Shane Komine has dominated Kansas University throughout his career, so Friday’s performance against the Jayhawks shouldn’t have caught him by surprise.
It did, but not because he mastered KU yet again, but because of the manner in which he did.
Komine, Nebraska’s standout junior pitcher, threw eight shutout innings and struck out 10 Jayhawks in a 9-0 whitewashing at Hoglund Ballpark.
What caught Komine off guard was the fact that none of his outfielders recorded a put-out until the ninth inning, after Komine had been pulled.
“I really don’t know what it was,” Komine said. “I don’t know if they were getting on top of the ball or I was keeping it down. But I’m not a groundball pitcher. That really surprised me. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen that before in a game.”
Komine (9-1) struck out 17 Jayhawks last year and hasn’t allowed Kansas to score an earned run off him in 19 career innings.
“He’s good,” KU center fielder Jason Appuhn said after collecting two hits off the reigning Big 12 player of the year. “He’s good at hitting his spots. He had it tonight. He throws four pitches for strikes. Any pitcher that does that is tough to hit.”
The Jayhawks (16-25 overall, last at 4-18 in the Big 12) managed eight hits off third-ranked Nebraska (33-8, first at 14-3 in the Big 12).
“We fought to keep it flat,” KU coach Bobby Randall said. “We got eight hits, but we hit into a couple of double plays. We left runners on base. We need to score some of those guys. We’re not displeased with anything but the final score.”
Actually, Randall was displeased with the early score. The Huskers took advantage of wildness by KU starter Justin Wilcher (1-8) to score two in the first, one in the second and two more in the third for a 5-0 lead.
“Justin just didn’t have it,” Randall said of his junior lefty who allowed five runs all earned off six hits with four walks in just two innings.
Adam Stern and John Cole each had three hits for the Huskers; eight different NU players each had at least one RBI.
Appuhn and Matt Tribble each had two hits for Kansas.
“We fought with the best tonight,” said Appuhn, a sophomore from Omaha, Neb., who was recruited by the Huskers. “We’ve been struggling at the plate. This should build some confidence.”
Appuhn is impressed with his homestate Huskers.
“I didn’t pay too much attention to them growing up,” he said. “Baseball wasn’t too big in Nebraska at the time. But baseball’s starting to get a lot more notice now.”
The teams will continue the series at 2 p.m. today and conclude it at 1 p.m. Sunday.
