Baylor looms for Huskers in big series
By Dane Stickney
Senior editor
This weekend’s series might be
the most important so far this season
for the Nebraska baseball team.
For the first time since the 1999
Big 12 Tournament’s championship
game, the Comhuskers will take the
field against the Baylor Bears, who
NU Coach Dave Van Horn calls one
of the best teams in the conference.
“They have some high expecta
tions for the season, and they certain
ly have the talent to do big things,”
Van Horn said. “It’s going to be a
tough series.”
W We know that we have to pitch three
good games this weekend.”
Shane Komine
NU pitcher
Last year, the Huskers beat
Baylor 4-3 in a dramatic finish of the
Big 12 Tournament.
“That was a big win for us, obvi
ously,” Van Horn said. “I’m sure
Baylor would like to avenge that
loss.”
Going into the week, Baylor was
ranked No. 20 in the nation, but
Tuesday’s 4-3 loss to No. 12 Houston
dropped the Bears to 21-10 on the
season.
Nebraska (18-8) and Baylor are
tied for third in the conference with
7-5 records.
Both teams are chasing Texas,
which is 10-2 in Big 12 play.
Van Horn said a sweep this week
end could put the Huskers one step
closer to catching the Longhorns.
“If we could get a sweep, it’d be
huge,” he said. “But even if we win
two out of three against a team like
Baylor, it could help us out quite a
bit.”
Van Horn said it will be impor
tant to start the series with a win in
tonight’s contest at 7. The teams
square off again at 7 p.m. on
Saturday, with the finale Sunday at
1:00 p.m.
Pitchers Shane Komine, Jaime
Rodrigue and Scott Fries will each
start a game this weekend, but Van
Horn said he was unsure who would
pitch when.
Pitchers Chad Wiles and R.D.
Spiehs, who have both started games
in the last few weeks, have been
moved to relief to bolster the
bullpen.
Regardless of who is on the
mound, Komine said all of the pitch
ers are ready for the important series.
“We know that we have to pitch
three good games this weekend,” he
said. “We’re pretty fired up to face
some of the best teams in the confer
ence.”
Komine said a sweep is possible.
“They’re a good team, but I think
we can match up well with them,” he
said. “We feel like if we play well, we
can beat anyone.”
Leiter moves on in NCAAs
while Huskers finish season
LEITER from page 14
tonight against OSU, PSU and three
qualifiers from the evening session,
held late Thursday night.
For a team whose eternal optimist
of a coach thought was as good as
dead, Nebraska made an admirable
charge, trailing the Buckeyes by just
.25 for third halfway through the
round. But banged-up NU’s shaky
opening high bar routine and average
performances kept them at arm’s
length.
“The high bar just killed us,” NU
Coach Francis Allen said. “We missed
four routines. Had we hit them, we’d tie
in the thick of things
“We hit 80 percent of our routines
and did a respectable job. These guys
that we had - we didn’t pound hard
enough from September to January.
We would have got more out of them if
we had. Butwfe spent all of our time on
our five or six best gymnasts.”
Injuries were a seasdn-long prob
lem, and at some point, all of those top
gymnasts were hurt.
Hardabura was out nearly the
entire season with back injuries.
Three-time NCAA champion
Marshall Nelson tore the ACL in his
left knee. And sophomore Grant
Clinton didn’t return to the lineup until
two weeks ago.
Fortunately, Leiter remained
healthy after an early-season injury
and has been putting up career-high
numbers. Even though nothing spec
tacular popped out of his routine
Thursday, he won the vault and floor
exercise titles to go along with his sev
enth all-around title.
“Now these judges know Derek is
good,” Allen said. “It was a disadvan
tage for him to be on a team that didn’t
score well as a team. And it will hurt
him tomorrow night. Ohio State and
Michigan’s all-arounders will benefit
from that pump factor. But they know
he’s good, and his scores should
improve.”
Along with the team and all
around titles, tonight’s event will stage
the qualifier for Saturday’s individual
events title. In addition to Leiter, five
other Huskers qualified - Clinton
(high bar), Dusty Jakub and Martin
Fournier (parallel bars), Asher
Lichterman (vault and still rings) and
Blake Bukacek (pommel horse).
Bukacek’s appearance tonight may
be NU’s most surprising, considering
last year’s high bar runner-up tore the
ACL in his right knee in November.
Nelson’s appearance on the pom
mel horse was Thursday’s most inspir
ing. Nelson performed despite just one
week of practice. Although his routine
was softened, Allen put Nelson last in
the pommel horse lineup, and the sen
ior responded with a 9.475, drawing
roars from his teammates.
“It wasn’t my best routine ever,”
Nelson said. “But the score counted,
and it was worth it. It was definitely
emotional. And at that point, I didn’t
know how we were doing. At least I got
to do it and got to be out there on the
floor with guys I’ve been out there
with the last four or five years.”
Had Nelson been 100 percent and
Hardabura competed, Allen said,
there’s little doubt the Huskers would
have won the national title.
