Morris, who reached all six times he got to the plate, opened the Huskers’ scoring with an RBI double in the first before his three-run homer to dead center highlighted a nine-run fourth inning for Nebraska, which improves to 27-14 on the campaign with the win, its fifth in the last six contests.

The Huskers took a 1-0 lead into the fifth before breaking the contest open, scoring nine runs on eight hits, as NU sent 14 men to the plate. Morris’ three-run homer, his 11th of the season, opened the floodgates before Brandon Eymann and Joe Simokaitis added RBI hits. Jeff Leise then gave NU a 9-0 advantage with a two-run triple. Matt Hopper capped the offensive outburst of UTPA starter Justin Bogy with an RBI single, one of two hits the Husker first baseman had in the win.

“The first three or four innings were frustrating because we hit the ball hard,” Nebraska Coach Dave Van Horn said. “We had men on second and third twice and didn’t score. We forgot about that in the fifth when things finally started going our way. I’m very pleased. I have confidence in a lot of guys right now.”

Freshman Phil Shirek picked up his fourth straight win, throwing five scoreless innings, as the right-hander scattered two hits and struck out four.

“He (Shirek) threw a lot of strikes, mostly fastballs early on, and then he started mixing it up with his slider,” Van Horn said. “He was throwing very hard.”

Three Husker pitchers combined on the four-hitter, as only Tony Ortiz’s ninth-inning solo homer off Jeff Blaesing prevented the Huskers from their fourth shutout of the year. Ortiz has two of the Bronc’s four hits, as UT-Pan American dropped to 13-29 on the year.

Leise went 3-for-4 with three runs scored before being replaced in the fifth, as the Huskers substituted liberally throughout the later innings. Catcher John Grose paced the 22-hit attack with a career-high four hits, extending his hit streak to a team-best 12 games, as every starter in the Husker lineup had at least one hit.

Bogy took the loss for the Broncs, allowing 10 runs on 14 hits in 4.2 innings, in falling to 3-4 on the season.

The teams will conclude the two-game series Wednesday afternoon at 5:05 p.m. at Hawks Field. Sophomore Mike Sillman (0-1, 6.35 ERA) will make his first start of the year and will be opposed by UTPA ace Frank James (5-6, 5.17 ERA).

Source: University of Nebraska Athletic Dept.