pair of miscues by CSU and a bases-loaded walk to Wehrle to extend the margin to 9-1 before the sophomore capped his second career three-hit day with a two-run RBI single in the eighth.

The Huskers will continue their play in South Carolina on Friday morning, as they take on North Carolina State beginning at 11 a.m. (central). Fans can watch the game exclusively on HuskersNside, while live stats will be available on Huskers.com.

   Nebraska Baseball
                       #3 Nebraska at Charleston Southern
               Feb 16, 2006 at Charleston, S.C. (Bucceneer Field)

Nebraska 11 (1-0)

Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
Nimmo, Bryce cf..........  4  2  2  0   0  0  4  0   3
Sullivan, Nick ph/lf....  1  1  1  0   0  0  0  0   0
Wehrle, Ryan ss..........  3  2  3  5   2  0  4  7   0
Gerch, Andy dh...........  5  1  1  1   1  1  0  0   1
Buckman, Brandon 1b......  5  1  1  1   0  0  6  1   0
Brown, Andrew pr/1b.....  1  0  1  0   0  0  4  0   0
Gorsett, Luke rf.........  3  0  2  1   3  0  1  0   3
Opitz, Jake 2b...........  3  0  0  1   1  2  4  4   3
Christy, Jeff c..........  5  0  0  0   0  0  2  0   3
Lanning, Jeff ph........  1  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   1
Hightower, Mark c.......  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Jaros, Nick lf/cf........  4  3  3  0   1  0  1  0   0
Edlefsen, Steve 3b.......  3  1  2  0   1  1  0  1   0
Mort, Jake 3b...........  1  0  0  0   0  0  1  0   0
Watson, Tony p...........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0
Foust, Matt p...........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0
Totals................... 39 11 16  9   9  4 27 15  14

Charleston Southern 1 (2-6)

Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
DOHERTY, Sean 3b.........  2  1  0  0   1  0  1  0   2
RUOSS, Hunter pr........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
BRUNDRIDGE, Wes rf.......  3  0  3  0   1  0  0  0   0
FYLE, Justin lf..........  5  0  1  0   0  0  3  0   2
HAYES, Anthony 1b........  4  0  0  0   0  0  3  1   1
STEWART, Keith dh........  2  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   3
PERKINS, David ph.......  1  0  1  0   0  0  0  0   0
CLEAVELAND, John c.......  4  0  1  0   0  0  5  1   0
SMART, Ryan 2b...........  3  0  1  0   1  1  6  2   0
KROGMEIER, Chris cf......  3  0  1  0   0  0  5  0   0
BURGOS, Helio ss.........  4  0  0  0   0  1  4  4   3
MEAD, Mike p.............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0
ROBERTS, Brandon p......  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
WIDING, Chris p.........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
TERIFAJ, Mark p.........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
TWEDDALE, Payton p......  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0
Totals................... 31  1  8  0   3  2 27 10  11

Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
Nebraska............ 410 100 320 - 11 16  1
Charleston Southern. 100 000 000 -  1  8  3
-------------------------------------------

E - Edlefsen, S.(1); DOHERTY, S. 3(7). DP - Huskers 4; Bucs 2. LOB - Huskers
14; Bucs 11. 2B - PERKINS, D.(2). HR - Wehrle, R.(1). HBP - Nimmo; Wehrle,
R.; Opitz, J.; DOHERTY, S. 2; BRUNDRIDGE,; PERKINS, D.; KROGMEIER, C. SF -
Opitz, J.(1). SB - Gorsett, L.(1). CS - Gerch, A.(1).

Nebraska               IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
Watson, Tony........  6.0  7  1  1  2  2 24 27
Foust, Matt.........  3.0  1  0  0  1  0  7 12

Charleston Southern    IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF
-----------------------------------------------
MEAD, Mike..........  3.1  8  6  6  3  1 16 22
ROBERTS, Brandon....  2.2  0  0  0  4  1  7 12
WIDING, Chris.......  1.1  4  4  2  2  1  8 10
TERIFAJ, Mark.......  0.2  2  1  0  0  0  4  4
TWEDDALE, Payton....  1.0  2  0  0  0  1  4  4

Win - Watson, T. (1-0).  Loss - MEAD, M. (0-2).  Save - Foust, M. (1).
WP - Foust, M.(1); ROBERTS, B.(1). HBP - by MEAD, M. (Nimmo); by Watson, T.
(DOHERTY, S.); by MEAD, M. (Opitz, J.); by ROBERTS, B. (Wehrle, R.); by Foust,
M. (PERKINS, D.); by Foust, M. (KROGMEIER, C); by Foust, M. (DOHERTY, S.); by
Foust, M. (BRUNDRIDGE,). PB - CLEAVELAND(1). Inherited runners/scored: ROBERTS,
B. 1/0; TERIFAJ, M. 1/1.
Umpires - HP: David Hoffman  1B: Sam Berry  3B: Ben Saas
Start: 2:05p.m.   Time: 3:08   Attendance: 236
Game: NU1