Huskers Fall to Lobos, 6-2

Arlington, Texas ? Seventh-ranked Nebraska was unable to complete Friday’s day-night doubleheader sweep, falling to New Mexico, 6-2, Friday evening at the UTA Hilton Invitational at Clay Gould Ballpark.

The Lobos, who improved to 3-4 on the season, used a strong performance from starter Bobby Lafromboise, who scattered three hits over eight innings. The left-hander, who improved to 1-0 on the season, fanned nine, striking out Jake Opitz with his 134th and final pitch of the night.

The Huskers managed just five hits and were done in by a trio of errors, two of which opened the doors to Lobo rallies, as UNM broke open a one-run lead with two runs in both the sixth and seventh innings.

Nebraska Head Coach Mike Anderson said the Huskers’ defensive lapses proved costly against the Lobos.

"We didn’t take care of things defensively tonight," Anderson said. "We gave them too many outs, and they took advantage of it. We didn’t do the simple things defensively that we needed to do tonight. We need to find our rhythm as a team, and once we do that, we should be fine"

The Huskers (1-1) put together a two-out rally in the top of the first to take a 1-0 lead. Ryan Wehrle was hit by a pitch from LaFromboise and came home on Andy Gerch’s double to right. That would be the only run the Huskers would manage off of the left-hander, who limited NU to just two singles in his final seven frames of work.

New Mexico struck for a pair of runs in the bottom of the third off of Husker starter Johnny Dorn, taking advantage of a costly Husker miscue. After a leadoff double by Matt Foote, Jay Russell’s sacrifice bunt was misplayed by catcher Mitch Abeita, whose throw to first was wide of the bag, allowing Foote to score from second. After a sacrifice bunt, Russell scored the go-ahead run on Daniel Stovall’s grounder to short.

Dorn (0-1) pitched well in defeat, allowing two runs ? one earned ? on just three hits over five innings. The right-hander fanned four and walked only one, but left with a 2-1 deficit that the Huskers were unable to overcome.

The Lobos tacked on a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth off reliever Luke Wertz, taking advantage of NU’s second error of the night, to extend the margin to 4-2. An Opitz error and a walk two batters later put runners on first and second before a wild pitch from Wertz pushed both runners into scoring position. Drew McDonald then slapped a 1-2 pitch past the drawn-in infield, giving the Lobos a three-run lead.

New Mexico extended its lead to 6-1in the seventh on RBI singles by Stovall and McDonald, who combined to drive in five of the Lobos six runs. Stovall was 1-for-5 with a pair of RBIs, while McDonald finished 2-for-3 and drove in three runs. Jordan Pacheco also had three hits in the victory.

The Huskers threatened in the ninth, getting the tying run to the on-deck circle before the rally was stymied. With two outs, Jeff Lanning singled before a walk to DJ Belfonte put runners on first and second. Bryce Nimmo’s infield single cut the deficit to 6-2 and put runners on the corners, but Brandon Hewett struck out Craig Corriston to end the contest.

The Huskers continue tournament action Saturday afternoon at 3:30 p.m., as they take on UT Arlington, a 7-3 winner over Illinois State in Friday’s other tournament game.

2007 Nebraska Baseball New Mexico 6 (3-4), Nebraska 2 (1-1) (Game 2) Feb 16, 2007 at Arlington, Texas (Clay Gould Ballpark)

Nebraska AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB ------------------------------------------------------ Nimmo, Bryce cf.......... 4 0 1 1 0 2 1 0 1 Corriston, Craig dh...... 4 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 2 Wehrle, Ryan ss.......... 3 1 0 0 0 0 0 6 1 Gerch, Andy lf........... 3 0 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 Opitz, Jake 2b........... 3 0 0 0 1 2 4 0 3 Weber, Thad 1b........... 3 0 0 0 0 3 8 1 2 Tezak, Jeff ph.......... 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 Mort, Jake 3b............ 4 0 1 0 0 0 2 2 0 Abeita, Mitch c.......... 1 0 0 0 0 1 7 0 0 Lanning, Jeff ph/c...... 2 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 Edlefsen, Steve rf....... 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Belfonte, DJ ph......... 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 Dorn, Johnny p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 Wertz, Luke p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Nihsen, Mike p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Jennings, Dan p......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals................... 31 2 5 2 4 11 24 10 9

New Mexico AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB ------------------------------------------------------ FOOTE, Matt cf........... 3 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 PILKINGTON, Derek cf.... 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 3 RUSSELL, Jay lf.......... 4 1 0 0 0 2 1 0 2 PACHECO, Jordan 2b....... 4 1 3 0 0 1 2 1 0 STOVALL, Daniel 1b....... 5 1 1 2 0 0 10 0 2 HOLLICK, Ian 3b.......... 5 1 0 0 0 2 0 1 1 HIBBITTS, Matt dh........ 4 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 HAMILTON, Dane rf........ 1 1 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 MCDONALD, Drew c......... 3 0 2 3 1 0 11 0 0 GRACEY, Scott ss......... 3 0 0 0 1 1 0 2 3 LAFROMBOISE, Bobby p..... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 HEWETT, Brandon p....... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Totals................... 33 6 8 5 4 7 27 6 11

Score by Innings R H E ------------------------------------------- Nebraska............ 100 000 001 - 2 5 3 New Mexico.......... 002 002 20X - 6 8 0 -------------------------------------------

E - Opitz, J.; Abeita, M.; Wertz, L.. LOB - Huskers 9; Lobos 11. 2B - Gerch, A.; FOOTE; PACHECO. HBP - Nimmo, B.; Wehrle, R.; FOOTE; HAMILTON. SH - Abeita, M.; RUSSELL; PACHECO. SB - Nimmo, B.; FOOTE.

Nebraska IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP -------------------------------------------------- Dorn, Johnny........ 5.0 3 2 1 1 4 17 22 90 Wertz, Luke......... 1.2 3 4 3 2 2 10 12 47 Nihsen, Mike........ 0.0 1 0 0 1 0 1 2 10 Jennings, Dan....... 1.1 1 0 0 0 1 5 5 15

New Mexico IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP -------------------------------------------------- LAFROMBOISE, Bobby.. 8.0 3 1 1 3 9 26 32 134 HEWETT, Brandon..... 1.0 2 1 1 1 2 5 6 25

Win - LAFROMBOISE (1-0). Loss - Dorn, J. (0-1). Save - None. WP - Wertz, L. 2; LAFROMBOISE. HBP - by LAFROMBOISE (Wehrle, R.); by Dorn, J. (HAMILTON); by Dorn, J. (FOOTE); by LAFROMBOISE (Nimmo, B.). Inherited runners/scored: Nihsen, M. 2/1; Jennings, D. 3/0. Pitches/strikes: Dorn, J. 90/51; Wertz, L. 47/26; Nihsen, M. 10/3; Jennings, D. 15/11; LAFROMBOISE 134/79; HEWETT 25/15. Umpires - HP: Swear 1B: Carl Blomberg 3B: Don Wolfe Start: 6:48p.m. Time: 2:58 Attendance: 361 Nihsen, M. faced 2 batters in the 7th. Game: NU2