Huskers defeat Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 7-2
 
Lincoln -- The Nebraska baseball team pounded 11 hits, including a trio of home runs, to power its way past Wisconsin-Milwaukee, 7-2, in the first game of the NCAA Regional at Lincoln in front of a school-record 6,631 fans at Hawks Field at Haymarket Park on Friday.

The Huskers (43-18) used a four-run fifth inning to snap a 2-2 tie and make a winner of freshman reliever Brian Duensing. Senior infielder Jeff Blevins provided the Huskers with their biggest blast in the fifth, a three-run homer to right field. Sophomore catcher John Grose added a solo home run two batters later to give the Huskers a 6-2 cushion, before All-American Jed Morris supplied some more insurance with a solo homer in the seventh.

Duensing, pitched 6.2 innings of shutout relief, allowing just three singles and no walks, to improve to 6-1 on the season. Duensing came on in relief of Aaron Marsden, who managed just 2.1 innings for his shortest starting outing of the year.

Nebraska Coach Dave Van Horn said Duensing�s pitching provided a spark for the Huskers. �Thank goodness Brian (Duensing) went out there and did a great job and gave us a chance to win,� Van Horn said. �I think he threw six or seven scoreless innings. What more can you ask for from a long reliever?�

Wisconsin-Milwaukee (36-19) jumped to an early 2-0 lead off Marsden and the Huskers by scoring single runs in the second and third innings, before Duensing came in and closed the door on the Panthers.

Steve Guden scored UWM�s first run after a one-out single and an RBI double by designated hitter Jeff Pitrof. The Panthers added their second run with a one-out walk to Troy Doering and a single by Adam Christ to chase Marsden. Duensing entered and surrendered a sacrifice fly to catcher John Vanden Berg to score Doering.

But the Huskers answered with two runs on three straight one-out singles by Blevins, Justin Seely and Grose, and a Will Bolt groundout. Bolt�s grounder to short forced Grose at second base, but Bolt was called safe at first to score Seely with the tying run.

Nebraska continued to batter UWM starter Quintin Oldenburg in the fifth. Morris and Matt Hopper started NU�s big rally with back-to-back one-out singles, before Blevins smashed his fifth home run of the season to chase Oldenburg, who fell to 9-3. Oldenburg allowed eight hits and issued two walks, surrendering five earned runs in 4.1 innings.

Panther reliever Cory Kleeba entered and struck out Seely, before Grose unleashed his fourth homer of the year with a towering blast to left-center field to give the Huskers a 6-2 lead. Kleeba retired the next four Husker hitters in order, before Morris led off the seventh with his 21st homer of the year to give NU a 7-2 advantage.

Grose and Morris led an 11-hit Nebraska attack with three hits apiece, while Blevins added two hits. Hopper, Seely and Bolt added singles for the Huskers, who posted their ninth straight double-figure hit total. Bolt (16 games), Morris (14 games), and Hopper (nine games) all extended hitting streaks, but junior centerfielder Jeff Leise saw his 10-game hitting streak come to an end.

Nebraska advances in the regional to play the winner of tonight�s game between second-seeded Southwest Missouri State (41-19) and third-seeded Marist (40-12), which is scheduled to begin at 7:05 p.m.

The two losers will meet in Saturday�s first game at 11:05 a.m., before the two winners face off at 3:35 p.m. at Hawks Field.

Nebraska postgame notes
• The Hawks Field at Haymarket Park crowd of 6,331 was a school record. The previous record was 5,623 against Oklahoma on April 5, 2002.
•Nebraska has scored at least one run in 258 straight games, the second-longest active streak in college baseball.
• The Huskers pounded 11 hits, including three homers, giving them nine straight games with double-figure hits, dating back to the Creighton game on May 15.
• Catcher Jed Morris was named to the Louisville Slugger NCAA Division I All-America baseball team announced Friday, becoming the fourth Husker in as many years to earn the honor.
• With his first-inning double, Morris extended his hitting streak to a career-high 14 games. With his single in the fifth inning, Morris earned his 29th multiple-hit game of the season. His home run in the bottom of the seventh inning was Morris� 21st of the season and 46th extra base hit of the year (24 doubles, one triple), which ties Darin Erstad (1995) for the Nebraska single-season record.
• Morris hit his 24th double to move into a tie for second on NU�s single-season doubles chart. It was his 40th career double, which moved him into sole possession of 10th on Nebraska�s all-time list.
• Senior third baseman Jeff Blevins� three-run home run in the bottom of the fifth was his fifth of the season and his first home run since May 11th. Blevins finished 2-for-3 with three RBIs and two runs scored.
• John Grose�s solo homer in the bottom of the fifth inning was his fourth of the season. During his current five-game hitting streak, Grose is 10-for-18 (.556) with one homer, four doubles and nine RBIs. Grose finished the day 3-for-4 with two RBIs and a run scored.
• Will Bolt extended his team-best hitting streak to 16 games, which ties a career high.
• Nebraska�s reliever Brian Duensing improved to 6-1 on the season by pitching 6.2 innings allowing just three singles, while facing three batters over the minimum.
• Nebraska starting pitcher Aaron Marsden lasted just 2.1 innings for his shortest start of the season. Marsden surrendered two earned runs on three hits, with two walks and two strikeouts. He threw 40 pitches. Marsden�s pickoff of Troy Doering for the third out of the first inning was Marsden�s seventh pickoff of the season.
• Jeff Leise had his 10-game hitting streak snapped, going 0-for-5 on the day.

