Huskers Fall to Rice, 9-5

Houston, Texas ? The seventh-ranked Nebraska baseball team jumped to a five-run lead against No. 6 Rice, but could not hold on, as the Owls rallied for a 9-5 victory the Rice Invitational Saturday at Reckling Park.

The Owls, who improved to 8-4 on the season, took control of the contest with six runs in the fourth, taking advantage of a costly error and several defensive lapses by Nebraska (4-2) in the frame.

"We had the momentum, but they got it back in the fourth when we had some mental errors," Nebraska Head Coach Mike Anderson said. "Only one error showed up on the scoreboard, but we gave them seven outs in the inning. The bottom line is that you can’t do that in baseball. Rice is a good team, but the errors really turned it around today. This team will learn from it and be better."

Nebraska starter Charlie Shirek was in control through the first three frames before running into trouble, as the Owls took advantage of NU’s lapses to take the lead for good. Trailing 5-0, Rice opened the frame with three straight hits, including an RBI double by Joe Savery to get on the scoreboard. After a passed ball and a walk, Jess Buenger hit a grounder to first baseman Andrew Brown, whose throw to begin a double play was wide of second, pulling Rice within 5-3. Two batters later, Chad Lembeck hit a fielder’s choice to third, but Jeff Tezak fired home trying to catch a runner between third and home, but Aaron Luna scampered back to third to load the bases. A wild pitch and a walk reloaded the bases again before Shirek hit Brian Friday with the bases loaded to plate one run. Dan Jennings came in and uncorked a wild pitch to account for the Owls sixth run of the frame.

Shirek (1-1) took the loss, allowing six runs ? two earned ? over 3.2 innings of work after the Huskers chased Rice starter Ryan Berry after just 1.2 innings.

Nebraska used a two-out rally in the first inning, getting four straight two-out base hits, including RBI singles by Brown and Andy Gerch and a two-run triple from Nick Sullivan. With two outs and a runner on first, Brown put the Huskers on the board with an RBI single to score Tezak. Jake Opitz then singled to put runners on the corners before Gerch made it a 2-0 lead with a single to right. Sullivan then ripped the next pitch into the corner, clearing the bases and giving NU a four-run cushion.

In the second, the Huskers continued to threaten, loading the bases on singles by Bryce Nimmo and Tezak before a one-out walk to Brown loaded the bases. Opitz coaxed a bases-loaded walk to give NU a 5-0 lead, but Matt Langwell came in and got Gerch to fly out to stem the tide.

Tezak, Wehrle and Opitz all enjoyed two-hit days for NU, while Sullivan finished with two RBIs as part of his 1-for-4 afternoon.

Langwell was stellar in relief for Rice, allowing two singles over 5.2 innings of shutout ball to improve to 1-0 on the season, as he combined with Ryne Tucker to hold NU scoreless over the final seven innings.

"After the second inning, we did not have a good offensive focus," Anderson said. "We had 16 fly ball outs on the day. There is no chance that you are going to win games like that when you put the ball in the air that much. We are team that puts pressure on people, but you can’t put pressure on with fly balls."

Buenger drove in three runs for Rice, while Savery, Luna and Diego Seastrunk also had two hits apiece for the Rice, which added two runs in the sixth on Buenger’s two-run single, while Savery’s RBI triple in the sixth accounted for the Owls’ final run.

The Huskers finish tournament play on Sunday as they take on No. 27 Florida Atlantic beginning at Noon (central). The game will be carried live on HuskersNside.

                             #7 Nebraska at #6 Rice
                  Feb 24, 2007 at Houston, TX (Reckling Park)

Nebraska 5 (4-2)

Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
Belfonte, DJ rf..........  4  0  0  0   0  1  2  0   0
Tezak, Jeff 3b...........  5  1  2  0   0  1  2  0   0
Wehrle, Ryan ss..........  5  0  2  0   0  0  1  5   0
Brown, Andrew 1b.........  4  1  1  1   1  0  8  0   1
Opitz, Jake 2b...........  2  1  2  1   2  0  2  4   0
Gerch, Andy lf...........  4  1  1  1   0  0  1  0   5
Sullivan, Nick dh........  4  0  1  2   0  1  0  0   1
Lanning, Jeff c..........  4  0  0  0   0  1  4  0   1
Abeita, Mitch c.........  0  0  0  0   0  0  1  0   0
Nimmo, Bryce cf..........  4  1  1  0   0  1  3  0   0
Shirek, Charlie p........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Jennings, Dan p.........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Foust, Matt p...........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 36  5 10  5   3  5 24  9   8

Rice 9 (8-4)

Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
Tyler Henley cf..........  4  0  0  0   1  1  1  0   2
Brian Friday ss..........  4  1  1  1   0  0  2  1   0
Diego Seastrunk 3b.......  5  2  2  0   0  0  3  1   2
Joe Savery 1b............  4  2  2  2   1  1  8  0   0
Aaron Luna 2b............  3  2  2  0   1  0  0  1   1
Jess Buenger dh..........  4  1  2  3   0  1  0  0   0
Jared Gayhart lf.........  2  0  0  0   0  1  2  0   1
Jordan Dodson ph/lf.....  2  0  0  0   0  1  0  0   0
Chad Lembeck rf..........  4  1  1  0   0  0  6  0   0
Danny Lehmann c..........  3  0  1  0   1  0  5  0   1
Ryan Berry p.............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0
Matt Langwell p.........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0
Ryne Tacker p...........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0
Totals................... 35  9 11  6   4  5 27  5   7

Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
Nebraska............ 410 000 000 -  5 10  1
Rice................ 000 621 00X -  9 11  1
-------------------------------------------

E - Brown, A.(1); Langwell. DP - Huskers 2. LOB - Huskers 8; Owls 7. 2B -
Friday; Seastrunk; Savery; Luna. 3B - Sullivan, N.(1); Savery. HBP - Friday.
SH - Belfonte, D.(3). SB - Buenger; Lembeck.

Nebraska               IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF  NP
--------------------------------------------------
Shirek, Charlie.....  3.2  6  6  2  2  1 17 20  69
Jennings, Dan.......  0.1  2  2  2  1  0  3  4  14
Foust, Matt.........  4.0  3  1  1  1  4 15 16  65

Rice                   IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF  NP
--------------------------------------------------
Ryan Berry..........  1.2  7  5  5  2  1 11 14  46
Matt Langwell.......  5.1  2  0  0  1  1 18 19  84
Ryne Tacker.........  2.0  1  0  0  0  3  7  7  25

Win - Langwell (1-0).  Loss - Shirek, C. (1-1).  Save - None.
WP - Shirek, C.(1); Jennings, D.(1); Foust, M.(2). HBP - by Shirek, C. (Friday).
PB - Lanning, J.(1). Inherited runners/scored: Jennings, D. 3/1; Foust, M. 1/0;
Langwell 3/0. Pitches/strikes: Shirek, C. 69/45; Jennings, D. 14/6; Foust, M.
65/42; Berry 46/25; Langwell 84/51; Tacker 25/18.
Umpires - HP: Danny Moscarro  1B: David Rogers  3B: Chuck Bussie
Start: 1:19p.m.   Time: 2:41   Attendance: 2771
Game notes:
19 minutes rain delay
Jennings, D. faced 3 batters in the 5th.
Game: NU6