Monday's sports shorts 3-23

McCook's Connor Larson makes NBDA squad

McCook High School's Connor Larson, a 6-foot sophomore guard, was selected as one of 10 players on the Nebraska Basketball Development Association Bison-Nebraska White All-Star squad, which will play a spring and summer schedule.

The White squad is for sophomores. A Red squad, consisting of juniors, was also selected.

Nebraska Basketball Development Association

2009 Bison-Nebraska All-Star Basketball Rosters

2009 BISON-NEBRASKA RED

Player Ht. Gr. High School

Zac Bargen 6-5 11 Chadron

Mike Dentlinger 6-6 11 Millard North

Elliott Eliason 6-11 11 Chadron

Tyler Evans 6-2 11 Waverly

Dylan Flinn 6-7 11 Lincoln High

Brady Lollman 6-3 11 Norfolk

Trevor Menke 6-0 11 Beatrice

Tobin Reinwald 6-3 11 Lincoln High

Dwight Smith 6-3 11 Ralston

Jordan Tyrance 6-3 11 Lincoln SW

Head Coach: Ben Ries, Norfolk

Assistant Coach: Dan Moore, North Platte

2009 BISON-NEBRASKA WHITE

Player Ht. Gr. High School

DK Augustine 6-4 10 Omaha Bryan

Ethan Brozak 6-5 10 Norfolk Catholic

Galen Gullie 5-7 10 Omaha Bryan

Reith Jiech 6-5 10 Omaha Bryan

Garrett Johnson 6-0 10 Norfolk

Connor Larson 6-0 10 McCook

Cole Spurgeon 6-1 10 Gretna

Derrius Vick 6-2 10 Lincoln SE

Zach Sterup 6-8 10 Hastings SC

Dylan Heath 6-6 10 Lincoln SW

Head Coach: Don Hogue, Falls City

Assistant Coach: Jimmy Motz, Sterling

McCook alum Kirstie Hiatt gets first collegiate pitching win for UNK

KEARNEY -- The Western New Mexico University softball team belted 10 home runs and hit .415 as a squad to take three of four games from Nebraska-Kearney this weekend in Silver City, N.M.

The Mustangs won Sunday's games by scores of 10-9 and 16-5 (5 innings). Western also won the series opener, 4-1, while the Lopers rallied for a 10-9 victory in Saturday's second game.

UNK (8-12, 5-7 RMAC) has now dropped five of its last six games. With the wins, Western improves to 7-17 (5-11 RMAC).

After the first game, the Lopers had no answer for a Western offense that was led by freshman center fielder Kaitlyn Barnes (.727, four HR's, 11 RBI's, three stolen bases), senior outfielder Stephanie Bisgard (.571, two HR's, seven RBI's) and junior shortstop Kristina Barr (.563, two HR's, nine RBI's).

Senior pitcher Priscilla Garcia (2-0, 2.80 ERA) was also tough on the UNK hitters.

The Lopers did hit six homers in the series, two coming from sophomore pitcher Jessie Thomas (Yutan).

McCook freshman Kirstie Hiatt also earned her first collegiate win as she allowed three runs in 5.1 innings of relief work on Saturday.

In that game, Western jumped out to a 6-1 lead but UNK scored two in the third, five more in the fourth and added two insurance runs in the fifth.

Sophomore third baseman Cassie Keck (Blair) went 3 for 4 with two runs scored while junior first baseman Laura Gormley (Omaha Northwest) and junior catcher Sara Dunn (Papillion South) each knocked in a pair of runs.

The win didn't come easy as the Mustangs, in the seventh, had runners on first and third with two outs and Barr at the plate. Hiatt managed to get Barr to hit a come backer and give the win to the Lopers.

In series opener, Garcia threw a complete game four hitter with Barr and Barnes going a combined 5 of 6 with three RBI's. On Sunday, Western rallied from an 8-6 deficit by scoring three in the fifth and once more in the sixth. A key error allowed three of these runs to score.

Hiatt would be the tough luck loser as she allowed just one earned run in four innings of relief. Finally, Bisgard and Barnes each drove in five runs in the series finale that lasted five innings.

UNK hosts Chadron State this Wednesday and then welcomes Regis to Dryden Park for four games next weekend.

Justin Spector shoots hole-in-one

McCook High School alum Justin Spector recorded a hole-in-one Saturday at Heritage Hills Golf Course.

Spector aced the 120-yard seventh-hole, using a gap wedge.

Nebraska hurdlers post seven regional marks

TEMPE, Ariz. -- The Nebraska track and field team opened the 2009 outdoor season on a high note, as the men's hurdler squad had five hurdlers post seven regional-qualifying marks Saturday night at the Baldy Castillo Invitational in Tempe, Ariz.

