SportsMonday
Shane famine
breaks the
Nebraska strike
out record
Saturday by
striking out five
batten during
the first half of
Saturday^ dou
bleheader with
Missouri. The
Husken lost two
of three games
totheTigenon
the weekend.
Mizzou
steals two
fromNU
■The Husker baseball team,after winning its
first game, loses to Missouri 3-2 in a dose,
windswept rubbermatch on Sunday.
BY SAMUEL MCKEWON
There were more bats bounding off the Buck
Beltzer turf in disgust than there were hits on the
scoreboard. In a deviation from the norm, the No. 5
Nebraska baseball team’s hitting machine went cold
in the weekend north wind against Missouri.
As a result, die Tigers, a second-division team in
the Big 12 Conference that’s suddenly gotten hot,
stole two games away from the Comhuskers, winning
die rubbermatch on Sunday after a split doublehead
er on Saturday.
NU won die first game, as pitcher Shane Komine
captured the school strikeout recording, getting five
Ks to run his career total to 293. Komine was far from
sharp but had run support in a 14-4 win.
The final two games were a different tale. After
NU was handcuffed on Saturday night 6-2, two fresh
men dueled for their respective teams on Sunday.
One went the distance. One went off die mound in
Please see TIGERS on 9
Runnin :ks stand in snotliaht of first sorina scrimmaae
BY JEFF SHELDON '
Nebraska got its first look at some new faces in
simulated game situations during its first con
trolled scrimmage of the spring Saturday after
noon at Memorial Stadium.
As usual, it was tha Cornhuskers’ running
game that provided the most highlights in the
first heavy action of the spring.
The I-back position was the major source of
big plays of the day. Dahrran Diedrick, expected
as the No. 1 I-back this fall, set the tone with a 22
yard cutback run on the scrimmage's first play on
his way to finishing with 25 yards on three carries.
Sophomore DeAntae Grixby put in some time
with the first string backfield, logging four carries
■
with the top unit and finishing with just eight
yards.
But perhaps the highlight of the scrimmage
came on a 29-yard, reverse field scoring run
turned in by junior Thunder Collins, the scrim
mage’s leading ball-carrier with 59 yards on 10
carries.
Collins’ touchdown run, covering the entire
width of the field, prompted a post-scrimmage
chuckle when a reporter asked Nebraska Coach
Frank Solich which was more impressive:
Collins’s reversal of direction on the field or rever
sal of direction in the classroom. Collins recently
returned to practice following an academic sus
pension.
“If you don’t do the work in the classroom,”
Solich said, “you're not going to get a chance to do
the reverses.” *
Overall, Solich said he was pleased with what
'the ground game showed him Saturday.
"I thought a lot of the running backs showed
the ability to make big plays, and that’s good to
see,” Solich said.
The scrimmage was the first of three that NU
is allowed to partake in dining its 15 spring prac
tices. The last of the three will be April 14 in the
annual Red-White game.
Solich said it was good to finally get some con
tact in and let players mix it up a little more than
in usual practices.
“We were glad to get some contact in today. I
think it went about like we expected,” Solich said.
Quarterback Jammal Lord, the top signal
caller this spring in place of injured Eric Crouch,
led the top offensive unit to two scoring drives in
five chances against the first-string defense,
including a 19-yard touchdown pass to John Klem
on the second play of the scrimmage.
Lord also tossed a 38-yard TD strike to an
uncovered Ben Comelsen during the first team’s
fourth drive, en route to completing four of eight
passes for 68 yards.
Solich stated that overall the scrimmage was a
little ragged but did not produce any surprises.
“It (the scrimmage) was about like we, as
coaches, expected. There were some things we
certainly need to get a lot better at, but our effort
was good,” Solich said. “Our timing was a little off
on both sides of the ball, but then, that’s expect
Please see SCRIMMAGE on 9
Done deal: Knight officially new general at Tech
BY JOSHUA CAMENZ1ND
1»
Bob Knight, the oft- condemned
basketball coach who has as many
fanatical supporters as he does
equally enthused critics, was offi
cially named Texas Tech’s new bas
ketball coach on Friday night.
The press conference, which
drew more than 7,000 Red Raider
fans to Tech's United Spirit Arena,
ended more than a week of specula
tion that the former Indiana coach
would return to coaching and join
the Big 12 Conference.
Knight was hired to take over a
Texas Tech program that finished
last in the Big 12 and won only nine
of 28 games mis past season. Former
Coach James Dickey was fired the
day after Tech's first-round loss at
me Big 12 Tournament to Oklahoma
State. It was only back in 1996 mat
Dickey had guided Tech to a 30-2
record and a Sweet Sixteen appear
ance.
But hard times and NCAA viola
tions contributed to a 47-66 record
in Dickey's final four years.
Knight promised Tech fans a
team mat will make mem proud and
gave his word to me students mat his
players would be held to an equal
standard.
”1 expect mem to be students, in
every sense of me word, just like you
are expected to be students,” he said.
Knight, who is 117 wins from
breaking former North Carolina
Coach Dean Smith’s all-time coach
ing victory mark, has won 763 games
in his career at Indiana and Army.
His Indiana stint included three
national titles but the latest came
bade in 1987.
Before fleing fired from Indiana
last season for conduct detrimental
to the university, it was dear Knight’s
glory days had been gone for some
time. ''The General," despite having
at least 20 wins a year in his last four
years as a Hoosier, failed to guide his
team past the second round since
Ill’s Sweet Sixteen appearance in
1994.
