Sullivan's blast powers Huskers
The 6,979 who showed up to watch Nebraska beat Texas Tech 5-2 in Haymarket Park on Saturday afternoon could have selected between two choices for favorite efforts of the game.
There was Nick Sullivan, who hit a three-run first-inning home run and later added an insurance run by scoring from first on a hit-and-run single by Craig Corriston.
You also had right-handed senior Thad Weber, who — on a day when 180 from his hometown of Friend showed up to salute him — struck out a career-high 11 while winning his sixth straight decision.
But to better understand why the ninth-ranked and Big 12 Conference-leading Huskers secured their fourth straight league series while improving their record to 23-4-1, you have to look beyond those two.
For starters, if Mitch Abeita doesn’t work a two-out walk from AJ Ramos in the first, Sullivan might not have the opportunity to make his early impact.
And if Dan Jennings doesn’t come in to retire the Big 12’s home-run leader Roger Kieschnick with two on and two out in the eighth, then perhaps Weber’s day is lost on people’s minds.
“We are what we are, no more, no less,” said NU coach Mike Anderson, who likes to say the same thing about himself. “We’re not that great, but we’re not that bad.
“If our kids come to play, we’ve got a chance to win on any given night. We’re not spectacular — it’s just little solid things (that matter).”
He could use Sullivan’s second homer of the season as an example, as the left-handed hitter got a 1-1 pitch up into a wind that as blowing out to left field.
“You’ve got to know how the ballpark plays,” said the junior, who in his last 19 games is hitting .395 and has driven in 17 runs. “Today, nothing was carrying out to right, so all our hitters were looking to go that way. Stay in the middle of the field, the other way.”
Tech answered on a pair of second-inning runs from three consecutive hits — a single by Kieschnick, a double by Jason Seefeld and a single by Chris Hall. But Weber, who won his sixth straight decision, would give up just two more hits before Jennings bailed him out in the eighth.
“I won’t say I took a few pitches off, but those pitches weren’t the same as some of the ones I made in the first inning and in the rest of the game,” Weber said. “That just shows you what they can do offensively if you don’t make pitches the way you should.”
The Red Raiders were trying to show that again in the eighth. Down 4-2, they got two on courtesy of two Weber walks. But after the second one, NU called on the left-handed junior Jennings to face the lefty Kieschnick. And after he looked at a strike, he hit a soft grounder to the first baseman Corriston for the final out.
Jennings, penciled to start in Nebraska’s game at Iowa on Tuesday, then pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to earn his second save.
“He’s’ been doing an absolutely wonderful job as a late-inning guy on the weekends,” Weber said. “You can’t say enough about what he’s done.”
Or about the hustle Sullivan showed in the eighth.
After he blooped a two-out single off James Leverton, Nebraska called for a hit-and-run play with Corriston faced Brian Cloud. Corriston singled to right-center field, and when Sullivan looked at Anderson while running to third, he saw his coach waving him home.
“I kind of screwed up my turn around second, went a little wide, and I didn’t think he was going to send me,” Sullivan said. “I was surprised, but we got the run, so that helps out.”
Asked to pick between that play or his first-inning stroke as his favorite, Sullivan refused.
“Both,” he said. “Whatever can help this team win. That (last) run is important for us. It stretched the lead out a little bit, took a little pressure off our pitching staff. And then in the first, just to get on the board first is big.”
It’s why Nebraska is in position for its second sweep in four Big 12 series when it faces the Red Raiders at 1:05 p.m. Sunday.
Reach Curt McKeever at 473-7441 or cmckeever@journalstar.com.
There was Nick Sullivan, who hit a three-run first-inning home run and later added an insurance run by scoring from first on a hit-and-run single by Craig Corriston.
You also had right-handed senior Thad Weber, who — on a day when 180 from his hometown of Friend showed up to salute him — struck out a career-high 11 while winning his sixth straight decision.
But to better understand why the ninth-ranked and Big 12 Conference-leading Huskers secured their fourth straight league series while improving their record to 23-4-1, you have to look beyond those two.
For starters, if Mitch Abeita doesn’t work a two-out walk from AJ Ramos in the first, Sullivan might not have the opportunity to make his early impact.
And if Dan Jennings doesn’t come in to retire the Big 12’s home-run leader Roger Kieschnick with two on and two out in the eighth, then perhaps Weber’s day is lost on people’s minds.
“We are what we are, no more, no less,” said NU coach Mike Anderson, who likes to say the same thing about himself. “We’re not that great, but we’re not that bad.
“If our kids come to play, we’ve got a chance to win on any given night. We’re not spectacular — it’s just little solid things (that matter).”
He could use Sullivan’s second homer of the season as an example, as the left-handed hitter got a 1-1 pitch up into a wind that as blowing out to left field.
“You’ve got to know how the ballpark plays,” said the junior, who in his last 19 games is hitting .395 and has driven in 17 runs. “Today, nothing was carrying out to right, so all our hitters were looking to go that way. Stay in the middle of the field, the other way.”
Tech answered on a pair of second-inning runs from three consecutive hits — a single by Kieschnick, a double by Jason Seefeld and a single by Chris Hall. But Weber, who won his sixth straight decision, would give up just two more hits before Jennings bailed him out in the eighth.
“I won’t say I took a few pitches off, but those pitches weren’t the same as some of the ones I made in the first inning and in the rest of the game,” Weber said. “That just shows you what they can do offensively if you don’t make pitches the way you should.”
The Red Raiders were trying to show that again in the eighth. Down 4-2, they got two on courtesy of two Weber walks. But after the second one, NU called on the left-handed junior Jennings to face the lefty Kieschnick. And after he looked at a strike, he hit a soft grounder to the first baseman Corriston for the final out.
Jennings, penciled to start in Nebraska’s game at Iowa on Tuesday, then pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to earn his second save.
“He’s’ been doing an absolutely wonderful job as a late-inning guy on the weekends,” Weber said. “You can’t say enough about what he’s done.”
Or about the hustle Sullivan showed in the eighth.
After he blooped a two-out single off James Leverton, Nebraska called for a hit-and-run play with Corriston faced Brian Cloud. Corriston singled to right-center field, and when Sullivan looked at Anderson while running to third, he saw his coach waving him home.
“I kind of screwed up my turn around second, went a little wide, and I didn’t think he was going to send me,” Sullivan said. “I was surprised, but we got the run, so that helps out.”
Asked to pick between that play or his first-inning stroke as his favorite, Sullivan refused.
“Both,” he said. “Whatever can help this team win. That (last) run is important for us. It stretched the lead out a little bit, took a little pressure off our pitching staff. And then in the first, just to get on the board first is big.”
It’s why Nebraska is in position for its second sweep in four Big 12 series when it faces the Red Raiders at 1:05 p.m. Sunday.
Reach Curt McKeever at 473-7441 or cmckeever@journalstar.com.
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