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Thursday, June 1, 2000
Komine won’t
pitch in Super
Regional opener
Nebraska's All-American pitcher
By Dave Reardon
from Kalani is recovering from a
line drive that broke his jaw,
and is not in game shape
Star-BulletinAll-American baseball player Shane Komine said he "feels real good," but there's "no chance" he will pitch for Nebraska at Stanford tonight in the first game of the teams' two-out-of-three NCAA Super Regional. The winning team advances to the College World Series.
The Kalani High School graduate continues to make a quick recovery after suffering a broken jaw in the Cornhuskers' first regional game last Friday at Minneapolis. He speaks clearly, is eating solid food and has been medically cleared to play.
But Komine, after surgery and a week layoff from pitching, said yesterday he doesn't feel quite ready to take the mound in a game. He said he was still about 5 pounds under his playing weight of 170 after losing nearly 20 pounds.
"If anything, Sunday might be a day that I pitch," Komine said from Palo Alto, Calif. "I'm a little rusty. Today I did some running and tried throwing on the side and I didn't have what I normally have. I didn't have my right release point. I don't want to be out there if I'm not going to help the team. They've won a lot of games without me."
They've won a lot with him, too. Komine, a sophomore right-hander, is 11-3, including a 2-1 victory over Butler in the regional game in which he was injured. The Big 12 Player of the Year has struck out 154 batters -- a Nebraska record -- in 117-2/3 innings.
While Hawaii's dream matchup of Komine and Punahou graduate Justin Wayne of Stanford seems unlikely, Komine said he looks forward to at least talking with Wayne, whom he met a few times back home.
"He lives right down the street from my girlfriend's house," Komine said. "It's my second home, so she was saying how unreal it is for two All-Americans to live on the same block."
Wayne, a junior right-hander, was named the Pac-10's Co-Pitcher of the Year. He is 13-3 with 135 strikeouts in 122 innings.
Wayne and Komine have both been named first-team All-American by the Baseball Weekly and Collegiate Baseball publications.
