Homer powers Huskers

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BY CURT McKEEVER

The heck with trying to merely hit a ball hard.

"I thought we needed a home run right there," said Nebraska junior shortstop Joe Simokaitis of his three-run shot with two outs in the seventh inning that lifted the 19th-ranked Nebraska baseball team to a 4-1 win Friday night against No. 10 Texas A&M at Haymarket Park.

Simokaitis was only kidding, folks. When you've homered once in your career over a span of 523 at-bats, you don't start calling shots.

But on Friday, he might as well have been Barry Bonds to the 4,748 fans who watched him give the Huskers their 15th straight home victory against a Top 10 opponent.

Simokaitis' first-ever homer at Haymarket came at the expense of Jason Meyer, a left-handed redshirt freshman who while building an 8-0 record hadn't allowed more than two earned runs in 17 appearances. And he hadn't given up a homer.

"It's a tough way to lose," said Meyer, who retired 12 straight at one point before getting in trouble in the seventh. "The nine-hole guy you never expect to hit a home run."

Simokaitis - who on Tuesday capped NU's 4-3 win against Northern Colorado with a two-run single in the ninth - came to the plate in the seventh on Friday after Jesse Boyer had singled and Tyler Vaughn walked. He then hammered a 1-1 changeup delivery from Meyer to left field that barely cleared a leaping attempt by Travis Bartek at the wall.

"It didn't feel too good, but I got it up in the air," Simokaitis said. "I thought the guy was going to pull it back."

When he didn't, the Huskers led 4-1 and it gave NU left-handed sophomore Zach Kroenke the adrenaline needed to finish off a complete-game, three-hit performance. It was the second time this season and third in his career that Kroenke went the distance.

"We hit too many fly balls, and a lot of it had to do with him," A&M coach Mark Johnson said of Kroenke. "We weren't able to break him."

Kroenke (7-1) was coming off his only loss of the year, at Texas last Friday. In that game, he allowed a career-high six runs over a season-low 31/3 innings.

His outing against A&M marked the fifth time this year he'd allowed no more than a lone run. The Aggies, who have lost seven straight to NU in Lincoln, have scored just one run over the last 26 innings they've played in Haymarket.

"It's definitely a nice comeback," Kroenke said. "You lose to Texas like that, I've got to prove I've earned this spot and am going to keep it."

Kroenke made a major statement about his worth in the top of the seventh, when he escaped a runners-at-first-and-third situation by getting John Infante to foul out to catcher John Grose before striking out Travis Baldwin.

But Friday belonged to Simokaitis, whose only previous homer as a Husker came at Texas Tech on April 27, 2003.

Before he launched his second, Nebraska's lone run had come in the second inning, when Jake Mullinax doubled, moved to third on Grose's single and scored on Boyer's fielder's choice grounder.

A&M had pulled even in the fifth, when Cory Patton singled, Infante doubled and Baldwin produced a sacrifice fly.

Leave it to Simokaitis to break up the pitchers' duel.

"That's three-year's due right there," Simokaitis said. "Now, they're going to start coming in bunches."

That comment likely would have drawn a smile from Johnson.

"The nine-hole hitter usually doesn't hit game-winners," he said. "I think he got all of it. You have to give him credit. Jason got the changeup up and he hit it."

n The teams meet again at 2:05 p.m. today in a game that will be televised by NETV (channel 12).

n Volunteers from charitable organizations will be outside Haymarket Park as part of Join Hands Day to collect items for the homeless and others in need. Fans are encouraged to donate undergarments, person car products, paper products, first aid and cleaning supplies.

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