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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (April 19, 1993)
Sports Ne&an VylV A W-J Monday, April 19.1903 Nebraska one point shy of taking nationals Loss to Stanford familiar to NU By Susie Arth Senior Reporter_ It must have felt like deja vu for the Nebraska men’s gymnastics team Saturday. For the second season in a row, the Comhuskers lost to the Stanford Car dinal in the finals of the NCAA Cham pionships in Albuquerque, N.M. This year, the Huskers fell one point short, losing 276.5 - 275.5. The Huskers posted a season-high 286.525 qualifying score Friday night, and Stanford barely squeaked into the finals with a 283.100. Nebraska assistant coach Jim Howard said the nearly perfect per formance Friday could have pul addi tional pressure on the Huskers during Saturday’s competition. “Maybe they were trying to per form better than they did the night before,’’ he said. “I think they just Huskers even up record with win By Tony West Staff Reporter After losing 12 of 16 games in the middle of the season, the Nebraska baseball team has gotten back on track. The Comhuskers beat Missouri 7 4 Sunday to improve to 16-16 on the season, moving within a half game of the Tigers in the league standings. Nebraska right fielder Marc Sagmocn said aldiough the Huskers went through a rocky stretch, the sea son seemed to be smoothing out now. “We are a lot more loose,” he said. “I think we’re on the right trackagain.” A large portion of the Husker’s recent success has been due to offen sive production from the outfield. The trioof Sagmocn, Jed Dalton and fresh man Darin Erstad has been trying to live up to Coach John Sanders’ pre season proclamation that he had “the best outfield in the nation.” Sagmocn leads ihc trio with a .439 batting average. Dallon is al .342, and Erstad is at .320. In addition, the outfield has accounted Tor almost half of the team’s runs, hits and RBIs this season. Erstad said the trio had tried to live up to expectations. “It makes me feel good (to be called the best),’’ he said. “But we have to pul numbers up to prove it. For the most part, we have.” On Sunday, Dallon collected three hits; Sagmocn, two; Erstad, one. Sagmoen’s triple in the bottom of the seventh scored the go-ahead runs for the Huskers. Dalton said if the team was to continue to improve and make a move in the Big Eight, keeping good team chemistry was important. “We have a real c lose bond,” Dalton said. “We have a really good chemis try going. We are good friends, and we pick each other up when we need it.” were trying a little too hard. Nebraska could hold its momen tum only through the first event, the floor exercise, where the Huskers scored a 46.10. Richard Grace led the Huskers with a 9.5. But then the tide shifted. The Huskers scored only 45.50 on the second event, the pommel -horse. Both Dennis Harrison and Sumner Darling fell off the horse and received scores of only 8.65. Howard said the Huskers’ perfor mance on the pommel horse was the turning point of the meet. “The pommel horse is usually a strong event for us,” Howard said. “We could have put the pressure on them, instead we went into the third event down by 1.3 points.” And Stanford never gave up the lead. After three rotations, the Cardinal found themselves leading 139.35 - 137.7. But Howard said he hadn ’ t counted the Huskers out yet. “We had an opportunity to win the meet going into the last two rounds,” See NCAA on 9 Cornhusker wins floor exercise ' '' • ~ •' f By Derek Samson Staff Reporter_. t For Richard Grace, winning the national championship in the indi vidual floor exercise was a bitter sweet end to a nearly perfect season. Grace, a junior, scored a 9.4 Satur day at the NCAA Gymnastics Cham pionships in Albuquerque, N.M., and became the first Cornhuskcr to win a national title in the floor exercise since Wes Sutcr in 1985. He said winning the event would have been more special if Nebraska hadn’t finished second to Stanford in the team competition for the second straight year. “I’m really happy to be a national champion, but that can never replace us not winning it as a team,” Grace said. “The year turned out pretty good tor me with being an ah-American and national champion, but to not win it as a team really does stink.” Grace said a change in momentum was the main reason for the Husker’s slide down from Friday night to Sat urday. Nebraska was the top qualifier in Friday night’s preliminary compe tition. “Our big turnaround was that we lost our momentum. We were not as enthusiastic as we were FridayGrace said. “That day before, we were up and yelling and then (Saturday) Stanford was the one up