University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
Nebraska (NCAA Super Regional)
No. 16 Baseball Drops First Game Of Super-Regional, 2-0, At Nebraska
06/07/2002 | Baseball
June 7, 2002
Box Score| Quotes| Photo Gallery
Lincoln, Neb.- A program-record 8,474 fans watched as a classic pitcher's dual unfolded at Haymarket Park in the opening game of the NCAA Super-regional between the host Nebraska Cornhuskers and the visiting Richmond Spiders. Two-time All-American right-hander Shane Komine threw a complete-game four-hit shutout to lead the Cornhuskers in a 2-0 decision against the Spiders and move within one win of the College World Series.
Both of Nebraska's (46-18) runs came on sacrifice flies against Spider starter Tim Stauffer who threw his 13th complete game of the season. After Richmond (52-12) went 1-2-3 in the top of the first, Stauffer (15-3) hit Daniel Bruce with one out. A Jed Morris single up the middle moved Bruce to third where he then scored on a Matt Hopper fly ball to center.
The game remained that way until the bottom of the sixth when shortstop Joe Simokaitis led off the frame with an infield single. He moved to second on a sac bunt and to third on a Stauffer throwing error. The freshman came home on a Morris sac fly to center field that completed the scoring.
Stauffer, a First Team All-American, struck out six and allowed two runs, one earned, on six hits in 8.0 innings. He lowered his ERA to 1.54, the lowest among all collegiate starters.
Komine did a fantastic job against the top of Richmond's lineup. The Spiders' top five hitters were a combined 2-17 with the singles going to Matt Craig and Adam Tidball. Brian Ruscello and Bobby LeNoir stroked the other two hits for the visitors.
Hopper's sixth-inning double was the only extra-base hit of the game. His two-bagger led of the inning but Stauffer settled and retired the Huskers on a ground out, pop out and a fly out. Stauffer forced nine ground-ball outs in the contest.
Nebraska carries its one-game lead into tomorrow's second game of the series, needing to win just one more game to advance to their second consecutive College World Series. The Spiders put their fate in sophomore Thomas Martin's hands as the left-hander will put his unblemished 7-0 record on the line at 2:05 p.m. ET.
NOTES: All three games of this weekend's Super-regional are sold out ... Richmond sophomore catcher Adam Tidball extended his hit streak to 16 games ... No player gathered more than one hit in this game ... Nebraska's Shane Komine improved to 9-0 on the season and 20-0 all-time in Lincoln.
