Lydia Gonzales/DN
NEBRASKA PITCHER SHANE KOMINE may not look the part, but the 5-foot-9 sophomore has one of the best fastballs
on the team at aroumd 94 miles per hour.
Komine looks to the future
ACE from page 20
innings while posting a 1.94 ERA.
But Komine doesn’t know those
numbers by heart; he doesn’t even care
as long as his team wins.
“The statistics and awards feel
good, but they’re pretty much a team
thing,” he says. “I wouldn’t be able to
get it if my teammates didn’t play solid
defense and offense.”
Because he throws in the mid-90s
and averages nearly 13 strikeouts per
nine innings, Komine has been labeled
a power pitcher.
But he’s not the typical 6-foot-4
inch farm boy who’s been throwing
baseballs against the bam all his life.
He’s the scrawny beachbum who’s
been riding the waves on the sandy
beaches of Oahu.
Komine says his parents took huh
to the beach when he was 2 years old,
and he’s been addicted to it ever since.
“I surfed every day when I was a
kid,” he says. “I grew up in the water.”
Komine Is parents also decided that
their son needed to broaden his hori
zons and get involved with a sport
The first choice was soccer, but
Komine says that didn’t quite fit him.
“The next thing I tried was baseball,
and I’ve been with it ever since,” he
says.
It was tough trying to get Division
I attention when he was pitching on an
island halfway to Japan.
But when the Huskers played in a
spring tournament in Hawaii during the
1998 season, Komine caught the eye of
NU Coach Dave Van Horn.
“We watched him throw, and we
realized he was something special,”
Van Horn said. “We followed him
throughout die season and eventually
offered him a scholarship.”
Komine said few colleges recruited
him because of his seclusion in the
Hawaiian Islands, and many of those
who did, scoffed at the 135-pound
pitcher.
“They told me I wasn’t big enough,
and they weren’t sure if I could make it
in college ball,” he said.
Despite his success at Nebraska,
professional scouts are telling him die
U I don’t care if
he’s small, he can
pitch.”
Dave Van Horn
NU baseball coach
same thing.
“They keep telling me, ‘If you were
a couple inches taller, we’d draft you.’”
Van Horn said the scouts are being
close-minded.
“I don’t care if he’s small; he can
pitch,” he said. “I have no doubt that
he’ll pitch and pitch successfully in the
next level.”
Komine hopes he gets the chance to
pitch in the big leagues, but for now,
he’s got other things to do. He wants to
get a degree and is leaning toward soci
ology as a major. He will get a degree,
Komine said, even if he gets drafted
early.
And if he doesn’t?
“I’ll just go home, surf and enjoy
the rest of my life,” Komine said.
Huskers to regain
Nelson for NCAA’s
GYM from page 20
The boost adds to the upswing
NU has been on the last three weeks
after suffering through a season of
downfalls. Along with Nelson’s
injury, 1999 NCAA all-around
champion Jason Hardabura has
been out nearly the entire season
with shoulder and back injuries.
With that and a slew of injuries
to other top contributors, the ultra
thin Huskers put up some of the
worst scores in school history and
lost five of their six dual meets.
But with the return of injured
sophomore Grant Clinton to the
lineup, NU shocked higher-ranked
teams at the Mountain Pacific
Sports Federation Championships
two weeks ago by finishing third
with a 228.225 - its best score by
nearly four points.
The score also insured the
Huskers’ spot in the NCAAs. The
top 12 teams in the national rank
ings qualified for the champi
onships, and the top six teams in
Thursday’s qualifier will compete
on Friday night for the team title.
Friday also will showcase the all
around title, and the event will cul
minate with Saturday’s individual
events titles.
The teams are divided into two
six-team divisions, with the top
three teams from each region quali
fying. NU is in the 1 p.m. session
with No. 1 Michigan, No. 4 Ohio
State, No. 5 Penn State, No. 8
Illinois and Massachusetts.
With last year’s top two finish
ers MU and OSU being safe bets,
U He wants to
write the final
chapter to his
career. It’s not the
chapter we
wanted, but it’s
better than no
chapter.”
Francis Allen
men’s gymnastics coach
Allen said he expects to compete
with Illinois and Penn State - who
pasted NU on March 4 - for the
third and final spot.
But with a hobbling Nelson
possibly set to provide a history
making memory and the team’s
drastic improvement over the last
month, NU expects to surprise
some people.
“God, I hope we do,” said
Leiter, a senior who is expected to
compete for the all-around title. “If
we don’t, I might just have to bum
the roof off or chop the rings in half.
“It’s been a 180-degree turn
around in this gym the last month. I
don’t want people to look back and
remember us as the team that got
hurt. I want them to remember us
for the character and the quality of
gymnasts we had.”
Play by play,
you just can’t beat
Dailyneb.com