“We would have been right there,”
Allen said. “It was a good, scrappy
team. I think all that adversity gave
them thicker skin and made them
stronger.”
Husker bats get hot in Shocker sweep
SOFTBALL from page 14
Ogee wasn’t hitting as well as she
would have liked in the Colorado
State series this last weekend.
“We had a little chat in pregame,”
Revelle said. “It wasn’t anything big,
just ‘be confident.’ And she respond
ed.”
Ogee greeted Wichita State
starter Courtney Crumbliss (2-4)
with a double to lead off the first
inning of the second game. It was the
first of four straight NU hits in an
eight-run first.
NU wouldn’t score again in the
game but got all the runs it needed
with its first inning hitting. Amanda
Buchholz and Lori Tschannen pro
vided the biggest offensive fire
I was real excited. It was unexpected;
it just kind of happened."
Amanda Buchholz
NU hitter
works, drilling consecutive home
runs.
Both dingers were the first in
Buchholz’s and Tschamien’s careers,
and it was the first time NU hit back
to-back homers this season.
“I was real excited,” said
Buchholz, who has been with the
softball team for just a few weeks
after playing on the basketball team.
“It was unexpected; it just kind of
happened.”
Leigh Ann Walker (10-4) threw
five dominating innings for
Nebraska, allowing only three hits
and nobody past second base while
notching eight strikeouts in the sec
ond game.
In the opener, Jamie Fuente
ended the game with her fifth inning
grand slam, making the score 11-0,
and invoking the eight-run mercy
rule.
Cowboys welcome back position depth
COWBOYS from page 14
But Simmons shouldn’t be too
worried about his returning squad.
Five All-Big 12 Conference per
formers - quarterback Tony Lindsay,
tight end Marcellus Rivers, line
backer Dwayne Levels, center Josh
Lind and running b^ick Jammql
Fobbs - all return from a team that
finished 5-6 last year.
The return of Lindsay should be
key as OSU tries to improve on a dis
appointing 3-5 mark in the Big 12, in
which it suffered close losses to
Kansas State, Texas and Texas A&M.
“I think in Tony Lindsay you have
a senior quarterback that has been
through a lot of battles,” Simmons
said. “You have a lot of confidence in
a guy like that.”
^ Spring is the best
time to begin a
learning process."
Bob Simmons
Oklahoma State football coach
With the quarterback position
nailed down and a strong cast of
players returning, Simmons said, the
focus of the coaching staff will be to
develop depth.
“Spring for us has always been a
time for improvement and learning,”
he said. “In terms of getting funda
mentals down, spring is the best time
to begin a learning process.
“We want to make sure we can
find solid backups on both offense
and defense.”
The spring season also gives the
Cowboys time to get used to a few
coaching changes.
Mike Cassity becomes the new
defensive coordinator after former
Defensive Coordinator Rob Ryan
left for a job in the NFL. Other new •
additions include Offensive Line
Coach Mike Jacobs and Linebackers
Coach Dave Huxtable.
But Simmons cautioned against
any wholesale changes.
“When you lose a coach, you go
out and hire the best available
coach,” he said. “The philosophies
won’t change. But hopefully the
experience gained by hiring these
coaches will make us a better squad
next fall.”
Huskers hope to place
at NCAA regionals
■ Top-two finish would
send Huskers to the
NCAA Championships.
By Jason Merrihew
Staff writer
After a two-week layoff, the
fifth-ranked Nebraska women’s
gymnastics team will try to
redeem themselves from a disap
pointing runner-up finish in the
Big 12 Championships by compet
ing in the NCAA Region Three
meet in Tucson, Ariz., on Saturday.
Nebraska will began competi
tion at 7:00 p.m. in the McKale
Center. NU will face No. 8
Louisiana State, No. 16 Arizona
State, Arizona, Missouri and
Illinois-Chicago.
The Comhuskers will aim for a
top-two finish in the regional so
they can advance to the NCAA
Championships which will be held
at Boise, Idaho, on April 13-15.
The Huskers have been train
ing this week with one goal in
mind, to move on to Boise.
The heartbreaking loss to Iowa
State has put fuel on the fire to
train hard for the rest of the post
season.
“It was that little kick in the ass
we needed,” senior All-American
Heather Brink said. “We have a
chance to redeem ourselves.
“We expected to go in there
and win. It has pushed us that
much harder to fix our mistakes.”
Nebraska also has benefited
from the conclusion of the men’s
and women’s basketball season.
This allows the team to practice in
an arena setting at the Bob
Devaney Sports Center.
Coach Dan Kendig said the
gymnasts will feel more relaxed
when they enter competition
Saturday because they were
allowed to practice in an arena.
“We trained well,” Kendig
said. “It’s the best we have trained
for a meet all year.”
The Cornhuskers will head to
Tucson mostly free of injuries.
Freshman Jen French will be limit
ed to the vault due to a groin pull.
Freshman A.J. Lamb’s ankle is
back to 100 percent, and Kendig
will pencil her into the all-around
lineup.
Xv ;
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