Cornhuskers post first CWS victory

OMAHA, Neb. -- Even Arizona State coach Pat Murphy got caught up in the excitement of Nebraska's first College World Series victory.

The Cornhuskers enjoyed the home-field advantage that comes with playing 58 miles from their Lincoln campus, beating the Sun Devils 5- 3 Friday night for their first CWS victory in front of a partisan crowd of 24,904.

"You know, it's kind of weird, but I'm kind of happy for the people of Nebraska," Murphy said. "The fans were unbelievable. I heard them all. At least 24,878 had red on, and it was a pretty impressive environment and pretty tough on our guys."

The Nebraska fans cheered nearly every pitch and chanted "Go Big Red!" as closer Brett Jensen induced Eric Sogard's groundout to end the game.

"There was a lot of hype, a lot of expectations with the fans," Nebraska coach Mike Anderson said. "The crowd isn't going to win or lose a baseball game for us, so that's why I was happy we got through the third and settled into it."

The Huskers had come into the tournament a combined 0-4 in their only other CWS appearances, in 2001 and '02.

They broke through thanks to Joba Chamberlain, who allowed just five hits in seven innings, and Ryan Wehrle, who hit a two-run single to give Nebraska the lead in the sixth.

Nebraska (57-13), which has won 11 straight, advances to a Sunday night game against Florida, a 6-4 winner over Tennessee in Friday's first game. ASU (39-24), making its 19th CWS appearance but first since 1998, faces the Volunteers in an elimination game Sunday.

Chamberlain (10-2) allowed a run in the second inning and two in the sixth before giving way to Zach Kroenke in the eighth. Chamberlain walked three and struck out four. Jensen pitched the final 1 1-3 innings and earned his 16th save.

Chamberlain's performance followed an impressive 13-strikeout outing against Miami in last week's super regional. He walked Jeff Larish to start the game, then struck out Travis Buck, finding his rhythm.

"It doesn't feel any different than last week. It's just a bigger stage," Chamberlain said. "At the beginning, I was a little nervous, and coach told me to have fun. I turned around and relaxed."

Zechry Zinicola (3-4) took over for ASU starter Jason Urquidez at the start of the third inning and held Nebraska hitless until Andy Gerch singled to lead off the sixth. Zinicola then walked Ryan Bohanan and hit Daniel Bruce, loading the bases with no outs.

Brett Bordes came on, and Wehrle sent his first pitch back up the middle for a two-run single that put Nebraska in front 4-3. Wehrle, an Omaha native, scored on Jeff Christy's single down the right- field line.

"I was put in a good situation where the pitcher had to come at me -- he didn't want to fall behind," Wehrle said. "I was looking for a good pitch, and I put a good swing on it."

The Huskers went up 2-0 in the bottom of the first. Joe Simokaitis singled and scored on Curtis Ledbetter's hit up the middle. Ledbetter scored when right fielder Travis Buck, the Oakland Athletics' first-round supplemental draft pick, lost Bohanan's fly ball in the sun and had the ball glance off his glove for an error.

The Sun Devils got a run back with two out in the second on Joey Hooft's double.

Chamberlain retired 10 straight before giving up a walk to Andrew Romine leading off the Sun Devils' two-run sixth. Larish followed with a bloop single, and the runners advanced on Buck's sacrifice.

Chamberlain issued an intentional walk to Colin Curtis, loading the bases. Tuffy Gosewisch followed with a two-run double into the gap in right-center.

Curtis tried to score from first on the play, but was thrown out at the plate.

Murphy said the Sun Devils couldn't overcome their pitchers walking six and hitting two batters. Urquidez's two innings marked the shortest of his 15 starts this season. He threw 52 pitches, giving up two runs on three hits and two walks.

"Sometimes you've got to make a move, and Jason was in trouble every inning," Murphy said. "The trouble he was in wasn't about them hitting the ball hard off him. The trouble was he was behind in the count over and over. This isn't the time of year that can happen."

Now the Sun Devils are left to battle in the loser's bracket and hope for another meeting with the Huskers in front of the "Sea of Red."

"This is the loudest game I've ever played in," Hooft said. "The good thing is these Nebraska fans, they like to see good baseball. It wasn't anything vulgar. They were just loud. They're not here to put anybody down."

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