NU Notes, 6/20: Gordon faced familiar umpire
digg it!
Facebook
del.icio.us
Seed Newsvine
Fark It
Reddit
Husker star Alex Gordon and umpire David Wiley got to spend some quality time together at third base Sunday night.
Wiley, you might recall, was the ump who ejected Gordon for arguing a call on a tag play in the Huskers' super regional clincher over Miami. It turns out Gordon didn't even know it was his old buddy working third Sunday.
"Was that David Wiley?" Gordon said. "I didn't say a word to him. The past is behind me. I wasn't even thinking about that."
Gordon had a solid night at the plate. He hit the ball hard in each of his first three at-bats, but all three shots were caught in the outfield. The first was a sacrifice fly to right. The other two were liners to left.
Gordon singled to center in the sixth for his first hit of the CWS. He popped out to short in the ninth.
"I felt like I swung it good," Gordon said. "That's the game of baseball. You hit them hard sometimes, and sometimes you get little bloopers."
Tough night
Husker first baseman Curtis Ledbetter has had better nights.
"It's one of those nights you've just got to forget," he said.
Ledbetter was 0-for-3 with two strikeouts at the plate and made two errors at first. Florida's four-run fifth started with Ledbetter dropping a throw from shortstop Joe Simokaitis on a grounder by Justin Tordi.
Ledbetter had a rough ninth, too. He took a tumble near the stands while trying to catch a foul pop down the right-field line and then booted a ground ball by Jeff Corsaletti for his 11th error of the season.
"I dragged the old face on the ground pretty good there," Ledbetter said, referring to the foul-ball chase. "It happens to every one in baseball at one time or another. It was my time to not have a good one, I guess."
Streak buster
Sunday's loss ended a few Husker streaks, including the team's run of 11 wins, which had been the longest active streak in the nation.
The Huskers lost a Johnny Dorn start for the first time this season. They had been 12-0 when Dorn started a game.
And from the meaningless streaks file, NU had won 12 straight televised games.
On the other side, Florida extended its winning streak to a season-high seven games.
Briefly
n The crowd of 26,813 Sunday night was the second-largest single-session crowd in College World Series history.
n NU senior shortstop Joe Simokaitis extended his team-leading hitting streak to 14 games with a fourth-inning single.
n Florida outscored NU 2-1 in the first inning but the Huskers still hold a commanding 58-20 edge over their opponents in the first inning this season.
n Backup catcher Mark Hightower, a freshman from Elkhorn, entered the game in the ninth after Bryce Nimmo pinch-hit for Jeff Christy in the eighth. It was the first inning Christy missed behind the plate since May 25.
n NU has 20 come-from-behind wins this season, but the Huskers are 0-8 when trailing after eight innings.
n In seven NCAA postseason games, Florida has trailed for a total of three innings.
n The Gators opened the CWS 2-0 for the first time in school history. Florida is now the only CWS team without an NCAA tournament loss (7-0).
n Fourteen of the last 15 CWS champs started 2-0. Southern California in 1998 is the one exception.
n Arizona State pitcher Seth Garrison, who lived in Omaha as a youth, hasn't exactlyenjoyed a pleasant welcome-home trip. Garrison underwent emergency appendectomy surgery Saturday night and missed Sunday's game against Tennessee. Coaches and teammates hung Garrison's No. 17 jersey in the Sun Devil dugout during the game. Arizona State coach Pat Murphy said Garrison is recovering nicely and should be back in the dugout for Tuesday's game. "(But) I don't think he'll pitch any time soon," Murphy said.
n For the first time in four College World Series appearances, Tennessee went two-and-out in Omaha. The Volunteers are 8-8 all-time in CWS games. Tennessee looked to be in good shape in its elimination game Sunday against Arizona State but lost for only the second time this season in a game it led after seven innings. The Vols were 36-1 in such games before blowing a 2-0 lead to the Sun Devils.
n Tennessee's J.P. Arencibia hit a solo home run in the first inning, meaning that every CWS game has featured a first-inning run. Florida, Nebraska and Texas all won in the first round after scoring in the first inning, while Oregon State lost despite scoring in the first. Florida and Nebraska kept that streak alive in Sunday's night game, as both teams scored in the first inning.
-- John Mabry and Brian Rosenthal
Most Commented news