Sports: Nebraska Colleges & Universities

Van Horn Says Nebraska Didn't Look Good In Doubleheader

April 29, 2002

LINCOLN - Following game two of Sunday's doubleheader against Kansas, Nebraska Baseball Coach Dave Van Horn didn't have the look of a coach whose team just won 9-1.

That's because the Cornhuskers, as Van Horn put it, played "passive," looked "unconfident," and were "second guessing" themselves in the two games Sunday.

While the Huskers (30-15, 14-10 Big 12) won the series finale, they split the doubleheader, losing the first game 14-3. It was NU's worst defeat since a 16-2 drubbing to Rice in its 2001 season opener and largest loss at home since 1998.

"A day like today really frustrated me," said a disappointed Van Horn following a 15-minute team meeting. "I think it really frustrated a lot of the players, too.

"We went through the good things and then we went through the bad things. That's why we were down there so long."

After opening the series with a 4-0 win on Friday, the Huskers managed just 14 hits in the two games Sunday against Kansas (17-23, 4-15), which entered the doubleheader on a seven-game losing streak.

Combining the two games, Nebraska went a stretch of nine innings without a hit against the second-worst pitching team in the Big 12 Conference.

"If you don't take everybody serious, you will get beat," Van Horn said. "You need to respect everybody you play."

With the 2-1 showing against KU, the Huskers moved into second place, passing Baylor (13-10 Big 12), which lost two of three at KSU. Texas (15-6) solidified its spot atop the Big 12 standings after a sweep of Oklahoma State.

To stay in the contention for the league title, the Huskers likely will have to sweep Texas next weekend.

In Sunday's second game, KU starter Jake Wright retired the first 14 batters before he allowed a hit. Once Wright gave up a hit it wasn't long before the Huskers got on the board.

With the bases loaded and NU trailing 1-0, Brandon Eymann hit a two-out line-drive single off the top of KU shortstop Brandon Shepard's glove, driving in Jeff Blevins and Drew Anderson, who broke up the no-hitter with a single up the middle.

"We needed something to get going," Eymann said. "If he would have caught that, it would have been disastrous."

The two-run single gave the Huskers their first lead of the day. Nebraska increased its lead to 4-1 after solo home runs by Jed Morris and Jeff Leise in the sixth and seventh, respectively.

The Huskers put the game away with five runs in the eighth, capped by a monstrous grand slam off Morris' bat. Hit down the right field line, the ball landed in the parking lot. With two homers Sunday, Morris increased his team-leading total to 13.

On the mound, Brian Duensing (3-1) scattered five hits in 7 1/3 innings.

"I really didn't feel that comfortable on the mound," Duensing said. "I was just trying to keep my pitches down."

It was a different story in the first game Sunday as NU starter Jamie Rodrigue lasted just 1 1/3 innings. In the game, NU gave up a season-high 17 hits.

One positive note for the Huskers came from Matt Hopper, who had half of NU's six hits.

One of his three hits was a two-run, 450-foot blast to left-center, the deepest part of the park.

On the mound for KU, Dan Olson threw a gem. Pitching 8 2/3 innings, Olson (4-3) gave up no earned runs and six hits, all in the first five innings.

In Friday's series opener, Aaron Marsden (5-1) pitched a complete game shutout, allowing just three hits and no walks. Just one Jayhawk reached second base against Marsden, who lowed his Big 12-leading ERA to 1.43.

"He was magnificent," NU catcher John Grose said. "It seems like every time he outdoes himself."