May 13, 2006
Box Score
WACO, Texas - Mike Pankratz and Chase Gerdes each homered, and Cory VanAllen earned his 12th career victory at Baylor Ballpark as Baylor defeated No. 5 Nebraska 4-1 in Big 12 Conference action Saturday night. The Bears (32-19, 12-11) have won seven straight against Nebraska in Waco, where the Huskers (37-11, 16-7) are 1-11 since the inception of the Big 12 Conference in 1997.
VanAllen improved to 12-2 with a 2.80 ERA in 26 appearances and 17 starts during his career at Baylor Ballpark, including a 5-1 record this season and a 2-0 mark against Nebraska.
Baylor improved to 25-7 this season at home, the most regular-season wins at Baylor Ballpark since the 2002 team went 25-6.
VanAllen held Nebraska to one run on four hits and three walks with two strikeouts over 7.0 innings. The lone run came in the first on Luke Gorsett's sacrifice fly. VanAllen pitched around trouble most of the night as Nebraska stranded 10 runners, eight in scoring position.
Tim Matthews earned his first career save, holding the Huskers scoreless on two hits over the final two frames. Nebraska had runners at first and second with one out in the eighth, but Matthews got Jeff Christy to ground out and Jake Opitz to fly out to end the threat. Matthews then retired the side in order in the ninth, striking out Ryan Wehrle to end the game.
Pankratz, who returned to the Baylor lineup three weeks ago after off-season knee surgery, erased Nebraska's early 1-0 lead with a two-run homer to right-center in the bottom of the second, his third round-tripper of the season.
Kevin Russo pushed Baylor's lead to 3-1 in the fifth, plating Ben Booker with an RBI triple to right-center. Gerdes capped the scoring in the seventh, taking a 1-2 Tony Watson offering over the wall in right. It was Gerdes' second home run of the season and third of his career, two of which have come against Nebraska.
Baylor handed Watson (7-1) his first loss of the season. The southpaw allowed four runs on five hits and four walks with four strikeouts over 6.2 innings.
Five different Bears had one hit each - Seth Fortenberry, Gerdes, Pankratz, Russo and Beamer Weems. Andrew Brown, who homered twice in Friday night's series opener, had three of Nebraska's six hits.
Baylor and Nebraska conclude the series Sunday at 2 p.m. CDT. The Bears send right-hander Jeff Mandel (1-2, 4.60) to the mound, opposite Nebraska right-hander Johnny Dorn (9-2, 3.27).
NOTES: Baylor leads the all-time series 26-17-1, including a 17-4-1 advantage in games played in Waco. The Bears are 18-13 against the Huskers since the start of the Big 12, 16-8 in regular-season conference meetings. Baylor is 19-13 against Nebraska under head coach Steve Smith. ... Fortenberry and Gerdes both extended hitting streaks to six games. Jackson (four games) and Zach Dillon (three games) both saw streaks end.
