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Houston ? Ryan Wehrle went 2-for-4 and drove in three runs, while four relievers combined on three innings of shutout relief, helping the seventh-ranked Nebraska baseball team to an 8-7 victory over No. 27 Florida Atlantic Sunday afternoon at the Rice Invitational.
Wehrle belted his second homer of the year to highlight NU’s 13-hit outburst, while Andrew Brown and Andy Gerch enjoyed three-hit days for NU, which improved to 5-2 on the season and closed the tournament with a 2-1 record.
With the score tied at six, Jake Mort provided the Huskers with the go-ahead run on a fifth-inning sacrifice fly before Craig Corriston added his first career homer one inning later to give the Huskers a two-run lead. Florida Atlantic (10-2) used a sixth-inning solo homer by Alex Silversmith to pull within 8-7, but the Husker bullpen stood tall, holding the Owls without a run over the final three innings to give starter Johnny Dorn (1-1) his first victory of the year.
FAU threatened in each of the final three frames, putting the tying run in scoring position in both the seventh and ninth, but could not get the tying run home. In the seventh, FAU had runners on first and second with no outs, but Steve Edlefsen fielded Justin Martin’s sacrifice bunt and fired a strike to third to get the lead runner. Edlefsen’s play would prove to be big, as the junior right-hander then induced an inning-ending double play to escape unharmed.
Edlefsen tossed 2.1 scoreless innings before Zach Herr and Erik Bird combined to get the final two outs. With two outs in the ninth, the Owls used a walk and a single off Bird to put runners on first and second. The Husker closer slammed the door by getting Daniel Cook to ground out to second to end the contest and collect his third save in as many chances.
"I thought we grew up today," Nebraska Head Coach Mike Anderson said. "I can’t say enough about Edlefsen, Herr and Bird and their work today. I was very pleased with our bullpen today. After our loss yesterday, to bounce back against a very good team like Florida Atlantic was something we needed to do. It wasn’t the sharpest game, but it was extremely competitive and we showed a lot of heart and effort today."
The Huskers manufactured a run in the top of the first on Wehrle’s RBI single. Bryce Nimmo reached on an infield single and advanced two bases on an errant pickoff attempt before Wehrle dribbled a single back up the middle. The Owls got the run back in the bottom of the first on a solo homer to center off the bat of Robbie Widlansky, who went 2-for-5 with a pair of homers and three RBIs in a losing effort.
Nebraska retook the lead in the top of the third, getting three straight two-out hits, including run scoring hits from Brown and Gerch. Jake Opitz doubled to right center before coming home on Brown’s double to the wall in left. Gerch then made it 3-1 with an RBI single to right. The lead would not last past the bottom of the inning, as William Block doubled and came home on Widansky’s second homer of the afternoon, a blast over the scoreboard in right, to knot the score at 3-all.
The Huskers fought back in the fourth with three runs, including Wehrle’s second homer of the season. With one out and runners on the corners, Nimmo’s grounder was misplayed by FAU’s Daniel Bomback, allowing one run to score and putting runners on first and second. After a caught stealing accounted for the second out, Wehrle gave the Huskers a three-run cushion with a two-run homer to left.
The Owls fought back in the bottom of the fourth, taking advantage of a pair of walks by NU starter Johnny Dorn. The Husker right-hander walked the first two hitters of the frame, a pair of free passes that proved costly three batters later after a two-run, two-run double by Nick Arata. Block then lofted a fly ball to left that fell out of Gerch’s glove for a error, allowing Arata to score the tying run.
Nebraska continued to apply pressure, plating single runs in the fifth and sixth to chase starter Brandon Clooney after four-plus innings of work. Brown opened the fifth with a double to right before Gerch’s third hit of the day put runners on the corners and ended Clooney’s outing. Pinch hitter Jake Mort gave NU a 7-6 lead with a sacrifice fly to right off Chris Salsberg. Craig Corriston extended the Husker advantage to 8-6, but Alex Silversmith’s solo homer in the bottom of the inning pulled FAU within 8-7.
Dorn allowed seven runs ? six earned ? while striking out five over six innings of work against a team that was hitting .387 entering today’s contest.
"I thought Johnny Dorn threw well against an extremely good offensive team," Anderson said. "We didn’t have great support behind him and it was one of the gutsiest efforts he pitched and I was very proud of him for getting the win."
