Komine to pitch before a crowd of 17,000

By Dennis Anderson
Advertiser Staff Writer

Two-time All-American Shane Komine of Nebraska will make his first pitching start since April 5 tonight before a sold-out crowd of 17,000 at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha, Neb.

Nebraska will play instate rival Creighton at the stadium where the College World Series is played each year. It is the only regular-season game played at Rosenblatt and has drawn the biggest regular-season crowd in college baseball each of the last two seasons.

Plus, it will be the last time that Komine pitches a regular-season game in Nebraska, and Cornhusker fans have gobbled up tickets, Nebraska spokesman Shane McManus said.

The 1998 Kalani High graduate from Kaimuki did not pitch for 35 days because of tendinitis in his right (throwing) elbow. On Saturday he pitched three scoreless innings of relief against Cal Poly (San Luis Obispo).

"The last two innings he really attacked, and I thought I saw the old Shane Komine out there," coach Dave Van Horn said.

Komine will be on a pitch count tonight and is expected to throw about 75 pitches, McManus said.

Komine has a 5-0 record and 1.99 earned run average this season. He needs four more wins to be the 14th pitcher in college history to log 40 wins and 400 strikeouts.

(Tonight's game audio will be available at www.huskers.com and will be streamed on the internet at http://net.unl.edu).

• Pepperdine (Calif.)

The Waves are two wins away from clinching their fourth straight divisional baseball championship and Duke Sardinha put them there.

Sardinha, a 1998 Kamehameha graduate from Kahuku, was chosen West Coast Conference/Rawlings Player of the Week Monday for these feats in leading Pepperdine to a four-game sweep of Saint Mary's last weekend:

Batting: .625 (10-for-16). Runs scored: 8. Extra-base hits: 4 doubles and 3 home runs. RBIs: 8. Slugging percentage: 1.438. On-base percentage: .700 (14-for-20). Multiple-hit and multiple-RBI games: 3 of 4.

Sardinha's power surge lifted Pepperdine, which has been struggling most of the season, to a 16-11 record in the WCC's Coast Division. Two victories at 13-14 Gonzaga this weekend will put the Waves in the championship playoffs against either San Diego or Portland.

Last weekend's effort raised Sardinha's batting average to .319 (75-for-235). He has 10 home runs, 18 doubles and 41 RBIs in 55 games with a slugging percentage of .532.

Sardinha told The Advertiser's Stacy Kaneshiro in January that "I have to put up big numbers now" because he is hoping for a high call in the major league draft in June. He turned down a $100,000 signing bonus last summer from the Colorado Rockies, who picked him in the 42nd round but offered seventh-round money.

His younger brother, Bronson, got a $1 million signing bonus from the Yankees last summer and older brother, Dane, turned down $750,000 out of high school to play at Pepperdine and later signed with the Cincinnati Reds for less money but other considerations.

• Babson (Maine)

Two weeks ago, junior second baseman Kevin Higa (Maryknoll '99, of 'Aiea) had "by far, my best day of baseball," when he hit three home runs in a single game.

Last Saturday, with the East Coast Athletic Conference Division III championship on the line at Springfield, Mass., he may have topped it.

In a win-or-go-home game against Endicott (Mass.), Higa hit two doubles and a grand slam, driving in seven runs and rallying Babson from an 8-2 deficit to a 10-9 victory.

In the championship game immediately afterward, Higa hit a double and a triple as Babson again rallied to defeat Western Connecticut, 8-3.

In Higa's 5-for-8 day, every hit was for extra bases, and he was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player.

Higa also was chosen all-conference.

He finished the season with a .402 batting average, setting a school record of 68 hits, including team-highs of 13 doubles, six triples and eight home runs for a .692 slugging percentage. Higa tied the Babson season record of 50 RBIs in 44 games.