Postgame Quotes

UW-Milwaukee Head Coach Jerry Augustine
On the game
�I think the game came down to a great move Dave (Van Horn) made in the third inning by making a pitching change. I think the first kid (Aaron Marsden) was struggling a little bit and the second kid (Brian Duensing) came in and pitched a great, great final six or seven inning against us. I think that was a real big key. Other than that we didn�t pitch the ball very well today, and we sure didn�t swing the bat the way we have about the past two weeks. Sometimes you have to give the pitching credit. We just fell a little bit short. We played pretty good defense, we just did not swing the bat or pitch the ball very well.�

On the call at first in Nebraska�s half of the fourth inning
�I though we dealt with it okay. I think there is nothing you can do about it. It is an umpire�s call, and it is a close call. We feel that maybe it should have gone the other way. Does it hurt a ball club? Sometimes it can, but I don�t think you can look at that as what cost us the ball game. It is going to happen (bad calls) and everybody is human. It happens and you just have to go on from there. After that we just didn�t swing the bat the way we have the last couple of weeks.�

On the relief performance of Brian Duensing
�I think the kid came in and really changed his speeds really well, and he kept the ball around the plate against us. He did a great job, and you have to give him credit for it.�

UW-Milwaukee starter Quintin Oldenburg
On fatigue playing a factor in his performance
�A few pitches I just didn�t hit my spots, and it cost me a three-run home run. It has nothing to do with being tired.�

UW-Milwaukee First Baseman Dave Pudlosky
On facing two left-handed pitchers
�We have been facing left-handed pitchers all year. I am personally am pretty used to it. I thought they did a good job on me. They kept the ball away and kept me off balance a little bit. They made some good pitches, and I don�t think I adjusted often enough and soon enough to get some good hits.�

Nebraska Head Coach Dave Van Horn
Opening Statement
�I thought it was a very good game. I thought both teams played well defensively. We made one bad throw into centerfield that we shouldn�t even have thrown, but other than that, it was a good ballgame. I thought their pitcher did a great job the first few innings keeping us off balance. He started us off with a lot of breaking pitches and spotted his fastball well away. He didn�t give us anything to hit. They built up a two-run lead and you could kind of feel it there that everyone was a little tense - in the stands, in the dugout. Then Jeff Blevins got the big two-strike single. John Grose took the count 3-2, and I decided to run and get something going. We slapped a base hit and we put together the two runs.�

On Jeff Blevins� three-run home run to break the tie
�I didn�t know if it was going to be enough. I figured we would be able to score a few more runs. I think what it did, was it gave us a chance to relax a little bit. We were a little uptight when we got down early. A lot of times it�s tough when you�re the number one seed and you�re playing number four. There�s just a little added pressure there because you�re supposed to win. You�ve got all your fans here and it wasn�t going our way at all. I think that just relaxed everybody.�

On the pitching
�I think Aaron Marsden just didn�t have a good day. The problem at the beginning of the game was he was sweating so bad that he just couldn�t get a grip on the baseball. We ran a rosin out to him and he recovered. Thank goodness Brian (Duensing) went out there and did a great job. He gave us a chance to win. I think he threw six or seven scoreless innings. What more can you ask for from a long reliever?�

On the reasons behind the early pitching change
�There were two reasons. Number one, Aaron made me go to Brian. Aaron was behind every hitter. You can�t win at this level if at this time of the year when you�re pitching 2-0, and that�s what he was doing. They were all over him and he just didn�t have very good stuff for one reason or another. The other reason I went with Brian is that he�s a strike thrower and he had faced them before and he had done a great job against them. We didn�t give Brian a whole lot of time to get loose, but he didn�t need it because it was so warm. We just didn�t have time to waste.�

Nebraska pitcher Brian Duensing
On going from a starter to a reliever
�It�s pretty much the same mentality. You have to throw strikes and you have to stop them where they�re at and keep the ball down and just pitch.�

On playing in such big game as a freshman
�I tried to put it in back of my mind. I didn�t really think about it going out there. I didn�t really put too much pressure on myself. I just tried to go out there and throw strikes. The last inning is when I started to notice the crowd a little bit and get a little excited. We�ve got great defense so I just kept the ball down and let the defense catch fly balls and deal with ground balls. That�s all you can do.�

On facing Wisconsin-Milwaukee for the second time
�You know their batters a little bit. You know their order and what they can do. You learn from your previous outing. There�s nothing else you can do except pitch. Every time you come out, the team is going to be different no matter what.�

On getting in the game so early
�I was pretty nervous when I first went out there. I was expecting to throw relief, but I wasn�t really expecting to go out that early. When I got to the bullpen I just tried to calm down and throw strikes. But when I got out (on the mound) it left my mind. It was exciting.�

Nebraska Third Baseman Jeff Blevins
On his home run
�It was just one of those pitches that you really don�t see. You just swing and it goes. It was a fastball inside and my hands were quick enough to get around it. I didn�t think I got all of it, but I got some good backspin on it. I saw it jump off the bat so I had a pretty good idea that it was out of the park.�

On the importance of the hit
�It was one of the biggest hits I�ve had all year. I�ve had some big hits but we�re usually down a few or up a few runs. But in a tie game a three-run homer gives the team a lot of confidence. It felt real good.�

Nebraska Catcher John Grose
On being down 2-0 early in the game
�It never crossed my mind that we were going to lose this game. I was confident about our team. I knew (Aaron) Marsden didn�t have his best stuff today, but once we went to (Brian) Duensing he was awesome today. He did his job and you can�t ask for anything more. All of our pitchers are of the caliber where if they throw strikes, they�re going to get guys out. And that�s all he did today. As a catcher and it being this hot out today, a guy is just throwing strikes all day long, it just makes it easier for me and the whole club. It makes the innings a lot faster. Duensing came in and I think he really sparked our team. He did a great job.�

Source: University of Nebraska Athletic Dept.