Garcia
leaves
Huskers
ByAntone Oseka
Senior Reporter
For the first time as a
Comhusker, Gabe Garcia didn’t
play in three straight games this
weekend. He didn’t even show up
at Buck Beltzer Field.
Garcia, a junior transfer from
Canada (Calif.) College, quit the
NU baseball team Friday after
being pulled from his starting
spot in right field. Garcia had been
batting cleanup all season with a
.321 average. In his final two
games, against Nebraska-Omaha
Wednesday, he drove in 12 runs
and went 5 for 9 at the plate.
After the doubleheader, which
NU split with the Mavericks,
Garcia told the Daily Nebraskan
the team didn’t want to play the
originally unscheduled games
against a non-Di vision I school.
“We just didn’t want to be
here,” Garcia said Wednesday. “If
they want to make our record bet
ter, this doesn’t do us any good.
“We came out today and said,
'Why are we here?’ We were here
all damn day. In the early season,
it’s good. But now we need to
practice and rest. We have school
to worry about.”
Garcia said he thought he was
benched because of his comments.
But Nebraska Coach John Sanders
said Garcia’s benching had noth
ing to do with his remarks.
“Eric Mumm is a far better de
fensive player than Gabe Garcia,”
Sanders said.
Mumm started in right field in
place of Garcia on Friday and Sat
urday but moved to left for
Sunday’s game, a 25-15 Husker
win. Mumm has a fielding per
centage of .964 in 28 opportuni
ties, and in 71 chances, Garcia has
a .972 fielding percentage.
“He quit because he wasn’t in
the lineup,” Sanders said.
Garcia, who wants a release
from his scholarship, said Sand
ers informed him Friday that he
wouldn’t play in the Huskers’ six
remaining games.
“I will never play here again,”
he said.
Daniel Luedert/DN
NEBRASKA THIRD BASEMAN Clifton Durham attempts a tag on a Texas runner. The Longhorns won Saturday’s
game 4-3 but the Huskers rebounded to win Sunday 25-15.
nu hammers Texas
By David Wilson
Senior Reporter
A battle for pride turned into a
home run derby Sunday afternoon
at Buck Beltzer Field.
The Nebraska baseball team
pounded 23 hits en route to a 25
15 romp of Texas before 665 fans.
Despite being eliminated from the
Big 12 Conference Tournament,
both teams combined to knock out
11 home runs.
The Longhorns defeated the
Comhuskers 4-3 on Friday and 4-3
on Saturday.
“It was great to see our team —
after the number of close games
we’ve been in all year — come
back and pound Texas,” NU Coach
John Sanders said. “Not win, but
pound.”
After scoring two runs in the
bottom of the first, the Huskers pad
ded their lead with a four-run sec
ond, sparked by a leadoff home run
from junior catcher Andrew Saw
yers — the first dinger of the game.
1 hough banders said the warm
weather helped provide for an ex
plosive offensive game, Sawyers
said superstition may have played
a role in the Huskers’ win.
“We sacrificed a live chicken
yesterday and we fed it to our pet
snake,” Sawyers said, “but that
didn’t work. We still lost. So today,
we killed a snake. Bryan Schmidt
severed its head with a Bowie
knife.”
Junior first baseman Todd Sears
continued the second-inning rally,
knocking a three-run shot over the
backdrop in center field. Sears, who
leads NU with 15 homers, im
proved his team-high average to
.429.
Senior right-hander Steve Fish,
who improved to 9-5, held the
Longhorns to four runs on six hits
through the first sixth innings. NU
improved to 26-33 overall and 6
21 in the Big 12 Conference.
Trailing 19-4 entering the top of
the seventh, the Longhorns sent 11
batters to the plate and scored seven
runs on five hits, including two
home runs.
“It’s hard to think that you had
15 runs and lost by 10,” Texas
Coach Augie Garrido said. “I was
disappointed with the non-competi
tive attitude of the pitchers. But we
have to give credit to Nebraska.
They did a great job at the plate.”
NU senior center fielder Francis
Collins broke Darin Erstad’s team
record for hits in a season when he
knocked a two-run shot to center
in the ninth inning — his 104th hit.
“I knew I was close,” said
Collins, who went 4-for-7, “but I
didn’t think I would get it today.”
Junior second baseman Kevin
Harrington also knocked four hits
on Sunday, snapping an 11 -for-63
slump.
“I don’t want to jinx myself by
saying I broke the slump,”
Harrington said, “but it was nice to
have a multiple-hit game.”
Harrington said the win will
give the Huskers momentum when
they finish their season in Ames,
Iowa, next weekend in a three-game
series against Iowa State.
NU softball
must wait
for invite
By Shannon Heffelfinger
Assignment Reporter
For the first time this season, the
Nebraska softball team does not con
trol its own destiny.
