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.