Sidelines
Injured Komine
has more to proveIN a small school in a small town on the South Dakota border, a kolohe Nebraska boy puts a new twist on the oldest trick in the book:
"... by the way love you man i asked my teacher if i could go 2 the bathroom and i snuck down here and typed this question," "Bill" writes hastily in a Baseball America online chat.
And Shane Komine can only shake his head and laugh.
It's gotten that big for Komine, the former Kalani High baseball prospect, who as a high school senior, was not only short, but skinny, too. Since then, he's blossomed into arguably the best pitcher in the college game at Nebraska, a first team All-American with numbers and records and a start in the College World Series.
And yes, with groupies willing to risk detention just for a piece of him.
He's back, having turned down an offer from the St. Louis Cardinals last summer, and so they love him all the more.
He's Mr. Friday Night. He is Nebraska baseball.
And last week, more than 5,600 turned out to see him pitch.
But alas, things aren't always so smooth.
The Cardinals were firm with a low offer because Komine, as dominant as he was, is a short right-hander with a history of injuries. And after opening his senior season on fire -- 5-0, national pitcher of the week, 2.10 earned run average and 71 strikeouts -- his health has betrayed him again.
"I still wanted to throw," he said. "But my body was just telling me it was time to take a break."
It was his elbow. For weeks, he'd felt it, but fought it off. He still pitched brilliantly -- at first. But then it caught him, and the guy with 16 straight Big 12 wins, the man who is undefeated at home, was pulled in two uncharacteristic no-decisions that went on to become conference losses.
Something was wrong. He'd been so good that he'd gone eight or nine innings every night, and his body mutinied.
"It got to the point where I wanted to just shut it down," he said.
Komine had an MRI Tuesday and was scheduled for another today. He and the doctors think it's tendinitis, that rest will make it all go away.
Until then, for the first time in two years, he is no longer Mr. Friday Night. For the first time, he is not traveling, not in this weekend's rotation at Missouri. For the first time, tomorrow night, he listens to games on the radio and sees the action only in his mind.
"I'm just going to rest, work out, get strong, be patient, be positive," he said.
The Huskers, defending champions now stuck in a Big 12 dogfight, need him. The boys skipping class to talk baseball with their hero need him. All the football fans, who finally learned baseball cheers and flocked to the brand new stadium that Shane built, need him.
But most of all, he needs to see himself back out there in his final season. "I still had something to prove coming back here," he said.
"No matter what, I'm going to keep that intensity inside of me," he said.
Kalani Simpson can be reached at ksimpson@starbulletin.com