With regular season play com
pleted, all the Comhuskers can do is
sit and wait to see if a 27-22 record
and an average performance in the Big
12 Tournament this weekend will be
enough to qualify for the NCAA Tour
nament May 16.
“It’s suspenseful,” said Nebraska
Coach Rhonda Revelle. “I think we
deserve a look, but so do a lot of other
people. Thirty-two teams are in, and I
don’t know if we’re going to be one
of those 32 teams or not.”
wne ream mai appears 10 oe oouna
for the NCAA Tournament is Okla
homa (53-16), which eliminated the
Huskers with a 1 -0 win Saturday.
Seventh-ranked Oklahoma’s only
run came in the fourth inning on a NU
error. With one runner on base and two
outs, OU’s Jenny Lopez hit a fly foul
ball to left field that if caught, could
have ended the inning.
On her next look from Jenny Voss,
Lopez hit a grounder to second base.
Freshman Alice Brewer bobbled the
hit, then overthrew first baseman
Rachael Dunham, allowing Christine
Benyak to score the winning run.
“It was a tough error,” Revelle said,
“but it was still an error. It was hard,
but by the same token, you have to
score to win, and we couldn’t score.”
Oklahoma’s freshman pitcher Lana
Moran threw a complete game and
held NU to only four hits.
“Their pitcher did a nice job of
keeping us off balance,” Revelle said.
“She hurt us with her change up. We
didn’t adjust quickly.”
NU played two games on Friday,
losing to Oklahoma State in an 18-in
ning marathon, then rebounding to de
feat Baylor.
Revelle said the Huskers neither
hurt nor helped their chances for a spot
in the NCAA Tournament with their
play this weekend. Nebraska will have
to wait until the middle of next week
to see if it earned a regional bid.
“I think we need serious consider
ation for a regional berth,” Revelle said.
“Our record hurts us a little, but if you
look at the quality of teams we played,
then we should definitely be considered.”
Husker women, men like chances to advance
By Sam McKewon
Staff Reporter
It’s simple mathematics for the Nebraska
women’s golf team.
Twenty teams compete in the NCAA West
Regional Tournament. The
top 11 continue on to the
NCAA Championships,
and the rest finish their sea
son.
Comhusker Coach
Robin Krapfl said the Husk
ers’ goal is to be one of the
11 when they compete in
the NCAA Regionals,
Thursday through Sunday
Krapfl *n Tucson, Ariz.
“We’re going to do
it,” Krapfl said. “There isn’t any doubt in my
mind that we’re going to nationals this year.
period.”
Last year, NU missed playing for the title
by falling one stroke short at The Champions
Club in Omaha.
This year, the Huskers enter regionals with
an inexperienced but more talented team that
Krapfl said is one of her best. She predicted the
team would make the trip to Columbus, Ohio,
for the NCAA Championships, May 21-24.
Leading the way will be junior Rachelle
Tacha, who has been to the NCAA Champion
ships as an individual player.
“Rachelle is capable of playing as good as
anyone in the nation,” Krapfl said. “She has
been in this situation before, and she knows
what it’s going to take to go to the NCAA Cham
pionships.”
Adding punch and distance to the lineup is
the freshmen duo of Hanne Nyquist and Eliza
beth Bahensky.
Nyquist has been a solid player for NU all
year, and Bahensky has come on at the end of
the season with a strong finish at the Big 12
Championships.
Krapfl said Bahensky’s improvement has
helped solidify the Huskers’ lineup.
“We knew that she could be good very
quick,” Krapfl said. “It was just an issue of her
adjusting to the collegiate golf scene and be
coming mentally ready to play.”
Krapfl said top-ranked Arizona will be fa
vored to win the West Regional. Krapfl said NU
could finish as high as sixth or seventh.
“We got a good lineup and if we play well
the whole tournament, we’re going to be in
good position to win a spot for nationals,”
Krapfl said.
Making the NCAA Tournament has been a
goal of the Huskers all year, Krapfl said.
“We’re really ready for this,” Krapfl said. “I
know that our lineup is good enough to do it.”
The Nebraska men’s golf team must wait
until Tuesday to learn the fate of its season when
the NCAA announces regional qualifiers.
I
NU Coach Larry Romjue said a berth in the
regionals is “likely” despite a sixth place finish
at the Big 12 Championships.
“I think our team has performed well
enough to get into the regionals,” Romjue said.
“I wasn’t happy with the Big 12 Tournament,
but I think we can make a run at the NCAA
spot.
“We’ve beaten a lot of the teams that I think
are going to be there. We have to put together
the right type of tournament, but it is within the
capability of this team.”
One member of the men’s team who needs
to perform well if the Huskers earn an NCAA
regional spot is sophomore Josh Madden, a na
tive of Gold Coast, Australia. Madden finished
third at the Big 12 Championships and has a
chance at All-America honors.
“Josh has really developed into our best
golfer on the team,” Romjue said. “He has been
so consistent in the course of the spring that it
has been amazing.”
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