HUSKER BASEBALL FAN Bob Tallon of Lincoln found himself alone in the bleachers at Buck Beltzer Field Wednesday afternoon as Nebraska played host to a doubleheader against Dana College.
SCOTT MCCLURG/DN
After having 11 games canceled because of poor weather earlier this season, the last thing Nebraska Baseball Coach Dave Van Horn wanted to do was cancel any more games.
So with drizzle and a strong northerly wind, the Cornhuskers fit in a twi-night doubleheader with Dana College Wednesday, just hours after canceling a game at Northern Iowa because of rain.
The move paid off, as the Huskers improved to 16-14 overall by sweeping the Vikings 16-2 and 15-4 in front of 119 fans at Buck Beltzer Field.
A consistent blast of cold air kept the ball from flying out of the park, but it didn't prevent runs from scoring as NU posted its two highest run totals of the season.
Nebraska freshman third baseman Danny Kimura had a career day in the second game, going 3 for 3 with seven RBIs.
Kimura's seven RBIs were the most by a Husker player since April 30, 1997, when Gabe Garcia drove in eight runs against Nebraska-Omaha. Garcia quit the team the following day after making comments to the Daily Nebraskan regarding his aversion to playing non-Division I schools.
"I stayed back in the box, and in the past I was lunging at the ball," Kimura said.
After Dana jumped on NU starter Brian Rodaway for three runs in the top of the first, the Huskers got on the board in the bottom half of the inning with a Kimura sacrifice fly to right field, scoring center fielder Scott Larsen.
The Huskers came back with four runs in the third inning thanks again to Kimura whose bases-loaded triple to right field scored three runs.
"Staying patient is something else I've been working on, and I did that today by hitting to the opposite field a couple of times," Kimura said.
The Kailhua, Hawaii, native also added a single in the fourth and a double in the fifth.
Nebraska wasn't done scoring after the third as it added three more runs in the fourth and batted around in the fifth inning, scoring five runs.
Designated hitter Jeff Hedman led off the fifth with a triple to left field, but was gunned down at the plate trying for an inside-the-park home run.
After a Donny Starkins fly-out to right field, the Huskers sent seven Huskers to the plate, with five scoring.
Two Dana errors helped the Huskers along, while Larsen and Kimura each drove in two runs off of Viking pitcher Ryane Doi.
NU pitchers did their part as the bullpen allowed only one run, scattering three hits during the second seven-inning game.
Senior southpaw Brian Downing (2-2) earned the win tossing two scoreless innings, striking out five Viking batters.
Van Horn was pleased with the effort of his team, as everybody played during the 38-degree double-dip.
"We really needed to play today," Van Horn said. "We got to pitch a lot of people, so it was valuable from our standpoint, because an intersquad game in April doesn't do us any good."
The Huskers will resume Big 12 Conference play Friday when they play host to 10th-ranked Oklahoma.
The Sooners (29-9 overall and 9-4 in the Big 12 Conference) are currently in second place behind Big 12 leader Baylor.
