• Box Score
* * *
FRESNO, Calif. — True freshman Tom Lemke sparkled in his Nebraska pitching debut Monday as the Huskers salvaged the finale of a four-game, season-opening series with a 4-1 win over Fresno State at Beiden Field.
Lemke, a 6-foot-8 right-hander out of Phoenix, started and threw five scoreless innings. The heralded recruit struck out six and allowed five hits. He worked out of two-runner jams in three innings, notably in the third inning, when he got star junior Danny Muno on a foul out to third base after two singles put Bulldogs at the corners with two outs.
Lemke was a 10th-round draft pick last June of the Texas Rangers. His decision to attend college made Lemke the highest-drafted high school pitcher to play at Nebraska in 23 seasons.
“I wasn’t trying to overpower anybody,” Lemke said. “I noticed the first three games, they were hitting fastballs, so I was just trying to get it over the plate and throw strikes. It worked out.”
Lemke threw 74 pitches to slow Fresno State (3-1) after the Bulldogs took three straight from the Huskers (1-3) to start the year.
Fellow rookie Kurt Giller pitched the final four innings for his first save. Giller, a 21st-round pick last year of the Toronto Blue Jays, allowed five hits and struck out two after struggling in his debut Saturday.
“Those two freshmen, it’s nice to see,” coach Mike Anderson said. “We’re going to separate those two at some point, let them pitch on Saturdays and Sundays and see where it takes us. That’s a pretty exciting thing to think of.”
NU, which blew ninth-inning leads Friday and Sunday, had to sweat it out again Monday.
Giller surrendered three singles to start the ninth. Pinch-runner Scott David scored on Taylor Garrison’s hit before Giller struck out pinch-hitter Kenny Wise and got Bobby Coyle on a line-drive double play to first baseman Tyler Farst to end it.
The victory saved Nebraska from starting the season with four straight losses for the first time since 1994. No opponent had swept NU in a rare four-game series since Kansas in 1991.
Offensively for the Huskers, true freshman third baseman Josh Scheffert finished 2 for 3 and provided a two-run single off Fresno State starter Cody Kendall with two outs in the sixth. Scheffert’s hit scored Adam Bailey, who doubled with one out, and Cody Asche, who opened the inning with a single.
NU took the lead in the fifth as freshman Bryan Peters reached on a one-out error by Muno at second base to score Bailey.
Sophomore second baseman Kale Kiser was hospitalized to receive stitches after taking a Coyle ground ball to the mouth in the third inning. Anderson said he expected Kiser to be OK.
Nebraska (1-3)................000 012 001—4 12 0
At Fresno State (3-1)...................000 000 001—1 10 1
• W — Lemke (1-0). L — Kendall (0-1). 2B: NU, Bailey.
Copyright ©2012 Omaha World-Herald®. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, displayed or redistributed for any purpose without permission from the Omaha World-Herald.
Premium ContentClick on Premium Content on the Featured navigation bar for information.
RSS Feeds