Huskers Blank Leathernecks, 8-0

Lincoln ? Drew Bowman and three relievers combined on a three-hit shutout, while Jake Opitz had three hits, including a homer, as No. 26 Nebraska completed a two-game sweep of Western Illinois with an 8-0 victory Wednesday afternoon at Hawks Field.

Bowman upped his record to 3-0, scattering two hits over 5.2 innings. The sophomore left-hander matched his season high with four strikeouts while allowed one runner to reach scoring position in his second-longest outing of the year.

Relievers Luke Wertz, Zach Herr and Thad Weber than closed the door on NU’s first shutout since last April with six strikeouts over 3.1 innings, highlighted by Wertz, who fanned all four hitters he faced. In all, Husker pitchers fanned 10 and didn’t issue a walk for the first time all year.

"That is what we were looking for out of our staff," Anderson said. "10 strikeouts and no walks ? that says it all."

The Huskers (12-7) got out of the gate quickly, scoring four runs in the first against WIU starter Aaron Madill, including Opitz’s third homer of the season, a two-run opposite field blast to left. Opitz paced the Huskers to a season-high 14 hits, going 3-for-5 with a pair of RBIs falling a double short of a cycle.

NU scored all the runs they needed in the first, stringing together four-two out hits to put four runs on the board. With two outs and Ryan Wehrle on second, Opitz put the Huskers on the scoreboard with his third homer of the year. The Huskers kept the rally alive as consecutive doubles by Andy Gerch and Craig Corriston made it a 3-0 lead before Jeff Lanning’s run-scoring single pushed the lead to 4-0.

The Huskers chased Madill (3-1) in the second inning, as Andrew Brown singled home Wehrle, who walked and moved to second on DJ Belfonte’s single.

"I really liked the way we swung today, in terms of line drives, and we really kept our focus today," Anderson said of NU’s offensive attack.

Madill allowed five runs on seven hits in, as he faced 12 hitters over one-plus inning for Western Illinois, which dropped to 11-12 on the year.

Nebraska tacked on single runs in the third, fifth and eight innings, as Bryce Nimmo had two hits and stole a pair of bases in his first game back since March 4, while Corriston and Jeff Tezak also had two hits in a winning effort.

The Huskers return to Big 12 action this weekend, as they begin a three-game series with Missouri. Friday’s first pitch is set for 1:35 p.m. and the game will be carried across the state on the Husker Sports Network and on Huskers.com.

                   2007 Nebraska Baseball
                        Western Illinois at #26 Nebraska
                   Mar 21, 2007 at Lincoln, NE (Hawks Field)

Western Illinois 0 (11-12)

Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB  Avg.
------------------------------------------------------------
Pendell, Brett rf........  4  0  1  0   0  1  1  0   0  .419
Stewart, Cooper c........  4  0  0  0   0  1  2  0   0  .250
Check, Travis cf.........  4  0  0  0   0  2  3  0   1  .375
Newquist, Matt 1b........  3  0  1  0   0  1  9  1   0  .333
Schneider, Peter lf......  3  0  0  0   0  2  5  0   0  .215
Maxwell, Andrew dh.......  3  0  0  0   0  1  0  0   0  .190
Surprenant, Kyle ss......  3  0  1  0   0  0  0  2   0  .227
Corley, Jake 3b..........  3  0  0  0   0  1  0  3   2  .222
Johnson, Dan 2b..........  3  0  0  0   0  1  3  2   0  .200
Madill, Aaron p..........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0     -
DiBernardo, Mark p......  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0     -
Luebber, Wyatt p........  0  0  0  0   0  0  1  1   0     -
Justin Eissens p........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0     -
Rodrigues, Joe p........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0     -
Totals................... 30  0  3  0   0 10 24 11   3

Nebraska 8 (12-7)

Player                    AB  R  H RBI BB SO PO  A LOB  Avg.
------------------------------------------------------------
Wehrle, Ryan ss..........  3  2  1  0   2  0  2  1   1  .194
Belfonte, DJ rf..........  3  0  1  0   0  1  1  0   0  .321
Sullivan, Nick ph/rf....  0  1  0  0   2  0  2  0   0  .214
Brown, Andrew 1b.........  5  0  1  1   0  0  6  0   3  .267
Opitz, Jake 2b...........  5  1  3  2   0  0  3  2   0  .302
Gerch, Andy lf...........  4  1  1  0   1  0  2  0   1  .274
Tezak, Jeff dh...........  4  2  2  1   1  0  0  0   2  .396
Corriston, Craig 3b......  3  0  2  1   0  0  0  0   0  .368
Mort, Jake 3b...........  2  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   2  .238
Lanning, Jeff c..........  2  0  1  2   1  0  7  1   0  .273
Hightower, Mark c.......  0  0  0  0   0  0  2  0   0  .000
Nimmo, Bryce cf..........  4  1  2  0   0  0  2  0   2  .235
Lee, John cf............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0  .000
Bowman, Drew p...........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  1   0     -
Wertz, Luke p...........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0     -
Herr, Zach p............  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0     -
Weber, Thad p...........  0  0  0  0   0  0  0  0   0  .258
Totals................... 35  8 14  7   7  1 27  6  11

Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
Western Illinois.... 000 000 000 -  0  3  1
Nebraska............ 411 010 01X -  8 14  0
-------------------------------------------

E - Stewart, C(1). LOB - Leathernecks 3; Huskers 11. 2B - Pendell, B(9);
Gerch, A.(3); Corriston, C 2(5). 3B - Opitz, J.(1). HR - Opitz, J.(3). SF -
Lanning, J.(1). SB - Wehrle, R.(1); Sullivan, N.(4); Nimmo, B. 2(5).

Western Illinois       IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF  NP   ERA
--------------------------------------------------------
Madill, Aaron.......  1.0  7  5  5  2  0 10 12  40  8.57
DiBernardo, Mark....  3.2  5  2  1  2  1 14 17  68 10.64
Luebber, Wyatt......  1.1  0  0  0  0  0  4  4  15  9.39
Justin Eissens......  1.2  2  1  1  3  0  6  9  36 17.18
Rodrigues, Joe......  0.1  0  0  0  0  0  1  1   1 13.50

Nebraska               IP  H  R ER BB SO AB BF  NP   ERA
--------------------------------------------------------
Bowman, Drew........  5.2  2  0  0  0  4 19 19  63  3.54
Wertz, Luke.........  1.1  0  0  0  0  4  4  4  18  6.75
Herr, Zach..........  1.0  0  0  0  0  1  3  3  11  2.89
Weber, Thad.........  1.0  1  0  0  0  1  4  4  17  0.00

Win - Bowman, D. (3-0).  Loss - Madill, A (3-1).  Save - None.
Inherited runners/scored: DiBernardo M 2/0; Luebber, W 3/0; Rodrigues, J 2/0.
Pitches/strikes: Madill, A 40/21; DiBernardo M 68/40; Luebber, W 15/10; Eissens,
J 36/17; Rodrigues, J 1/1; Bowman, D. 63/45; Wertz, L. 18/13; Herr, Z. 11/9;
Weber, T. 17/10.
Umpires - HP: Bill McGuire  1B: Tom Svehla  3B: Joe Wells
Start: 1:36p.m.   Time: 2:39   Attendance: 1836
Madill, A faced 3 batters in the 2nd.
Game: NU19