Huskers Sweep UW-Milwaukee 13-4, 10-5

Lincoln - The Nebraska baseball team (8-5) combined solid starting pitching, good defense and a powerful offense to sweep a doubleheader 13-4, 10-5 over Wisconsin-Milwaukee (0-5) at Buck Beltzer Stadium in front of a crowd of 978 on Sunday afternoon and sweep the three-game series from the Panthers.

In game two, John Cole homered twice and Danny Kimura hit a two-run blast in the first to help give Husker pitcher Scott Fries his third win of the season in the 10-5 triumph. In the first game, Nebraska scored nine runs in the first two innings and Shane Komine struck out five and walked none in pitching five innings for his second win of the season, in Nebraska's 13-4 win.

"These wins give us some good momentum heading into our first conference weekend next week against Oklahoma," Nebraska Coach Dave Van Horn said. "We have played well outside our conference, but it is time to get things going in conference play."

In the second game of the doubleheader, the Huskers came out hot in the first inning. Danny Kimura hit a two-run homer and Jim Bailey hit an RBI triple to give NU a 3-0 lead. Cole's first home run of his career in the second and a run by Bailey in the third extended the Nebraska lead to 5-0.

However, UW-Milwaukee scrapped back for the second straight day. Against Fries in the fourth, Todd Ludwig hit a solo home run and Mike Oiler ripped a two-run homer to cut into the NU lead 5-3. In the fifth, Brett Huebner doubled and scored to make it a one-run game.

But in the bottom of the fifth inning, Nebraska added four runs to extend the lead to 9-4. Bailey scored on an RBI groundout by Adam Stern and then Cole followed with his second home run of the game, a two-run blast to right, that put the Huskers ahead 8-4. Adam Shabala followed with a single and scored on a sacrifice fly by Kimura.

For the game, the 9-1-2-3 hitters for the Huskers were 10-for-16 with six runs scored, seven RBI and had three home runs.

Fries improved to 3-1 with the win pitching seven innings and striking out seven while walking just one.

In game one, Nebraska again came out early and scored three times in the first. Jamal Strong, Shabala and Kimura each scored in the opening inning to put the Huskers out in front 3-0.

After the Panthers scored twice in the second inning on a home run by Ludwig and an RBI groundout by Jared Kotarak, the Huskers took over the contest.

With one out in the bottom of the second, Shabala walked and Justin Cowan was hit by a Mike Oiler (0-1) pitch. Ken Harvey singled home Shabala and Kimura followed with an RBI single that scored Cowan. Brandt Vlieger walked to load the bases and senior Craig Moore hit a two-RBI single to push the lead to 7-2. With two outs and Moore at second and Brian Johnson at first, freshman Will Bolt hit a two-run double to right center to give NU a commanding 9-2 lead.

Komine (2-0) pitched five innings and struck out five while walking none to earn the win. He scattered four hits and two runs in his five innings of work. Josh Latimer pitched the final two innings of the first game.

"Our starting pitching had an outstanding weekend," Van Horn said. "We played some really good defense and that helped us a lot too. It was also a great chance to get a lot of guys in the lineup and it was good to see them have success."

With the three wins over the weekend, Nebraska has won four straight games for the first time in Van Horn's two seasons. The Huskers take their winning streak to Norman, Okla., next weekend to play a three-game series against Oklahoma.