Sports
Friday, April 14, 1995 Page 8
Nebraska bats bombard 25th-ranked Bluejays
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Nebraska’s Alvie Shepherd slides back safely into second base as Creighton’s Jon Dunlop applies the late tag.
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By Jeff Griesch
Senior Reporter
Nebraska hitters feasted on Creighton pitch
ers for 31 runs and 40 hits in a doubleheader
sweep Thursday.
The Comhuskers, 21-13, opened with a 19
4 win over the 25th-ranked Bluejays in a 1 p.m.
game at the CU Sports Complex in Omaha.
Then the two teams traveled to Lincoln for a
7 p.m. game at Buck Beltzer Stadium.
The change of venue didn’t help the Bluejays,
22-11, and the Huskers posted a 12-6 win.
Nebraska coach John Sanders said the
doubleheader could not have gone better for the
Huskers.
“We got solid pitching, and we only had to
use four pitchers, which we needed because we
play eight games in five days,” Sanders said.
“The whole day went exactly according to plan.”
Junior designated hitter Alvie Shepherd, fresh
man first baseman Todd Sears and junior left
fielder Darin Erstad did the most damage for the
Huskers during the doubleheader.
Shepherd’s three-run home run in the sev
enth inning of the opener gave the Huskers a 10
4 lead.
But Shepherd had just begun his barrage on
Creighton pitchers. He ended the day with three
home runs, five hits, two walks and five RBI.
Shepherd combined with Sears to hit back
to-back homers in the eighth inning of the first
game to seal Nebraska’s win.
Although the win was all but locked up with
a 16-4 lead, Sears wasn’t finished.
He hit his second home run of the day in the
ninth to finish the first game with three hits, six
RBI and four runs scored.
In the second game, Sears added three singles^
See SWEEP on 10
Huskers to ‘benefit’
from recent signings
From Staff Reports
The Nebraska men’s basketball
team received two national letters
of intent on Thursday from Tyronn
Lue and Larry Florence.
Lue, a 6-foot guard from Kansas
City, Mo., averaged 23.5 points,
eight assists and six steals for
Raytown High School, which went
27-1 and made it to the state
quarterfinals.
The lone senior on the Raytown
team, Lue selected Nebraska over
Arkansas, Memphis, Oklahoma,
Missouri and Kansas State.
Nebraska coach Danny Nee said
Lue should provide the Huskers
with a strong point guard.
“He’s a quality point guard and
a winner in every aspect,” Nee said.
“Tyronn has a tremendous person
ality, and from what I’ve seen, has
the ability to make players around
him better.”
Florence averaged 19.2 points,
14.2reboundsand4.3 blocked shots
a game for Phenix City (Ala.) Cen
tral High School. The 6-6, 215
pound forward picked the
Comhuskers over Alabama, Ala
bama-Birmingham, Clemson, Au
burn and New Orleans.
“Larry is an explosive player
who can defend and score,” Nee
said.
Nee said the additions of Lue
and Florence — along with fall
signings Bernard Gamer and Alvin
Mitchell—would benefit Nebraska
next year.
“I’m excited about the potential
of this class,” he said.
uncertainties, leads to NU wins
By Jeff Griesch
Senior Reporter
The doubleheader between Ne
braska and Creighton was not an ordi
nary doubleheader.
Rain and cold weather forced the
postponement of Nebraska’s sched
uled games with the Bluejays on Tues
day and Wednesday.
First the Cornhuskers had to leave
for Omaha shortly after 9 a.m. to take
early batting practice and infield be
fore the 1 p.m. opener at the CU Sports
Complex.
The Huskers played for more than
three hours before beating their
intrastate rivals 19-4.
But the Huskers had no time to
celebrate before jumping into three
vans driven by Sanders, assistant coach
Mike Ashman and assistant coach
Mike Anderson and returning to Lin
coln for the second game of the double
header at 7 p.m.
Before getting into one of the vans
to leave for Lincoln, Nebraska desig
nated hitter and pitcher Alvie Shep
herd said the Huskers were entering
uncharted waters.
