NU Notes, 6/22: Gordon doesn't live up to standards
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BY CURT McKEEVER and BRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON / Lincoln Journal Star
NU All-America third baseman Alex Gordon was just 1-for-9 in the CWS, and 0-for-5 with four strikeouts in two games against Arizona State, when he singled to keep the Huskers' ninth inning going.
The second pick of the major league draft finished 2-for-11 after Arizona State first baseman Jeff Larish tracked down his high fly near the right-field line for the first out of the 11th.
"I just didn't have a very good World Series," Gordon said. "They didn't pitch me any different than all year. I take credit for not producing.
"It's going to take awhile to get over."
CWS slump continues
Nebraska is now 1-6 in three College World Series appearances. That .167 winning percentage is the third lowest among schools with a minimum of three trips to the CWS (Harvard is 1-8, .111, and Northern Colorado is 3-20, .130).
Larish in good company
Larish joined former Florida State slugger J.D. Drew (1995) and Stanford's Edmund Muth (2000) as the only players to smack three homers in a CWS game. He homered to left to lead off the bottom of the first, to right with two outs and nobody on in the third and to center in the same situation in the ninth.
"That was one of the best performances I've ever seen," Gordon said. "He kind of carried their team today."
Ninth inning is history
The last time a team was down by more than a run heading into its half of the ninth inning and won was June 18, 1999. That's when Florida State, trailing Stanford 9-7, tied the game in the bottom of the ninth, again in the 10th and then won 14-11 on a three-run homer in the 13th.
The last time a CWS game featured both teams scoring multiple ninth-inning runs was 1993, when Long Beach State scored twice to take a 5-3 lead against LSU, only to have the Tigers score three in the bottom half.
Sun Devils on a hot streak
Arizona State is appearing in its 19th College World Series. The Sun Devils have won at least two games on 14 of those occasions.
Can you hear me now?
A miscommunication between Husker first baseman Curtis Ledbetter and second baseman Ryan Wehrle allowed what would have been an inning-ending fly ball drop in foul territory.
Arizona State went on to score two runs in that seventh inning, getting a hit from Colin Curtis on the next pitch after the miscue to take a 5-3 lead.
Said Wehrle of the play: "I called it, then I heard something. I guess Curtis said something like ‘You got it. You got it.'"
At the time of the play, Wehrle thought Ledbetter said "I got it. I got," so he backed off.
Quotable
"I was trying to drive the ball somewhere. I didn't really do a good job of driving it. The pitcher made a good pitch, a slider down and away, and I just got the barrel on it, slapped it over second. That's baseball, sometimes, you know? We caught a break and we'll take it." — J.J. Sferra, on his game-winning single over second base
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