The Husker foursome of Lehann Fourie (13.84), Kirkland Thornton (13.94), Tyrell Ross (14.09) and Eric Lund (14.18) started the night in dominant fashion, taking the top four spots in the 110-meter hurdles.

The four Huskers were the only hurdlers to regionally qualify in the event, with Fourie, Thornton and Lund all running personal-best times. Fourie's leading time of 13.84 tied him with Ben Kearse (1997) as the ninth-best performer all-time outdoors at NU.

Lund came back later in the night at 10:30 p.m. (Central) to regionally qualify in the 400-meter hurdles with a fourth-place time of 52.23.

Lund was directly followed by Ross (52.24), Nick Makukutu (52.36) and Cylend Simmons (52.84), with everyone but Ross running a personal best. Ross and Makukutu also joined Lund as a regional qualifier in the 400 hurdles.

The Huskers will now prepare for next weekend's meets as they are schedule to split up and head to Palo Alto, Calif., for the Stanford Invitational and also head back to Tempe for the Arizona State Invitational. Check Huskers.com later in the week for more information.

Husker baseball team falls to Oklahoma State


LINCOLN -- Nick Sullivan homered and drove in a pair of runs, but Oklahoma State used a strong pitching performance by Tyler Blandford to salvage the finale of the three-game series by a score of 6-3 Sunday afternoon.

Sullivan went 2-for-4 and drove in two of the Huskers' three runs on the day, highlighted by his first homer of the season to pull Nebraska within three runs in the seventh inning, but Nebraska (14-7-1, 3-3 Big 12) was held to three hits on the afternoon to snap its three-game win streak.

Blandford was outstanding for Oklahoma State (15-7, 1-2 Big 12), allowing only three hits over eight-plus innings while fanning 11 Huskers to improve to 4-0 on the season.

"It was a tough day for us, you have to give him (Blandford) a lot of credit," Nebraska coach Mike Anderson said. "The one thing I told our kids is I thought that we gave him credit, but we gave it to him too soon. I thought in the second or third inning we started to adjust, but in a negative way. We started to speed up our bats and tried to do a little bit too much."

Oklahoma State took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second on Davis Duran's RBI single before the Huskers tied it up in the bottom of the frame on Sullivan's first hit of the day. Wth two outs and Jeff Tezak on second, Sullivan lined a Blandford offering into center, plating Tezak with the tying run.

The Cowboys came right back against NU starter Michael Mariot, stringing together four hits in the top of the third to extend the margin to 4-1 after run-scoring singles from Kevin David and Dean Green and a sacrifice fly off the bat of Doug Kroll. Mariot (1-2) took the loss, allowing four runs on eight hits over three innings of work.

Nebraska pulled closer in the sixth, getting within 4-2 after scoring a run without a base hit. Kyle Bubak reached on a one-out walk, stole second and eventually came around to score after two wild pitches from Blandford, including one that kept the inning alive after he struck out Adam Bailey for the third out of the inning.

Green then gave the Cowboys some breathing room in the seventh, belting a two-run homer off reliever Sean Yost to make it a 6-3 lead. Neil Medchill, who had three hits, doubled to open the inning before Green's second homer of the year, a two-run shot to right, pushing the margin to three runs. Green went 3-for-5 with three RBIs and two runs scored for OSU, which out-hit the Huskers, 11-3.

Sullivan's solo homer to right pulled the Huskers within 6-3, but Nebraska was unable to muster any late-inning heroics. In the ninth, NU got the leadoff runner on as Tyler Farst was hit by a Blandford pitch, but Randy McCurry set down the next three Huskers in order for his sixth save.

The Huskers will return to action on Tuesday evening, as they host Northern Colorado beginning at 6:05 p.m. The game will be carried on Huskers.com and selected IMG Husker Sports Network stations.

Notes: Nebraska saw its eight-game home win streak snapped on Sunday...NU's three hits tied a season low, also set at UL-Lafayette on Feb. 21...Adam Bailey saw his team-high 13-game hit streak snapped, as he had hit safely in every game since Feb. 28...NU falls to 3-2 against ranked opponents this season...Eric Rose tied his career high with two innings of work and he has now appeared in a team-high 13 games, including each of the last five contests...OSU picks up its second win in 12 tries at Hawks Field...Sullivan's two RBIs ties a season high set two other times....Jake Mort's two errors marked his second two-error game in 153 career games and his first as a third baseman...he also committed two errors in the 2007 Big 12 Tournament against Kansas State when he was playing shortstop...Mort also saw his eight-game hit streak snapped on Sunday, as it equaled the longest hit streak of his career.

Hastings baseball

team posts yet

another sweep

HASTINGS -- The Hastings College baseball team completed their second sweep in as many days as the Broncos swept Morningside College Sunday afternoon in Hastings

In game one, Hastings defeated the Mustangs 2-1 while winning 9-3 in game two.
Alex Kucera was the starting pitcher for Hastings in game one.