The Huskers return to action next Friday, March 2, as they travel to Deland, Fla., for the Stetson Invitational. Nebraska will open tournament play against Iowa at Noon (central) and the game will be carried on selected Husker Sports Network stations. The game is the first of 49 contests on the network in 2007.
2007 Nebraska Baseball
#7 Nebraska vs #27 Florida Atlantic
Feb 25, 2007 at Houston, TX (Reckling Park)
Nebraska 8 (5-2)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
Belfonte, DJ rf.......... 3 0 1 0 2 2 1 0 3
Nimmo, Bryce cf.......... 5 2 1 1 0 1 2 0 0
Wehrle, Ryan ss.......... 4 1 2 3 1 1 2 3 0
Opitz, Jake 2b........... 4 1 1 0 1 1 2 3 2
Brown, Andrew 1b......... 4 2 3 1 1 1 12 0 0
Gerch, Andy lf........... 5 0 3 1 0 1 0 0 0
Herr, Zach p............ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Bird, Erik p............ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Sullivan, Nick dh........ 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
Mort, Jake dh........... 2 0 0 1 0 2 0 0 0
Abeita, Mitch c.......... 3 0 0 0 1 0 6 2 2
Corriston, Craig 3b...... 3 2 2 1 1 0 2 2 0
Dorn, Johnny p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
Jennings, Dan p......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Edlefsen, Steve p/lf.... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 0
Totals................... 35 8 13 8 7 9 27 14 8
Florida Atlantic 7 (10-2)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
------------------------------------------------------
BLOCK, William 3b........ 5 1 2 0 0 0 2 1 1
BOMBACK, Daniel 2b....... 5 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 2
WIDLANSKY, Robbie 1b..... 5 2 2 3 0 2 7 1 0
MCKENNA, Mike lf......... 4 0 1 0 1 2 0 0 0
MOREY, Lou pr........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
MARTIN, Justin rf........ 3 1 1 0 2 0 2 0 0
COOK, Daniel cf.......... 4 1 0 0 1 0 2 0 4
OZGA, Travis c........... 4 0 0 0 0 0 9 2 0
SILVERSMITH, Alex dh..... 3 1 1 1 1 1 0 0 1
ARATA, Nick ss........... 4 1 2 2 0 2 4 3 0
COONEY, Brandon p........ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
SALBERG, Chris p........ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0
Totals................... 37 7 9 6 5 7 27 10 8
Score by Innings R H E
-------------------------------------------
Nebraska............ 102 311 000 - 8 13 3
Florida Atlantic.... 102 301 000 - 7 9 2
-------------------------------------------
E - Wehrle, R.(2); Opitz, J.(4); Gerch, A.(1); BOMBACK(3); COONEY, B(1). DP
- Huskers 1; Owls 2. LOB - Huskers 8; Owls 8. 2B - Opitz, J.(3); Brown, A.
2(2); BLOCK(4); ARATA(4). 3B - BLOCK(2). HR - Wehrle, R.(2); Corriston,
C(1); WIDLANSKY 2(3); SILVERSMITH(2). SF - Mort, J.(1). CS - Belfonte, D.
2(3); Gerch, A.(1); ARATA(2).
Nebraska IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP
--------------------------------------------------
Dorn, Johnny........ 6.0 7 7 6 3 5 26 29 100
Jennings, Dan....... 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 3
Edlefsen, Steve..... 2.1 1 0 0 1 1 7 8 23
Herr, Zach.......... 0.1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 3
Bird, Erik.......... 0.1 1 0 0 1 0 2 3 12
Florida Atlantic IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP
--------------------------------------------------
COONEY, Brandon..... 4.0 11 7 4 3 3 21 24 68
SALBERG, Chris...... 5.0 2 1 1 4 6 14 19 75
Win - Dorn, J. (1-1). Loss - COONEY, B (2-1). Save - Bird, E. (3).
WP - SALBERG(2). Inherited runners/scored: Edlefsen, S. 1/0; SALBERG 2/1.
Pitches/strikes: Dorn, J. 100/59; Jennings, D. 3/2; Edlefsen, S. 23/18; Herr, Z.
3/3; Bird, E. 12/6; COONEY, B 68/45; SALBERG 75/39.
Umpires - HP: David Rogers 1B: Chuck Bussie 3B: Greg Oros
Start: 12:02p.m Time: 2:51 Attendance:
COONEY, B faced 2 batters in the 5th.
Jennings, D. faced 1 batter in the 7th.
Game: NU7