NU hopes pitching
leads to road wins
By Andrew Strnad
Staff Reporter
If ain’t broke, don’t fix it
Backed by three strong starting
pitching performances, the Nebraska
baseball team
evened its record
at 3-3 with a
sweep of
Wisconsin
Milwaukee last
weekend.
And NU
Assistant Coach ^
Rob Childress ^
said he hoped that _
remedy ofpitch- ChlldreSS
ing will work this weekend as the
Comhuskers travel to Louisville, Ky.,
to play six games over four days.
The Huskers will play the first of
two games today against Eastern
Kentucky (1-1-1) at 3 p.m. The second
game pits NU against Cincinnati (1-5)
at 6 p.m.
Childress said the Huskers will
start the same three pitchers that start
ed against Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
“We feel that Kenny (Dubelbeis)
and Jay (Sirianni) are our two strongest
pitchers, and they pitched real well last
week, so we’ll continue to stick with
them,” Childress said.
Dubelbeis (1-0) and Sirianni (1-1),
both southpaws, received their first
wins of the season last weekend.
Dubelbeis, a senior, has started two
games in which he pitched a total of 12
2/3 innings with nine strikeouts to go
along with his 2.13 eamed-run aver
age.
Sirianni, a junior, is 1-1 and leads
the Huskers with 13 strikeouts in 11
2/3 innings pitched.
Pitching the third game for NU on
Friday against Louisville (3-1) will be
sophomore right-hander Chad Wiles.
Wiles (1 -0) got his first victory last
Sunday, pitching seven innings and
surrendering two runs on five hits.
Junior right fielder Donny Starkins
said the Husker pitching staff made it
easier for the offense to drive in runs
last weekend.
“When they’re able to get guys out,
it seems to take the pressure off of us to
get base hits and puts the pressure on
the opposing pitchers,” Starkins said.
Starkins went 2 for 3 with 2 RBIs
and a walk during the Huskers’9-2 win
last Saturday in the second game of a
doubleheader.
Starkins is hitting .300 on the year,
and said the Huskers won’t always be
able to rely on pitching to win ball
games.
“We have confidence in our pitch
ing, but scoring runs is how you win
games, and you can’t score runs with
out timely hitting,” Starkins said.
“That’s where you have to believe in
yourself- Mien there’s that guy on sec
ond with two outs and the game’s tied.”
Starkins and the Huskers will
attempt to win their first road game of
the season. Last year NU struggled the
entire season on the road winning only
two of 20 road contests.
The Huskers opened their 1998
campaign with three losses at
Minnesota Feb. 15-16.
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Crowd key for weekend meet
Coach hopes fan support brings NCAAs to Lincoln
By Darren Ivy
Assignment Reporter
How well the
Nebraska
women’s gymnas
tics team per
forms at the
eighth annual
Masters Classic
Saturday will be
most important to
NU Coach Dan
Kendig Lamb
But how many
fans show up at the Bob Devaney
Sports Center also will be on his mind.
Having a large crowd for the meet
is important because Nebraska and
Boise State are competing to host the
2000 NCAA Championships, Kendig
said.
“We are a little behind right now,”
Kendig said. “All the students have to
do is come out and give us a try. It’s free.
If they don’t like it, they aren’t losing a
thing, but I think that once they come
one time they will want to come back.”
They’ll want to come back, Kendig
said, because they will be seeing some
of the top competition in the country at
one of the top meets.
This year’s Masters Classic fea
tures three ranked teams, including No. ;
8 Kentucky, No. 19 Michigan State and ]
No. 20 Nebraska. Rhode Island rounds i
out the field. 1
The meet will pit Kendig against
his former boss Kentucky Coach Leah <
Little - who got him involved in coach- 1
ing for the first time. 1
Kendig was a UK graduate when
Little asked him to be a spotter for the 5
women’s team. He was a little hesitant !
at first, he said, but she kept on him and 1
he finally agreed.
And he is glad he did.
“I fell in love with it,” Kendig said. !
Twenty years later, Kendig is one of
the top coaches in the country with a
178-134-1 record.
Since taking over the Husker pro
gram five years ago, Kendig has a 71- ,
19 record.
Included in that record is a perfect
18-0 mark at home. But that streak -
could be in jeopardy as Michigan State ,
- the last team to beat NU at home - \
comes to town flesh off a school-record
195.85 performance last week. ,
“It is not going to be a walk in the .
park,” Kendig said. j
Although the gymnasts have
changed since 1993, one Husker l
remembers watching that loss. ,
“It was hard watching because I <
admired those girls,” said Arica Lamb, ]
Texas Tech rolls over
NU in fourth road loss
WOMEN from page 7
that has helped us all year to try and
look for Thompson and Braziel
inside”
Thompson finished the game
leading all scorers with 29 points,
and Braziel added 21. Also, with
5:19 remaining in the first half,
Thompson connected on two free
throws to give her 2,000 points for
her career at Texas Tech.
Once the Red Raiders had their
inside game going, they started con
necting on their outside shots as
junior Renee Hanebutt hit two back
to-back 3-pointers during the run.
“Those points really turned it,”
Sharp said. “Those were two big
shots.”
As good as Tech’s two go-to
players were, Nebraska’s main scor
ers - senior Anna DeForge and
sophomore Nicole Kubik - were off.
The two combined for just six first
half points on 3-of-15 shooting.
