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SCOTT BRUHN / UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA
Nebraska's Shane Komine, a Kalani High School graduate, recorded his 17th complete game yesterday, against Marist.
LINCOLN, Neb. >> Shane Komine proved yesterday he doesn't need to rely on his fastball to win, and win in spectacular fashion. Komine masters Marist
as Huskers go to finalStar-Bulletin wire services
Nebraska's two-time All-American from Kalani High School pitched his second complete-game of the year while notching 12 strikeouts to lead the Huskers to a 9-1 win over Marist at the NCAA Regional that Nebraska is hosting.
With the victory, Nebraska (44-18) advanced to the regional's championship game today, where the Huskers meet the winner of the elimination game between Southwest Missouri State (42-20) and Marist (41-13).
"Shane pitched great. His fastball was his secondary pitch today. He threw a lot of curve balls, change-ups and sliders," Nebraska coach Dave Van Horn said. "His off-speed stuff was as good as I've ever seen it. The umpires were calling all of his breaking pitches strikes."
Komine allowed just five hits on 97 pitches. He improved to 39-8 with 494 strikeouts in his career, edging closer to becoming just the sixth pitcher in NCAA history to post 40 wins and record 500 career strikeouts. It was Komine's 17th complete game of his career, extending his own record.
"Today was about the best I have felt in six to seven weeks now," Komine said. "I think the reason I was so successful was I was able to throw my pitches for strikes and mix it up."
WAC teams
Rice 6, Texas Tech 0: At Houston, Vincent Sinisi went 2-for-3 with a home run and three scores as Rice beat Texas Tech in the second round of the NCAA regionals.
Rice (49-11) advances to the finals today.
Cal State Fullerton 9, San Jose State 1: At Stanford, Calif., David Fischer homered and drove in two runs and Jordan DeJong pitched a six-hitter as Cal State Fullerton eliminated San Jose State.
DeJong (11-3) shut down the Spartans (45-17) to improve to 4-0 in his last six appearances.