Kroenke eventually finds his form

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BY CURT McKEEVER

If it rained a little harder at Haymarket Park on Friday night, Zach Kroenke might have walked on water.

After giving up a run two batters into the game, allowing four hits to the first seven hitters he faced and throwing 49 pitches through two innings, Nebraska's left-handed sophomore found his unbeaten form to lead the Huskers to a 3-1 victory against Texas Tech.

From the third inning until he came out following his 134th pitch that concluded the eighth, Kroenke allowed just one runner past first base.

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NU junior Joe Simokaitis throws the ball to first base after getting Texas Tech junior Cooper Fouts out off a pitch from NU senior Jake Mullinax for a double play in the fourth inning Friday night at Haymarket Park.

NU junior Joe Simokaitis throws the ball to first base after getting Texas Tech junior Cooper Fouts out off a pitch from NU senior Jake Mullinax for a double play in the fourth inning Friday night at Haymarket Park.

A performance that left him 6-0 this season came on a night when Big 12 Conference-leading NU (24-5, 6-1) was held to a season-low four hits by Tech's Steven Thomas. But two of those came on back-to-back solo home runs by Jake Mullinax and Curtis Ledbetter in the second inning, which gave the 12th-ranked Huskers enough offense to produce their ninth straight win and 17th in 18 games.

"I'm not going to say we were outpitched," Nebraska coach Mike Anderson said, "because Zach battled back from that start."

The Red Raiders (18-12, 1-5) wasted no time getting to Kroenke. Cameron Blair doubled to right-center to open the game and scored on Dallas Braden's single past Ledbetter, who was playing first base for the first time since injuring his right shoulder on March 26. After Josh Brady struck out, Josh Haney blooped a single over Ledbetter. But Kroenke got Michael Mask to foul out to third baseman Alex Gordon, then made a pickoff move to catch Haney in a rundown for the third out.

"Last year, I probably could have panicked. I'm guessing I probably would have," Kroenke said. "I've learned a lot in a short while."

So much so that pitching coach Rob Childress remained in the dugout through Kroenke's early struggles.

"He came out enough last year to last the next couple years," Kroenke said. "He knows when I get into holes I'm going to battle out.

"The first inning, I left two sliders up is about all I did wrong."

Through eight starts, Kroenke has posted better numbers than Nebraska's previous two Friday night starters - 2003 Big 12 Pitcher of the Year Aaron Marsden and two-time first-team All-American Shane Komine. His earned run average is now just 1.94.

"He wasn't showing signs (of losing it)," Anderson said when asked why the coaching staff remained patient with Kroenke, who struck out nine and walked just one. "He wasn't out of the (strike) zone. He kept coming back 0-1, and he wasn't up."

Thomas was nearly as effective, but ended up a hard-luck loser to fall to 2-4.

Mullinax tied the game leading off the second by lining a 1-0 pitch just over the 342-foot sign in right-center for his fifth homer. Ledbetter followed by hitting his third homer, a rainmaker down the left-field line belted on an 0-2 delivery.

"It kind of changed the momentum back to us," Mullinax said. "For 'Led' to go back-to-back, it was 'OK, here we go.'"

But the right-handed senior Thomas was hardly an easy mark. In fact, Nebraska's only other run was unearned, courtesy of an error by second baseman Haney, who dropped a ball after drifting into shallow right field. Daniel Bruce ended up at second on the play, advanced to third on Gordon's fly out to left and scored on Mullinax's sac fly to right.

"I thought it was extremely unusual," Anderson said of the win. "We didn't put pressure on them. We scored with home runs and an error."

Mullinax, who also started a snazzy double play in the fifth when he scooped up a grounder then flipped his glove to deliver the ball to shortstop Joe Simokaitis, wasn't about to complain.

"A little frustrating for our offense, but to see us win games with home runs, it's nice," he said. "We'll take them how we get 'em."

Mike Sillman pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to earn his fourth save. The right-handed senior has not allowed a run in his last seven appearances. ... Nebraska and Tech play the second tilt in their three-game series today at 2:05 p.m.

Reach Curt McKeever at 473-7441 or cmckeever@;journalstar.com.