Huskers rout Southwest Missouri, win regional
 
Lincoln -- Jeff Leise tied a career high with four hits, including a leadoff home run to start the game, powering a 17-hit Nebraska attack, as the Huskers raced past Southwest Missouri State, 14-3, to claim the NCAA Lincoln Regional title in front of a school-record 6,919 fans at Hawks Field at Haymarket Park on Sunday afternoon.

With the win, the Huskers improved to 45-18 overall, while earning their third consecutive NCAA Regional title. Nebraska will advance to play the winner of the NCAA Winston-Salem Regional at Wake Forest in next week�s NCAA Super Regional at a site yet to be determined.

Along with Leise�s four hits, junior Matt Hopper smashed a three-run homer in the top of the sixth inning to break open the game for the Huskers, who scored in each of the final six innings.

A half inning prior to Hopper�s blast, SMS cut the NU lead to 6-3 in the bottom of the fifth with a pair of runs off of Nebraska reliever Steve Hale. But the Huskers responded with eight unanswered runs in the final four innings of the game.

Hale, who improved to 3-2 on the season, pitched five innings, allowing just two runs on four hits after relieving starter Jamie Rodrigue in the fourth inning. Taking the loss for the Bears was David Bader, who dropped to 5-4.

Also pacing the Huskers offensively was shortstop Joe Simokaitis, who tied a career-high with three hits with a 3-for-5 performance at the plate. Simokaitis� RBI double in the fourth inning, which was his first hit since May 15, was the first of a career-high pair of double�s. He also tied a career high with three RBIs.

Senior Will Bolt, who extended his team-best hitting streak to 18 games, went 2-for-4 on the day with a pair of RBIs and three runs scored in what was his 19th game played in NCAA Tournament action.

Seven Huskers were named to the 11-player all-tournament team, including NCAA Regional MVP Shane Komine, who picked up the win Saturday against Marist with a complete-game 12-strikeout performance.

NCAA Super Regional sites will be announced during a 2 p.m. conference call on Monday, June 3.

2002 NCAA Lincoln Regional All-Tournament Team
Most Outstanding Player - Shane Komine, RHP, Nebraska
Pitcher - Shane Komine, RHP, Nebraska (W, 9.0 IP, CG, 1 run, 12 strikeouts)
Pitcher - Brian Duensing, LHP, Nebraska (W, 6.2 IP, 0 runs)
Catcher - John Grose, Nebraska (5-10, HR, 4 RBIs, run)
First Base - Matt Hopper, Nebraska (5-14, HR, 6RBIs, 4 runs)
Second Base - Will Bolt, Nebraska (5-11, 2 2B, 3 RBIs)
Third Base - Brooks Colvin, SMS (7-18, 2RBIs, 2 runs)
Shortstop - Shaun Marcum, SMS (6-15, 3 2B, 4RBIs, 3 runs)
Outfield - Dant�e Brinkley, SMS (5-17, 2RBI, 3 runs)
Outfield - Anthony Bocchino, Marist (4-11, 2B, RBI, 2 runs)
Outfield - Jeff Leise, Nebraska (5-16, HR, 2 RBI, 2 runs)
DH/Utility - Jed Morris, Nebraska (7-12, 3 2B, HR, 4 RBIs, 5 runs)