To make matters worse for NU,
sophomore Brooke Schwartz, who
had averaged 15 points the last five
games, left Wednesday’s game for
good with 11:35 remaining in the
first half as her right leg tightened
up. Schwartz had missed part of
Sunday’s game against Colorado and
most of Wednesday’s shoot-around
in Lubbock, Texas.
“(The loss of Schwartz) tripled
us tonight,” Sanderford said. “We
lost one of our better rebounders and
defenders. It made it extremely dif
ficult to play a great team like Texas
Tech.”
Sophomore Charlie Rogers, who
was expected to be back against the
Red Raiders, wasn’t cleared to play.
Rogers has missed the last five
games with a stress reaction in her
left foot.
The second half provided no
relief for NU as Tech opened the
period with a 14-2 run and the
Huskers connected on just one of
their first 14 shots. By the 11:30
mark of the second period, junior
Cori McDill had fouled out and
DeForge and Kubik were a com
bined 3 of 20 from the field.
DeForge finished the game with
eight points - the second time in the
last three games the All-American
has failed to score in double digits.
“Anna was horrible tonight,”
Sanderford said.
Tech opened a 37-point lead
before Nebraska staged a small
comeback as Kubik found her long
range shooting touch. Within a
seven-minute span, the sophomore
hit a career-best six 3-pointers. She
finished the second half connecting
on 6 of 12 shots, while leading the
Huskers with 21 points.
“Coach told me at halftime I had
to get a smile on and get rid of the
frustration,” Kubik said. “I hit that
first 3-pointer and was fouled and
got a little confidence. Plus, the
whole team was playing harder the
second half.”
The Huskers will close out the
regular season against Iowa State at
home Saturday night at 7.
Golf team finishes 12th
From Staff Reports
Senior Rachelle Tacha shot a 77 to
lead the Nebraska womens golf team to
a ll^-place finish at the Pioneer
Electrics Bruin Classic in Menifee,
Calif, Wednesday.
A1997 first-team All-Big 12 selec
tion, Tacha tied for 19th place, shooting
a 152 over 36 holes.
The Cornhuskers shot a 315
Wednesday to put theirtotal at637.
Fifth-ranked Tulsa-shot a600 to fin
ish first among die 18-team field and
beat Oregon by one stroke. Fourth
ranked Stanford and top-ranked
Arizona State tied for third with a 604.
Southern California finished fifth
shooting a609.
Nebraska sophomore Hanne
Nyquist finished 58th, putting rounds of
82 and 78 together to shoot a 160.
Husker junior Gretchen Doerr fin
ished with a 162, senior Shirin
Homecker shot a 166 and sophomore
Elizabeth Bahensky shot a 173.
NU returns to action March 13-15
at the Betsy Rawls Invite in Austin,
Texas.
a sophomore gymnast from Lincoln
Northeast. “It gives the girls who
remember some motivation because
we don’t want to see it happen again.”
Being from Lincoln and having
attended NU gym meets, Lamb also
knows about the Masters Classic tradi
tion.
“It was the biggest home meet and
always my favorite to go to,” Lamb
said. “Now I feel I have to live up to
what I always thought it was.”
The Masters Classic, which NU
has won the last three years, starts the
championship part of the season for the
Huskers, Kendig said.
Because the meet is a step up from
the regular season, he expects his gym
nasts’ scores to show it.
“I think we will score somewhere
between 195.5 and 196.5,” Kendig
said.
Competing at home also will help
Nebraska. The Huskers average 194.77
at home meets compared to 191.17 on
the road.
“I think the familiarity with sur
roundings helps,” Kendig said. “They
also want to do good in front of their
friends and families.”
With a lot of families, friends and
University of Nebraska-Lincoln stu
dents in attendance, Kendig hopes NU
can keep the Masters Classic trophy in
Lincoln.
Turnovers,
missed shots
hurt Raiders
By Sam McKewon
Senior Reporter
Texas Tech’s well-oiled offen
sive machine went kaput in the first
half Wednesday night against
Nebraska.
The Red Raiders came into the
game averaging 78 points per con
test, but scored only 24 points in the
first twenty minutes against NU
and fell behind by 18 at halftime.
Tech never climbed back up
that mountain of points and lost to
the Comhuskers 82-65.
“It was pretty simple out there,”
Texas Tech guard Cory Carr said.
“We didn’t make any plays in the
first half. We didn’t do anything.”
But it looked promising early.
Red Raider guard Stan Bonewitz
made a 3-pointer to cut NU’s lead to
5-3 with 18:20 remaining in the
first half.
It went downhill from there.
Tech turned the ball over 16
times in the first half and made
only 8 of 24 shots (33 percent). Five
of those shots were blocked.
Carr, who came in the game
leading the Big 12 Conference in
scoring at 24.1 points per game,
scored only eight. Guard Rayford
Young was averaging 16.2 points
and scored just one point.
“We really didn’t show what
kind of team we were in that first
half,” Young said. “That and against
Kansas were the worst first halves
we’ve had all year” -
Texas Tech Coach James Dickey
had high praise for both NU’s
defense and the play of Husker point
guard lyronn Lue.But Tech shot
itself in the foot, Dickey said.
“When you look at our guns,
Cory, Rayford and Stanley, they
were 9 out of 31 shooting. That’s
obviously not very good.” -
With the loss, Texas Tech
dropped below .500 in the confer
ence and has lost four of its last five
games.
Still, Dickey said, the Red
Raiders aren't out of a possible
NCAA bid. Dickey said he thought
Nebraska would earn a berth to the
NCAA Tournament in March.