Knight’s short temper finally
caught up to him as incident after
incident was revealed about his past
involving physical contact with
players. After an Indiana student
accused Knight of grabbing him on
campus, IU President Myles Brand
fired the state icon.
But Knight, who has been less
than apologetic of his past behavior,
said he was thankful for getting a
chance to coach again.
Knight was also happy with the
reception he received at the gather
ing after 100 Texas Tech faculty
signed a petition trying to block his
hiring.
“This is, without question, the
most comfortable red sweater I have
had on in sixyears," said Knight after
putting on a Tech sweater vest pre
sented to him at the rally, marked
with a circus atmosphere as those in
attendance showered boos upon
reporters asking questions that
related to Knight’s troubled dis
missal.
foas Tech Courtesy Photo
Mew Texas Tech basketbal Coach Bob Knight addressesan enthusiastic crowd at the United Spirit Arena
h LubbocMexas»on Friday.Knight last coached at Imfiana where he was removed for behavior.
At one point, Knight dismissed a
reporter from asking a second ques
tion after the crowd responded with
boos when Knight asked the audi
ence if the reporter should continue.
Knight showed in other ways that his
ego hasn’t taken a hit in his time
away from the game.
Please see KNIGHT on 9
Winning streak nits 14 as Huskers sweep past Missouri
■Peaches James pulls through for
NU in an 11-inning victory.
FROM STAFF REPORTS
It took nearly the equivalent of
three games for Nebraska's softball
team to extend its season-high winning
streak by two to 14 consecutive wins.
With an 11-inning victory in the
opener, Nebraska (24-9,2-0) took two
games from Missouri (18-17.0-2) dur
ing the weekend. The 18ranked
Huskers won a marathon on Saturday,
4-1 in 11 innings, and added a 5-1 win
on Sunday to sweep the conference
opening doubleheader.
Junior pitcher Leigh Ann Walker
dominated the Tigers in game one,
throwing a complete game and allow
ing only six hits. Out of the 36 batters,
she struck out a career-high 17. The win
leaves Walker with a 10-4 record.
“Leigh Ann came out and dominat
ed early, and in the later innings, she
dominated at the right moments,”
Nebraska Pitching Coach Lori Sippel
said. “She won the key situations and
gave our team opportunities.”
Missouri ace Stephanie Falk was
just as dominant, hoover, shutting the
Huskers out through nine innings and
finishing the game with 12 strikeouts.
Each team scored its first run of die
game in the 10th, and the longest game
of the season for NU continued.
In the 11th, Nebraska started with
Jamie Fuente on second (as per the
international tiebreaker rule).
Freshman Nicole Trimboli advanced
Fuente to third with a single to center,
and Falk hit Leigh Suhr to load the
bases. After two straight outs and the
bases still loaded, Coach Rhonda
Revelle sent freshman pitcher Peaches
James to pinch hit for Lori ISchannen.
James belted a double to score
/ 1
three and gave Nebraska the lead.
“I felt like Peaches was ready for
that at bat," Revelle said “She had time
to prepare, and when her number
came up she was ready."
In die second game Nebraska had
an easier go of it, scoring three runs in
the second and added one in each of
die next two innings.
Suhr paced Nebraska in the second
game, leading the Huskers with two
hits and an RBI.
Freshman pitcher Katie Decker
shut the Tigers out through four
innings, struck out five and scattered
just six hits in her copiplete game win.
Gymnasts take
Big 12s in
record fashion
■With a perfect lOfrom Bree Oority
O'Callaghan, Nebraska wins the Big 12 title
with a school record score.
FROM STAFF REPORTS
Fuming from a disappointing showing in last
year’s Big 12 Championship Tournament, the
fourth-ranked Nebraska women’s gymnastic team
scorched through the competition to earn this
year’s team tjjle.
And it did so in record fashion. The
Comhuskers’ winning score of 197.650 broke the
school and conference record and marked the
fifth time this season NU has broken the school
record.
Last year’s champion, ninth-ranked Iowa
State, finished second with a 197.050. Oklahoma
came in third with a 196.70, while Missouri round
ed out the field with a 193.675.
"Iowa State and Oklahoma had great meets
and really pushed us to win," NU Coach Dan
Kendig said. "It was a total team effort, and our
only goal was a team championship. Everything
else is just icing on the cake."
Junior Bree Dority O’Callaghan became the
first gymnast in Big 12 history to hit a perfect 10 on
the uneven bars. O’Callaghan also took home a
share of the balance beam title, tying teammate
A.J. Lamb and Iowa State’s Stephanie Sweitzer with
a 9.950.
"It really feels good because sometimes you
can have good and bad practices, but it feels great
when you can go out and hit a routine when the
team needs it," O’Callaghan said.
Sophomore Jess Wertz shared the vault title
with ISU's Shelly Kringen, scoring 9.875 on the
apparatus.
After the meet, freshman Alecia Ingram was
named Big 12 newcomer and gymnast of the year.
Ingram is the first gymnast in conference history
to be awarded both honors in the same season.
"Alecia has fit in well at Nebraska and is
extremely gifted and follows our motto ‘Totally
Dedicated to Excellence,’" Kendig said. "She wants
the team to do its best, and when she gets on the
floor, it is all business."
In all, eight Nebraska gymnasts combined for
11 All-Big 12 honors. O’Callaghan (bars, beam),
Ingram (bars, vault) and Lamb (beam, floor)
walked away with two honors apiece, while Julie
Houk (bars), Tami Harris (bars), Jen French (beam)
and Libby Landgraf (floor) also earned honors.