Huskers manufacture two victories

Some of the statistics aren't too impressive when you look at the production of the Nebraska baseball team.

The Huskers are tied for eighth in the Big 12 in batting average, ninth in the conference in runs and last in home runs.

 No, the Nebraska hitters aren't going to overwhelm you. The Huskers, picked to finish in the bottom half of the Big 12, have rolled to a surprising 36-8-1 record overall and are second in the conference heading into the final two series of the season.

Pitching (first in the conference in ERA) and defense (tied for second in Big 12 in fielding percentage) have carried Mike Anderson's team this year. They did it again Saturday with a pair of 4-3 victories over Louisiana-Lafayette, the second coming when Mitch Abeita's single drove in Jake Mort with the winning run in the bottom of the 14th inning.

This team wins by doing the little things, like the two-run ninth to tie the second game and send it to extra innings. They manufacture wins. That's what they have done all year and that's what they did against Louisiana-Lafayette, with more than a little help from the Ragin' Cajuns' six errors.

The Huskers will take the two wins, but they certainly weren't perfect. They made some mistakes too although they didn't necessarily show up in the boxscore as errors.

"I'm proud of the kids for getting the win," Anderson said after the opening game. "I did not think we were very fundamentally sound today. I thought we made some mistakes. I thought they were mistakes of experience. Some young kids made some mistakes. It was just one of those things.

"Thankfully we had some things happen that pushed some runs across. It was a good win for us."

The Huskers certainly didn't do the little things in the seventh. NU held a 3-2 lead going into the inning, but the Ragin' Cajuns put runners on first and third with just one out.

Husker pitcher Johnny Dorn got Greg Fontenot to hit a sharp grounder right back to him, but Tyler Benzel on first base was off with the pitch.

Dorn threw the ball to second to try and start a double play, but freshman shortstop Ben Kline was slow to cover the base. He did throw on to first for a 1-6-3 put out, but the runner on third scored the tying run.

"I thought I had a chance at it," Dorn said. "If not, I would have checked the runner, but I'd rather get out of the inning. If he still scores, it's the tying run and not the winning run."

Some may have thought it was a mental mistake by Dorn. Anderson said no way. Kline should have been there in time to turn the double play.

"You should turn it," Anderson said. "We tell our base runners, we have a first and third situation with one out, the runner at third goes no matter what because you stay out of a double play. If we throw to home, they get a runner in scoring position and stay in the inning. If we do that right, then we turn a double play and we're out of the inning."

"We made a big mistake. It didn't cost us. In the future, we have to be there to turn the double play."

Kline accepted the responsibility for the play.

"I should have been there," Kline said. "I saw the runner and I kind of slowed up, but I should have been there."

Kline was there for the Huskers in the bottom of the eighth when his hit-and-run single moved Cody Neer from first to third. Kline was then running when the next batter hit a grounder to short that scored Neer with what proved to be the winning run.

The Huskers did just enough of the little things to pull out the win, like  pushing across three runs against Louisiana ace Hunter Moody, a pitcher who has 29 career victories.

"For about six innings I thought our focus was good against one of the best pitchers around," Anderson said. "I thought he was very, very good. He kept us off balance. I thought he did a great job.

"I was thrilled that we scored three runs on him. I thought three or four runs would win this game. We're fortunate that we pushed some things across."

Fortunate or not, you make your own luck. That's what the Huskers did again on Saturday.

Now if they can manufacture some wins against league-leading Texas A&M this weekend, they will be in good shape.



Bob Hamar is assistant sports editor for The Independent.