Dorn comes up big in 9-2 win

LINCOLN - Johnny Dorn would have grinned had he not felt bad for home plate umpire Mike Droll.

Not to say that Nebraska's junior right-hander didn't enjoy his front-row seat to 13th-ranked Oklahoma State's mounting frustrations at Haymarket Park on Saturday afternoon. Dorn limited the Big 12 Conference's top-hitting team to two runs over seven innings.

But it was Droll who had to deal with the brunt of the Cowboys' displeasure in a 9-2 loss to the Huskers.

In the sixth inning, third-base coach Billy Jones and OSU preseason All-American Matt Mangini both barked over called strikes that sent Mangini back to the dugout with runners at first and second.

One inning later, following a called third strike from NU reliever  Matt Foust, Keanon Simon slammed his bat on home plate, a move that led to his immediate ejection. Of course, OSU coach Frank Anderson had to get his two cents in, too. At least he had the composure to realize it wasn't all Droll's doing that the Huskers won  their first league series in four tries.

“They got a little angry there towards the end,” said Dorn, who followed Tony Watson's complete-game effort Friday by helping hold Oklahoma State to its season-low run total for the second straight day. “Not too much is happening for them, so I'm sure it's a little frustrating.”

The Cowboys' Anderson concurred after spending a good 20 minutes huddled with his team in right field following Saturday's game.

“Yesterday, I gave Watson a lot of credit. Today, we've got to do a better job of identifying who the enemy is,” Anderson said. “Sometimes it's yourself. I think a lot of times that has to do with where you're at, and this place has a tendency to do that to people.

“We haven't been in an atmosphere like this, and we're not handling it very well, more than anything.”

Saturday's win was Nebraska's 13th straight against OSU in Lincoln. It also was the ninth time in Dorn's career that he earned the victory in a game that clinched a Big 12 series.

“I don't ever believe he's overpowering. When he's at his best, he locates pitches, and that's what he did all day,” NU coach Mike Anderson said. “(I'm) very proud of Johnny, and can't say enough about Matt Foust.

“We've been looking for somebody in the seventh, eighth and ninth to put zeroes up on the board. Matt got on a roll.”

In the first two games of the series, the Cowboys, who entered with a .354 team batting average, have hit just .235.

They managed five hits and three walks against Dorn, couldn't get to Foust with two on and no outs in the seventh and allowed him to work three scoreless innings for his first save of the season.

Nebraska scored all the runs it  needed while knocking Robbie Weinhardt out of the game after he'd gotten two outs in a four-run first inning. All of the runs came with two out.

Andrew Brown's double to center drove in DJ Belfonte, who'd walked, and Jake Opitz followed with an RBI single after getting second life because Mangini couldn't quite get to a foul pop up. Craig Corriston then hit a blooper over second before Andy Gerch delivered a two-run double to left to end Weinhardt's day.

Nebraska also produced a four-run fourth against three pitchers, getting five straight one-out singles after Gerch had led off with a hit and moved up on a sacrifice.

“The pitcher's just throwing it, basically, over the middle of the plate,” Brown said. “They weren't trying to do too much and they were trying to get us to swing and be aggressive in the first three pitches. We know the way they like to pitch, so we took it to our advantage and got the pitches we wanted and got some hits out of it.”

Nebraska, which has won seven of its last nine games, will try to keep the momentum going and equal its season-best winning streak of four when the teams conclude the series at 1:05 p.m. today.

“I don't think we're done yet,” Dorn said. “We know we've got to come out and get another win tomorrow.”