Leise Lifts Huskers to 3-2 Extra-Inning Victory

Houston, Texas - Jeff Leise singled in Brandon Eymann with the winning run in the bottom of the 13th inning as eighth-ranked Nebraska opened the 2002 season with a 3-2 victory over New Mexico at the Crowne-Plaza/Rice Invitational Friday afternoon.

With one out and the score tied at two, Eymann, who went 2-for-4 with a pair of walks, singled to right and moved to second on a Joe Simokaitis sacrifice bunt, setting the stage for Leise, who roped a Derek McCready offering into center, scoring the game winner for the Huskers, who won their opener for the first time since 1999. McCready (1-2) took the loss for the Lobos, who dropped to 4-8 on the season.

The Huskers, who were held to 11 hits, relied on outstanding pitching and defense in snapping a two-game losing streak dating back to last season. NU hurlers Shane Komine, Steve Hale and Waylon Byers combined for 10 strikeouts and allowed only eight hits in the win, its longest game since going 16 innings at Iowa State on April 18, 1999.

Hale threw 6.1 innings of five-hit relief before Byers came in with two on and one out in the top of the 13th. The left-hander needed only one pitch to induce Donny Sevieri to bounce into an inning-ending double play, picking up the win to move to 1-0 on the year.

"I don't think we could have pitched better and except for one error, our defense was perfect today," Nebraska Coach Dave Van Horn said. "Steve really pitched well. He didn't let things bother him and was able to get his curveball over."

Despite the victory, Van Horn was disappointed that NU left 14 runners on base and had the winning run on third in both the 11th and 12th innings before capitalizing on Leise's game-winning hit. NU scored all three of its runs with two outs.

"I didn't think we were very aggressive at the plate and we made to many little errors." Van Horn said. "New Mexico played very well, but our lack of execution was nearly our downfall. We didn't do a good job of moving runners all day and wasted too many chances with runners in scoring position."

The Huskers jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first. With two outs, Jed Morris crushed a 3-2 fastball from James Vermilyea off the screen in dead center to give NU a 1-0 lead.

The Lobos took their only lead of the day, scoring a pair of runs of Komine on Chris Alexander's fourth homer of the season to take a 2-1 advantage.

NU pieced together another rally to tie the score in the bottom of the fourth. Justin Seely doubled with one out, moved to third on Drew Anderson's ground out and scored as Will Bolt legged out an infield single behind second.

The Huskers' tying run would be the last for another nine innings, as the crisply played game turned into a pitchers duel. In his first start since surgery in September, Komine was sharp, allowing two runs on three hits, while striking out six Lobos. The senior All-American topped the 400-strikeout plateau when he fanned Joe Salas in the fourth.

Vermilyea was even better for the Lobos, scattering eight hits in 10 innings of work. The Lobo starter fanned six Huskers, but was not involved in the decision.

The Huskers return to action Saturday afternoon, when they take on the ninth-ranked Rice Owls at Noon (CST)