“I don’t know how we are going to
react because it hasn’t happened be
fore,” Shepherd said. “This is defi
nitely a new thing for all of us. It is
going to be interesting to see how
everybody reacts for the second game.
“It is going to be a great challenge
to get mentally ready to play again,
but I think everybody is up for it.”
Shortstop Darin Petersen said the
Huskers spent the more than two hours
between games watching television,
eating and trying to stay loose for the
second game.
The Huskers followed their first
game win with a 12-6 victory over the
Bluejays in the nightcap.
Petersen said the break between
games helped the Huskers.
“It was actually kind of nice to
have that long break between games,”
Petersen said. “It gave us a chance to
stop thinking about baseball for seven
hours straight like we would have to
do during regular doubleheaders.”
Nebraska coach John Sanders said
his team could not have reacted any
better to the unusual circumstances.
“It is tough to get up and drive to
Omaha and then come back and play
here,” Sanders said. “It is tough to stay
mentally focused for that period of
time. It is a real challenge, but I think
we responded well and had a good
attitude.”
Tennis team hopes to disprove record, gain confidence
By Derek Samson
Senior Reporter
The 4-13 Nebraska men’s tennis
team knows it hasn’t lived up to that
record, and Coach Kerry McDermott
said he hoped his team would prove it
to No. 12 Kansas.
But first Nebraska will face Mis
souri Saturday and then finish its regu
lar season against the Jayhawks Sun
day.
McDermott said he knew Nebraska
was better than its record.
“One of our players (Adrian
Maizey) came up to me the other day
at practice and said, 'We have to be
the best 4-13 team in the country,”’
McDermott said. “I have to agree with
that. We have had so many close
matches that could have gone either
way. We ’re a lot better than our record
indicates.
“Right now, we just have to con
centrate cm holding our heads above
water and trying to get some respect
from our opponents. To do that, we’re
going to need to beat some teams.”
McDermott said the Huskers
shouldn ’ thave any problemdoing that
against Missouri Saturday in the Bob
Devaney Sports Center.
“Missouri is at the bottom of the
cellar as far as the Big Eight is con
cerned,” he said. “They’ve never re
ally been a threat to upset us. I just feel
ifwe play well, we shouldn’t have any
trouble. We want to use it as a tuneup
for Kansas.
“Everyone on the teamknows we’re
going to win that one, so we just tell
the kids to give 100 percent and try to
be off the court as quickly as possible.
They need to get their matches over
quickly and save their energy for Kan
sas.”
Sunday will be a much different
story for the Huskers.
“It will be like night and day from
Saturday to Sunday “McDermott said.
“This may be the best team Kansas has
ever had. Looking at teams that gave
them a go—(they) were teams we had
chances to beat. So I think we have a
chance.
“They’re by far the better team, but
anything can happen. If we go out and
give 100 percent and play our best,
some things can happen, and I’m con
fident we can win.”
McDermott is looking forward to
finding out just how good the 12th
ranked Jayhawks are.
“If they beat us 6-1 or something,
then obviously they’re a lot better
team,” he said. “But I think we can
make it close, and that’s what we
need. I just want our guys to see that
they can go out and compete with
anyone in the top 25, especially No.
10 through 25.
Everyone on the team knows we’re going to win
that one (Missouri), so we just tell the kids to give
100 percent and try to be off the court as quickly
as possible.
■
KERRY MCDERMOTT
Nebraska men’s tennis coach
“I also want to show Kansas that
we’re going to battle them and not just
lay down. A lot of things can happen
for us.”
Nebraska’s next competition after
this weekend will be the Big Eight
Championships April 21-23 in Olda
homa City, Okla.
McDermott said finishing the sea
son on a positive note was more im
portant than Nebraska’s record.
“We’re not going to get a top four
seed (in the tournament) unless we
upset Kansas,” he said. “Even then, it
would be hard for us to get one. But we
want to get some momentum going
into the Big Eight, so we can beat our
first opponent. It would be nice to
have some confidence.”