Kucera threw seven complete innings allowing only one run on eight hits. Kucera also struck out four batters.

Although the Broncos only had four hits in game one, they would use great pitching and strong defense to hold off Morningside.

Joe Jeanjaquet, A.J. Clark, Pat Morey and Leigh Jochimsen would collect the hits for the Broncos as Clark would also tally one RBI.
In game two, the bats would explode for Hastings as five batters would have two or more hits. John Rivera would lead the way as he was 3 for 4 at the plate with two RBI's. Joe Jeanjaquet, A.J. Clark, Geoff Hobbs and Mac Land were all 2 for 4 from the plate as Land recorded one RBI while Hobbs drove in two runs. Blake Marquardt had a bases clearing triple to increase the Broncos lead to five runs. Marquardt tallied four RBI's on the day. A.J. Clark picked up the win for Hastings on the mound as he threw seven solid innings allowing three runs off just five hits while striking out seven batters.
The Broncos are now 11-19 on the season and in a tie for first place in the GPAC with a 4-0 record. Hastings will travel to Kearney, Neb. to take on the Univ. of Nebraska-Kearney in non-conference action on Tuesday, March 24 with game time set for 4:30 p.m. The two teams will play one nine-inning game.

Husker softball team rallies past 19th-ranked Aggies


COLLEGE STATION, Texas -- Down to its final strike, the Nebraska softball team rallied to tie the game in the seventh inning, score twice in the ninth then hold off a rally by 19th-ranked Texas A&M to pull out a thrilling 3-2 victory in nine innings at the Aggie Softball Complex on Sunday afternoon.

Nebraska trailed 1-0 with two outs in the top of the seventh before senior Brittany Pascale walked on a 3-2 pitch. After having just one hit through the first 6.2 innings, junior pinch-hitter Alex Hupp singled to put runners on first and second. Sophomore pinch-hitter Kelli Linke then took a strike before ripping a pitch through the left side to bring freshman pinch-runner Nikki Haget home with the tying run.

Both teams were retired in order in the eighth before Nebraska came through with two runs in the ninth.

Sophomore Julie Brechtel led off with an infield single before fellow sophomore Heidi Foland doubled to left to give the Huskers a pair of runners in scoring position.

Pascale brought Brechtel home with a deep sacrifice fly to right before Hupp perfectly executed a squeeze bunt to score Foland with what proved to be the game-winning run.

Texas A&M responded with back-to-back singles in the bottom of the ninth and a Husker error cut the lead to 3-2.

With the tying runner in scoring position and only one out, senior right-hander Molly Hill buckled down and coaxed a ground out and a pop out to preserve the win.

Hill was outstanding in the circle again on Sunday. After giving up only one earned run in a complete-game effort on Saturday, Hill did not allow an earned run while allowing only four hits in 9.0 innings on Sunday.

Hill lowered her ERA to 1.13 with the win, while improving to 13-4 on the season. Behind Hill and the late-inning heroics, Nebraska salvaged a series split with Texas A&M while improving to 20-6 on the year and 1-1 in Big 12 play. The victory also marked the Huskers' first conference road win since 2007 and the Aggies' first Big 12 home loss since 2007.

Rhiannon Kliesing (14-7) took the loss for Texas A&M, which fell to 23-11 and 1-1 in the conference. Kliesing allowed three runs on six hits while striking out eight in a complete-game effort.

"I'm really proud of the team for not giving in even when it was two outs in the seventh," Nebraska head coach Rhonda Revelle said. "It was a complete team effort. We had our first two pinch hits of the season in back-to-back at bats (in the seventh), then Nikki (Haget) came in and scored the tying run.

"I thought Molly (Hill) came back out today and threw courageously to only allow one hit going into extra innings. It's hard to come back out the second day and really dominate a team like that. This was a really good win for Nebraska softball."

After allowing a pair of two-out runs in Saturday's 2-1 loss to the Aggies, an error and a two-out single from Kliesing gave Texas A&M a 1-0 lead after two innings on Saturday.

The game would remain 1-0 until the seventh, when Pascale's walk and Linke's hit forced extra innings. Linke's pinch-hit RBI single marked her first pinch hit of the season in six tries.

Hupp also fared well in a pinch-hitting role, going 1-for-1 with a sacrifice and the game-winning RBI. Junior Whitney Barrett paced the Husker offense with a 2-for-3 day, while Brechtel and Foland added the other two hits. Nebraska out-hit Texas A&M 6-4.

After the thrilling road win, Nebraska returns home for a pair of doubleheaders on Tuesday and Wednesday that wrap up a stretch of 10 games in nine days.