Minneapolis, Minn. – Behind Brandon Buckman’s first career two-homer game, No. 4 Nebraska wrapped up the Dairy Queen Classic title with a 4-1 victory over Minnesota Sunday afternoon.
Buckman, a senior from Monument, Colo., single-handedly propelled the Huskers’ offensive attack, driving in three runs, as he matched his career high with four hits, set last season in his Husker debut against Hawaii-Hilo.
Buckman was one of six Huskers on the all-tournament team, joining Joba Chamberlain, Jeff Christy, Andy Gerch, Bryce Nimmo, who won the Silver Stick Award (highest batting average), and Tournament MVP Luke Gorsett.
While Buckman provided the offensive firepower, Johnny Dorn and three relievers held the Golden Gophers to one run on the afternoon, while the Husker pitching staff surrendered just three runs on the weekend.
Dorn, who improved to 2-1 on the season, tossed six shutout innings, allowing three hits and striking out four, while Brett Jensen earned his second save in as many days by tossing the final 1.1 innings and getting NU out of a bases loaded jam in the eighth.
The Huskers used a two-out rally in the first, as Gorsett singled, stole second and came home on Buckman’s RBI double to right.
Nimmo’s speed led directly to the Huskers’ second run in the top of the third inning, as he rounded the bases in a span of three pitches. Nimmo doubled with one out, moved to third on Nick Jaros’ fly out to right before stealing home on the next pitch with Gorsett at bat.
Buckman stretched the lead to 3-0 in the top of the fourth, as he opened the frame with his second homer of the season. Buckman turned on a 2-0 pitch and launched his second homer into the football press box in right center for his second round tripper of the season.
The Huskers, who went the first two games of the weekend without committing an error, nearly let the Gophers back into the game in the fifth, as a pair of errors and a walk loaded the bases with two outs. Dorn found his way out of the jam, picking off Tony Leseman at second to end the threat.
The Gophers got on the board in the bottom of the eighth on a pinch-hit RBI single by Matt Nohelty that pulled the Gophers within 3-1.
NU got the run back in the top of the ninth on Buckman’s tape-measure homer into the upper deck, a distance estimated at over 430 feet.
The Huskers begin the home schedule this Friday, March 10, as they welcome the University of Alabama into Hawks Field. General admission tickets for the 2:05 p.m. start are available for $7 (adults), $5 (youth and seniors) by calling the NU Ticket Office at 800-8BIGRED or on-line at Huskers.com.
Nebraska vs Minnesota (Mar 05, 2006)
Box score (NCAA)
Nebraska Baseball
#4 Nebraska vs Minnesota
Mar 05, 2006 at Minneapolis, MN (Metrodome)
Nebraska 4 (8-2)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
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Nimmo, Bryce cf.......... 2 1 1 0 2 0 2 0 0
Jaros, Nick lf........... 4 0 1 0 0 0 2 1 0
Gorsett, Luke rf......... 4 1 1 0 0 0 3 0 1
Buckman, Brandon 1b...... 4 2 4 3 0 0 8 2 0
Brown, Andrew dh......... 4 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2
Opitz, Jake ss........... 4 0 0 0 0 1 2 1 0
Christy, Jeff c.......... 4 0 0 0 0 2 6 0 0
Edlefsen, Steve 2b....... 3 0 0 0 0 2 1 4 0
Mort, Jake 3b............ 3 0 0 0 0 2 1 4 0
Dorn, Johnny p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0
Shirek, Charlie p....... 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
Cranston, Jared p....... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Jensen, Brett p......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals................... 32 4 7 3 2 8 27 13 3
Minnesota 1 (1-5)
Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB
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Luke MacLean 2b.......... 4 1 2 0 0 0 3 1 0
Dan Lyons ss............. 3 0 1 0 1 0 0 3 1
Mike Mee rf.............. 3 0 0 0 1 1 1 0 0
Andy Hunter 1b........... 4 0 0 0 0 2 8 1 1
Kyle Baran lf............ 2 0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0
Taylor VanderAarde cf... 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
Tijl Vanderwege ph...... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Matt Nohelty ph/lf...... 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0
Bryan Jost dh............ 4 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 3
John Arlt c.............. 2 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0
Aaron Larson pr......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Kevin Carlson c......... 2 0 0 0 0 1 5 0 0
Nate Hanson 3b........... 4 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1
Tony Leseman cf/lf....... 3 0 1 0 1 0 2 0 0
Dustin Brabender p....... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Tyler Oakes p........... 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0
Kyle Carr p............. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Gary Perinar p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals................... 33 1 5 1 3 7 27 7 8
Score by Innings R H E
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Nebraska............ 101 100 001 - 4 7 3
Minnesota........... 000 000 010 - 1 5 0
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E - Buckman, B.(1); Edlefsen, S. 2(5). DP - Gophers 1. LOB - Huskers 3;
Gophers 8. 2B - Nimmo, B.(2); Buckman, B.(2); Leseman(2). HR - Buckman, B.
2(3). SB - Nimmo, B. 2(3); Gorsett, L.(2); Lyons(2).
Nebraska IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP
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Dorn, Johnny........ 6.0 3 0 0 1 4 21 22 88
Shirek, Charlie..... 1.1 1 1 1 1 1 6 7 25
Cranston, Jared..... 0.1 0 0 0 1 1 1 2 8
Jensen, Brett....... 1.1 1 0 0 0 1 5 5 13
Minnesota IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP
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Dustin Brabender.... 5.0 4 3 3 1 3 18 19 74
Tyler Oakes......... 3.0 2 0 0 1 3 10 11 37
Kyle Carr........... 0.2 1 1 1 0 1 3 3 5
Gary Perinar........ 0.1 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 4
Win - Dorn, J. (2-1). Loss - Brabender (0-2). Save - Jensen, B. (2).
WP - Shirek, C.(1). Inherited runners/scored: Cranston, J. 2/0; Jensen, B. 3/1.
Pitches/strikes: Dorn, J. 88/61; Shirek, C. 25/17; Cranston, J. 8/3; Jensen, B.
13/10; Brabender 74/42; Oakes 37/24; Carr 5/4; Perinar 4/1.
Umpires - HP: Don Umland 1B: Randy Bruns 2B: George Drouches 3B: Bill Ryan
Start: 3:19 Time: 2:25 Attendance: 3170
Game: NU10
Courtesy: Scott Bruhn/NU Media Relations
