University of Richmond Athletics
University of Richmond
Nebraska (NCAA Super Regional)
Spiders Stopped In Super Regionals
06/09/2002 | Baseball
June 9, 2002
Lincoln, Neb. - Senior Justin Seely capped a five-run eighth-inning rally with a one-out grand slam to power the Nebraska baseball team to its second consecutive trip to the College World Series with an 11-6 victory over the Richmond Spiders on Sunday afternoon.
Seely's second career grand slam sent the school-record 8,569 fans into a frenzy at the NCAA Super Regional at Hawks Field at Haymarket Park and sent the Huskers packing for Omaha.
Seely's slam capped a career-high tying four-hit performance for the outfielder from Nacogdoches, Texas, and made a winner of Shane Komine, who picked up his second win of the Super Regional.
Komine, who threw a complete-game four-hit shutout in a 2-0 win over the Spiders on Friday, scattered three hits and allowed two runs in three innings of relief on Sunday to improve to 10-0 on the season. The senior from Honolulu, Hawaii, closed his home career at Nebraska with a perfect 21-0 record, improving to 41-8 all time.
Komine and Seely helped the Huskers improve to 47-19 on the year, while closing out Richmond's season with a 53-13 record.
The Spiders jumped to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning on Matt Craig's two-run homer off Nebraska starter Jamie Rodrigue, who lasted just 1.2 innings before giving way to reliever Steve Hale.
The Huskers answered with two runs in the top of the third inning on back-to-back sacrifice flies by Jed Morris and Jeff Blevins, scoring Jeff Leise and Daniel Bruce, respectively, to tie the score at two.
Nebraska continued to rally in the top of the fourth, scoring three runs to take a 5-2 lead and chase Richmond starter Mike McGirr. Senior second baseman Will Bolt started the rally with a one-out double, followed by a walk to Brandon Eymann and a single by Joe Simokaitis to load the bases. Leise followed with a single off reliever Tim Rice to drive in Bolt and Eymann, before Bruce added a sacrifice fly to score Simokaitis.
Richmond touched Hale for a run in the bottom of the fourth to close within 5-3, before Hale shut down the Spiders in both the fifth and sixth innings. Richmond reliever Matt McLoughlin also set the Huskers down quietly in the sixth and seventh innings.
While the Huskers went scoreless for three straight innings, Richmond responded with two runs in the bottom of the seventh to tie the score at five. Hale started the seventh by giving up a leadoff single to Bobby LeNoir. Komine entered to retire LeNoir on a fielder's choice groundout by A.J. Board, but gave up a two-run homer on his first pitch to Bryan Pritz.
Komine escaped the seventh without further damage, retiring David Reaver on a long flyout to left field, before striking out Craig looking to end the inning.
With the score tied at five, the Husker bats awakened to score five runs off reliever Andy Givens. Simokaitis started things off with a walk, followed by Leise's second single of the day to put runners at the corners. Bruce followed with a bunt single to load the bases. After Morris popped out to short, Blevins drove in a run with a walk to give the Huskers a 6-5 lead. Seely followed with his second career grand slam and seventh homer of the season to provide Nebraska with a commanding 10-5 lead.
The Spiders cut the lead to 10-6 by scoring a run off Komine in the bottom of the eighth, but Nebraska added an insurance run after a leadoff triple by Simokaitis, who scored on Morris' second saricfice fly of the game.
Komine retired the Spiders in order in the ninth to send the Huskers into a jubilant celebration that included a dogpile near the mound, a victory lap around the stadium and a Blevins cartwheel to a backflip in the infield.
Givens (3-3) took the loss for the Spiders, surrendering six runs on four hits with three walks in just one inning of work. But Givens wasn't the only Spider hurler to struggle with his control on Sunday. After starters Tim Stauffer and Thomas Martin combined to walk just two Huskers in the first two games for the Spiders, Richmond pitchers issued 11 walks to Nebraska batters on Sunday.
Nebraska's 12 hits also surpassed the combined total of 10 hits in games one and two against the Spiders. While Seely led the Huskers with four hits, Bruce pitched in three hits, including his 16th double of the year. Leise and Simokaitis added two hits apiece for Nebraska.
Richmond knocked nine hits against the three Husker hurlers, led by Brian Ruscello's three hits. Craig added two hits, including his 19th home run of the season.
Nebraska advances to the College World Series, where the Huskers will battle Clemson in the first round on either Friday or Saturday at a time to be announced on Monday at 2 p.m. The Tigers advanced to the CWS with their 7-4 win over Arkansas on Sunday.
