Townsend scattered three hits, all singles, and retired the final 12 Huskers he faced to improve to 2-0 on the season, as the Owls moved to 20-1 on the season.

Nebraska Head Coach Mike Anderson had high praise for the sophomore right-hander after his 132-pitch performance, as Townsend matched his career best with 12 strikeouts he set against Texas in his last start.

"That is the best pitcher we�ve seen all year," Anderson said. "To tell you the truth, he may be the best guy I�ve seen in the a couple of years. He looked great tonight and was hitting 94 miles per hour in the eighth inning. If we are in a groove (offensively), we might score two to three runs off him and just hope for a win."

Nebraska (11-5), which has dropped three straight after an 11-2 start, strung together all three of its hits off Townsend in the fourth, including an RBI single by third baseman Alex Gordon for its only run. NU had runners on first and second with two outs on singles by Matt Hopper and John Grose before Gordon, a freshman from Lincoln Southern, lined a sharp single to left, scoring Hopper from second to give the Huskers a 1-0 lead.

The lead would be short-lived, as the Owls came back with a pair of runs in the bottom half of the fourth off Husker starter Zach Kroenke. Rice opened the inning with two consecutive base hits and had runners on second and third with two outs before a passed ball scored Austin Davis, tying the score at 1-all. Jeff Jorgensen would give the Owls the lead for good with an RBI infield single.

Davis, who went 4-for-4 with a pair of RBIs, extended the Owl lead to 3-1 in the fifth with an RBI single to center, scoring Vincent Sinsi, who opened the inning with a double to left center.

Kroenke (0-1) suffered the loss, allowing three runs on 10 hits, although six of the Owls base hits didn�t leave the infield. The freshman left-hander, who was making his first collegiate start, struck out two in 4.1 innings of work.

The Owls tacked a final run in the seventh, as Davis drove in his second run of the evening with an RBI single off reliever Steve Hale. Rice finished with 14 hits, including four each by Davis and Chris Kohkhorst.

The Huskers will wind up their swing through Texas tomorrow morning when they play at Sam Houston State at 11 a.m. and live stats will be available on Huskers.com.

Source: University of Nebraska Athletic Dept.