With two outs and runners on first and second, the junior shortstop from St. Louis sent Jason Meyer�s 3-1 pitch into the berm in left for his second career homer and first since April 27, 2003, giving the Huskers the lead for good. It was the second game-winning hit this week for Simokaitis, whose two-run, ninth-inning single gave NU a 4-3 win over Northern Colorado on Tuesday.

Not only was it Simokaitis� second career homer in 524 at bats, but also the first round tripper surrendered by Meyer in 70.2 innings this season. Meyer (8-1) had allowed just nine earned runs in his first 17 appearances, including five starts, but allowed four runs on seven hits in suffering his first loss of the season.

"He threw me back-to-back changeups in the third, and I rolled over on it," Simokaitis said. "He did it again, and I put a good swing on it and got a home run. It didn't feel too good (when it left the bat), but it got out and was a big lift for us."

While Simokaitis� unexpected power surge propelled Nebraska to its 30th win of the season, the Huskers (30-12, 9-7 Big 12) relied on a dominant complete-game effort from sophomore Zach Kroenke. The left-hander from Omaha allowed just three hits and fanned four to improve to 7-1 on the season. It was Kroenke�s second complete game of the season and third of his career.

"Zach and Joe were big for us," Nebraska Coach Mike Anderson said. "Zach set the tone, putting up zeros after the fifth. Joe's big hit doesn't happen for us if Zach doesn't get things done on the mound and put us in that situation. We were facing one of the best pitchers in the conference, and we had to do everything we could. We were very fortunate to have that happen. It was an extremely solid, very impressive outing."

The Huskers, who have won 15 straight against top-10 teams in Lincoln, struck in the second off the Aggie ace, using consecutive hits by Jake Mullinax and John Grose to put runners on first and third before Jesse Boyer�s grounder to second scored NU�s first run. Meyer then settled down, retiring 12 straight as NU didn�t have a runner in scoring position until the seventh.

Texas A&M (33-14, 9-9 Big 12) got the equalizer in the fifth, as consecutive one-out hits by Cory Patton and John Infante put runners on a second and third before Andrew Baldwin�s sacrifice fly tied the score at one.

Meyer retired the first two Huskers in the seventh before Boyer singled and Tyler Vaughn coaxed a walk, setting the stage for Simokaitis� game-winning homer.

The two teams continue the series Saturday afternoon at 2:05 p.m. as junior right-hander Phil Shirek (5-0, 3.02 ERA) takes on Aggie left-hander Zach Jackson (8-3, 3.61 ERA). The game will be shown state-wide on NETV and tape-delayed on College Sports Television for Sunday airing.

Source: University of Nebraska Athletic Dept.