May 31, 2002

Box Score

LINCOLN, Neb. - Jeff Blevins hit a three-run home run and Brian Duensing pitched 6 2/3 innings of scoreless relief as Nebraska claimed a 7-2 win over UWM in front of a record 6,331 fans in the opening game of the Lincoln Regional Friday afternoon.

The Panthers (36-19) will face Southwest Missouri State, which lost 5-4 to Marist in 11 innings, Saturday morning at 11:05 a.m. The Cornhuskers (43-18) will face Marist Saturday afternoon at 3:35 p.m.

UWM built an early 2-0 advantage, but could not withstand a Cornhusker rally of seven unanswered runs, including two runs in the fourth inning and four more in the fifth. Plus, the Panthers could not solve the relief work of the left-handed Duensing (6-1), who gave up just three hits and allowed only one runner to reach third base.

"Dave (Van Horn) made a great move in the third inning to make a pitching change," UWM head coach Jerry Augustine said. "We didn't pitch the ball very well today and we certainly didn't swing the bat the way we had the last few weeks."

Quintin Oldenburg (9-3), bidding to become the first pitcher in school history to win 10 games in a single season, allowed five runs and eight hits in 4 1/3 innings of work. He retired nine of the first 12 batters he faced in working the first three innings in scoreless fashion. But, he allowed three hits and a walk in the fourth before getting knocked out of the game with three hits, including the Blevins home run, in the fifth.

Jed Morris and John Grose had three hits apiece to lead the Cornhuskers, while Blevins added two hits. No one had more than a single hit for the Panthers.

UWM broke through with a run in the second inning. Steve Guden singled with one out and Jeff Pitrof brought him home with a double to the wall in left-center. In the third, the Panthers knocked Nebraska starter Aaron Marsden from the game with one out following a walk by Troy Doering and a single by Adam Christ. John Vanden Berg then brought in the Panthers' second run with a sacrifice fly to deep left-center off Duensing.

Nebraska started its comeback in the fourth. The Cornhuskers plated their first run thanks to three-straight one-out singles. Grose drove in the run with his single to right field but Oldenburg then induced Will Bolt into a ground ball to shortstop. The force-out was recorded at second base but Bolt was ruled safe at first, allowing Justin Seely to score from third. Television replays showed the throw to first beat Bolt by a half-step.

The big fifth inning for the Cornhuskers started with back-to-back one-out singles by Morris and Matt Hopper before Jeff Blevins cracked a three-run home run to right field to make it 5-2. After Cory Kleeba replaced Oldenburg and struck out Seely, Grose blasted a solo home run to left-center field to cap the scoring in the inning.

The Cornhuskers added an insurance run off of Kleeba in the seventh when Morris hit a home run to right-center.

Game Notes: Troy Doering has now reached safely in 34-straight games after collecting a walk in the first inning. His 34 walks this season are the fifth-most during a single season in school history ... The crowd of 6,331 is the largest crowd the UWM baseball team has ever played in front of. The previous high was 3,963 at Texas on March 4, 2001 ... Jeff Pitrof's second-inning double was his first hit in a road game since April 28 at Cleveland State ... Steve Guden's second-inning single extended his modest hitting streak to five games ... Quintin Oldenburg had a streak 15 1/3 scoreless innings broken when he allowed two runs in the fourth inning ... The home run Oldenburg allowed in the fifth inning to Jeff Blevins was the fourth homer he has allowed this season, but the first since April 28 ... Matt Freisleben added to his school record for single-season and career appearances by working one inning in relief. He has made 36 appearances this season and 114 in his career.