and yelling. “It seemed like we got really tired.” Teammate Che Bowers agreed, saying fatigue played a major role in Stanford’s win. “Friday night we were just great, but I think we did loo much and didn’t have enough left for Saturday,” he said. “Also; the time span of the meet was much different and didn’t give us as much lime to rest.” Stanford won with a score of276.5, ana iNeoraska postea a 275.5. Ohio State came in third with 274.05. “I didn’t think they would be that tough. It was a big upset,” Bowers said. “We were rated No. 1 pretty much the whole year.” Grace said the Huskers were aware of what Stanford was capable of do ing; but once the momentum switched, it was too much for Nebraska to over come. “Going in, we knew we had a good chance, but we had a feeling Stanford would be lough,” Grace said. “We started off just great, but then we lost our momentum, and that was it.” Nebraska was trying to repeat its Friday performance on Saturday, Bowers said. In Friday’s competition, the Huskers posted a season-high score of 286.525, while Stanford had a 283.100. “I think we did a pretty good job of saying and trying to do exactly what we did in prelims, but I guess it just wasn’t there,” Bowers said. ... . , _ . . KMey Timperley/DN Nebraska s Robert Perry throws to first after forcing Missouri runner Chopper Littreil at second while teammate Darin Petersen looks on. The Huskers won the game 7-4. Husker hitting conquers Missouri By Tim Pearson Staff Reporter When Nebraska pitcher Troy Brohawn takes the mound, he usually gets the job done with his pitching. But on Sunday, in front of a sea son-high crowd of 2,139 fans at Buck Bcllzer Field, Brohawn’s hitting, along with the rest of the Comhuskcr offense, propelled the Huskcrs to a 7 4 win over Missouri. The Comhuskcr bats continued to shine in the three-game scries against the Tigers. Nebraska pulled out a 9-3 win to win the first game, but they lost 7-6 in 11 innings on Saturday. Brohawn, who went 2 for 5 on the day with two runs scored, hurled his fourth complete game and improved his record to 6-0. “I was wild today. The team picked me up when 1 gave up three in the seventh,” Brohawn said. “When I’m pitching I take that same mentality up to the plate.” The Huskcrs broke a 4-4 tic in the seventh inning by scoring three runs on five hits, including right fielder Marc Sagmocn’s two-run triple down -a / came out an hour earlier today and Coach Sanders pitched to me. This was definitely my best game. —McKay Nil first baseman the right field line off Tiger reliever Mike Haverty. Nebraska collected 15 hits, which pleased Coach John Sanders, but was only able to put seven runs on the scoreboard. “We had 15 hits. This game was a real positive step,’ Sanders said. “I think we’re coming on. Our pitching is starting to stabilize.” The Huskcrs jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the first inning. Center fielder Jed Dalton doubled to the wall to knock in Brohawn, who had doubled to center. In the second, after the Tigers scored a run in their half of the inning, junior Malt McKay homcrcd over the scoreboard in left field to give the Huskcrs a 2-1 advantage. 77 McKav, who came into ihc game hilling .180, went 3-for-4 on ihc day with two RBI. Sanders said that it was nice to see McKay starting to hit the ball well again. “Matt McKay jumps out when I look at the statistics,” Sanders said. “It’s a good sign to sec him hitting well.” * McKay said he changed his stance before the game to try and improve his hitting. “I nave been slumping since the spring trip,” McKay said. “I came out an hour earlier today and Coach Sand ers pitched to me. This was definitely my best game.” After a shaky first two innings, Brohawn settled down on the mound, a Mowing only one hit through the next four innings. The Huskcrs entered the seventh witha4-1 lead, but then trouble struck. The Tigers scored three runs to tic the score and might have scored more had left fielder Darin Erstad not made a diving catch of the Tigers’ John Hays’ line drive with two men on base. Sanders said he didn’t think about pulling Brohawn in the seventh in his visit to the mound. . “Troy’s pitch count was OK. The balls that were hit in the seventh weren’t hit well,” Sanders said. “He was making good pilches.’’ Brohawn, who struck out 11, said he was doing well until the seventh inning. “I started off the game terrible, but then I gat into a groove and got my momentum going," Brohawn said. “I told coach when he came out to the mound that I could finish the game. I just wanted to finish the game.” The Huskcrs rebounded with three runs of their own in their half of the seventh to take the lead for good.
