Asche Helps Huskers Slam Redhawks

Lincoln - Cody Asche homered and drove in a career high six runs, as Nebraska rolled to a 20-6 victory over Southeast Missouri State Saturday afternoon at Hawks Field.

Asche, the sophomore third baseman from O'Fallon, Mo., went 3-for-5 on the day while his fourth inning grand slam turned a one-run Husker lead into an 11-6 cushion. Asche has hit three grand slams this season - the most by a Husker since 2003 - and has nine homers on the year after his second round tripper in as many days.

Nebraska (22-24) scored in seven of eight innings in posting its second 20-run outburst of the season. Kyle Bubak and Patric Tolentino drove in three runs apiece, while Adam Bailey had two hits, two RBIs and scored three times to help the Huskers to their third straight win.

"It's nice,' Nebraska Coach Mike Anderson said after a day when 12 Huskers had at least one hit, while seven players drove in at least one run. "Hopefully what this does is gets some confidence in some kids and makes them feel like they can swing a little bit. "

Casey Hauptman earned the victory in relief, allowing one run over 5.1 innings after Tom Lemke struggled getting out of the second. Hauptman (2-4) fanned six and scattered five hits to pick up his first win since March 13.

"Casey did a great job holding their offense in check, which allowed us to get some opportunities to extend the lead for him."

After finding themselves in a 4-0 hole, the Huskers roared back against SEMO starter Logan Mahon for five runs in the bottom of the first - equaling NU's highest five-inning total of the season. Two singles and a hit batter loaded the bases with no outs before Bailey ripped a 3-2 pitch to left center for a two-run double. An RBI grounder by Kale Kiser and a wild pitch scored two runs before Tolentino lofted a sacrifice fly to left to cap the five-run inning.

 "The key to the game for us was the first inning where we got some runs after not pitching well," Anderson said. "I thought we had some quality at-bats in the first inning that helped us out. Bailey's at-bat was a great at-bat, as he was able to drive a pitch the opposite way and that got us going."

SEMO (27-19) tied the score in the second on an RBI single by Jim Klocke and had two on before Hauptman came in and struck out Louie Haseltine to end the threat. NU's offense came back with an unearned run in the second before Tolentino's RBI double in the third made it a 7-5 game.

With Nebraska holding a 7-6 lead, the Huskers took advantage of a costly Redhawk miscue, putting up four runs and getting some much needed breathing room. With one out, Chad Christensen's grounder was misplayed by third baseman Casey Jones for a two-base error before Belfonte singled and stole second to put runners on second and third with one out. Reliever Kyle Gumieny, who came into the game in the third, got Bailey to ground out for the second out, but hit Kale Kiser to load the bases. Asche then hit a 1-1 pitch to dead center that just eluded the attempt by SEMO center fielder Blake Slattery and hit the top of the fence before bouncing over for a grand slam.

That play opened the floodgates, as Nebraska put a pair of runs in the sixth, including another Asche RBI single and added five more in the seventh, including Asche's third hit of the day and a three-run pinch-hit homer from Kyle Bubak.

Jones went 3-for-5 with a pair of runs, while Kenton Parmley had three hits and scored twice in a losing effort.

The Huskers will go for the series sweep Sunday at 12:05 p.m. as Tyler Niederklein looks for his fourth win of the season. The game will be carried on the Husker Sports Network and on Huskers.com.