Nebraska postgame notes
• The Hawks Field at Haymarket Park crowd of 6,917 was a school record, surpassing the 6,891 fans that attended the session four game between Nebraska and Marist on Saturday. The all-session attendance for the Lincoln Regional was also a school-record with 25,677 fans attending the six sessions.
• Nebraska has won nine consecutive games in NCAA Regional competition, dating back to a 13-7 loss to Mississippi State at Columbus, Ohio, on May 29, 1999. The Huskers are 10-2 all-time under Coach Dave Van Horn in NCAA Regional action.
• Nebraska has won 14 of its last 15 games dating back to May 5.
• The Huskers pounded 17 hits, giving them 12 straight games with double-figure hits, dating back to the Creighton game on May 15.
• Nebraska has scored at least one run in 260 straight games, the second-longest active streak in college baseball.
• With a double in the ninth inning, Jed Morris extended his hitting streak to a career-high 16 games.
• The double was Morris� 26th of the season, tying the school record held by Mike Duncan with 26 doubles in 1985.
• Morris� double was also his 48th extra-base hit of the year (26 doubles, 1 triple, 21 home runs)
• Will Bolt�s fourth-inning single that drove in two runs extended his team-best hitting streak to 18 games, establishing a career high.
• Matt Hopper stretched his hitting streak to 11 games with his three-run homer in the seventh inning. Hopper finished the tournament 5-for-14 with one homer, six RBIs and four runs scored.
• John Grose extended his hitting streak to seven games with a fifth-inning RBI single.
• Jeff Leise�s leadoff home run in the top of the first inning was his third leadoff homer of the season and his 12th homerun of the season. His other leadoff homers came at Baylor on March 8 and at Kansas State on March 30. Leise added three singles for his 35th multiple hit game of the season. His 104 hits on the season moved him into second place ahead of Darin Erstad (1995) on NU�s all-time single season hit charts.
• Nebraska�s run in the first inning marked the 37th time in 63 games that the Huskers have scored a first-inning run.
• Shortstop Joe Simokaitis� RBI double in the fourth inning was his first hit since May 15, and his first hit in his last 25 at bats. Simokaitis tied career highs with three hits (also vs. Creighton on April 16) and three RBIs (also vs. Western Illinois on March 26)
• Nebraska�s 17 hits were the most by an SMS opponent this season.

Postgame quotes

Nebraska head coach Dave Van Horn
Opening statement
We came out and played aggressive baseball. We scored in seven of the nine innings and we kept scoring. Southwest Missouri State is a very scrappy team, and we knew that they would take advantage of our mistakes. We had a 6-1 lead and the next thing that you know, it is 6-3. We were able to come up with some runs, and then Matt (Hopper) hit the big three-run homer to put it away.

On NU�s play of late
I think that we have been playing very well. We have pitched well, we have fielded well, with the exception of a few errors today, we have played good baseball for the last six or seven weeks. We have been winning a lot of baseball games. If you look at our last 20 games, we have won most of them.

On NU�s chances of hosting a Super Regional
What can you say about the crowd? To have almost 7,000 fans out there every time that we played is great. The fans are good, and the NCAA would be able to make some money, and we have a great record in this park.

NU second baseman Will Bolt
On winning the regional
It�s nice any time that you win a championship. The way that we did it this year, we scored a lot of runs early and were able to put the other teams away.

On the atmosphere
All of the teams here were good, and the crowd was good. I think that it could be a little bit intimidating coming in and playing in front of 7,000 fans, but you still have to play baseball and you still have to play nine innings.

NU pitcher Steve Hale
On his performance
I left a few pitches up and over the plate in my second inning of relief, but the defense came up great. Our defense and our offense have been playing great lately, and anytime that you score a lot of runs it takes the pressure off.

Southwest Missouri State head coach Keith Guttin
On the game
"Nebraska was clearly a better team today without question. They have a good club. I give them all the credit. I think they will be very competitive in a three game series. I wish them luck."

On the year
"We had a great year. It is always sad when it comes to an end. I feel very good about our club and how they have competed all year."

On being in the game after narrowing Nebraska's lead to 6-3
"Without out question, because we have all year, and we were the home team. We felt pretty good, but (Steve) Hale did a good job. He kept putting it in there and they (Nebraska) kept chipping away and it got tougher and tougher. But, at 6-3 I certainly thought we had a good shot."

On Nebraska's chances at the super regional
"Well, they are playing well. What I don't see is all of the other teams that are left, so it is pretty difficult to make a comparison. With the guy they threw yesterday, it is obvious they can beat anybody in the country with him. Then you have to find a way to get one more (game) and then you are home free. They are going to be very competitive. They do things right. They executed well. They run well. They made some errors today, but they are a very good defensive team."

SMS pitcher Andrew Jefferson
On Nebraska's offense
"We have to give them credit. They battled and put the ball in play. They don't strikeout that much. At the same time, I don't think our pitchers executed our game plan today. We weren't getting ahead in the count, and we weren't throwing big pitches when we needed them. That is the way things work out when you work behind (in the count) all day.

SMS outfielder Dante Brinkley
On the game when it was 6-3
"At that point our team was starting to battle, and we had momentum going our way, so we felt we had a good chance to come back and win."

On playing on the road
"It is pretty tough on the team, but you still have to battle and come out and play hard, just like playing at home. We are not going to use that as an excuse for how we played today."

Source: University of Nebraska Athletic Dept.