Dorn's successful string of starts ends
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BY BRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON / Lincoln Journal Star
OMAHA — It took five pitches Sunday night for the Florida Gators to do something hardly anyone's done all season. They got to Nebraska freshman phenom Johnny Dorn.
First came a groundball double down the right-field line by Jeff Corsaletti to lead off the game. Next came an Adam Davis home run, deposited in Rosenblatt Stadium's right-field bleachers on a first-pitch fastball.
It took five pitches.
"Next thing you know, we're down 2-0 and he hasn't even broken a sweat yet," said Husker pitching coach Rob Childress.
Dorn had been almost unbeatable coming in. With a 12-1 record, he hadn't lost since a March 5 game against Texas State. He had been 10-0 as a starter and his ERA had been a magnificent 1.47 in his last 10 appearances.
But against Florida on the biggest of stages at the College World Series, he not only took the loss in the Gators' 7-4 win, but lasted only four-plus innings, which tied his shortest outing as a starter.
"I felt good from the beginning," Dorn said. "Things didn't go my way … They know I'm an aggressive pitcher that will go after them a little bit with that inside fastball, and they were on it."
The numbers on Dorn: Four innings, five hits, four runs, three earned, no walks and a strikeout.
He wasn't bad. He wasn't great.
But when Justin Tordi reached first to lead off the fifth on an error by Husker first baseman Curtis Ledbetter and Dorn ran the count to 2-0 on Stephen Barton, NU went to left-hander Brian Duensing.
"I obviously didn't want to come out," Dorn said. "But that's the game plan, and I can't argue with that."
Said Childress: "If he gets the leadoff hitter in the fifth, he stays (in the game). But with runners on, we have to keep it close, and we felt like that was the right move to go to Duensing. He's been our go-to guy from the bullpen. We just needed a stop there, and it didn't happen."
What happened was a four-run outburst by the Gators. One of the hits against Duensing was a chopper that just got over the glove of third baseman Alex Gordon. Another was a double by Brian Jeroloman that landed just inches fair of the left-field line.
It was some tough-luck baseball for the Huskers and by the end of the top of the fifth it was 7-2.
"Sometimes you just have to give the hitters credit," Childress said. "We outhit them (12-9). They just got the big hits and we didn't."
Nebraska used five pitchers. Duensing went 31/3 and gave up four hits and three earned runs. Ryan Bohanan, Troy Watson and Luke Wertz all pitched a clean 12/3 innings to finish the game.
The Huskers' pitching depth has been much ballyhooed all season. Now it will have to show itself. NU will have to win three games from Tuesday through Thursday to make it to the CWS Championship Series.
As for what Sunday's loss does to Nebraska's rotation for the remainder of the tournament, Childress said: "We'll do what we got to do on Tuesday, then focus on Wednesday (on) Wednesday.
"I don't think it changes a whole lot. Tuesday we'll go with (left-hander Zach) Kroenke and let him go get his work in … I know he's chomping at the bit to get out there."
Kroenke saw action in the eighth inning against Arizona State during NU's 5-3 win on Friday. He recorded two outs and gave up a double.
If you believe Duensing, rebounding from Sunday's loss won't be a problem for this pitching staff.
"This doesn't change anything," he said. "We're real confident in ourselves. This happened at the Big 12 Tournament where we lost a game early and had to fight back. That's what we have to do now.
"We're just going to have to bear down. There's not going to be anything else after this. There's all summer to rest."
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