The Huskers had a final opportunity in the bottom of the ninth, but Aubrey retired the side as Adam Stern grounded out to second, Matt Hopper struck out and Dan Johnson grounded out to second.

Aubrey picked up the save, his first of the year, while Beau Richardson (8-1) took the win for the Green Wave, allowing five runs on seven hits. Richardson also struck out four and walked four in 7.0 innings of work.

"It gave us a lift to get out of the bases-loaded jam with no outs in the top of the ninth, but we just couldn't get anything going," Stern said. "We couldn't get the big hit when we needed it."

The loss closed a season in which the Huskers achieved marked success. Nebraska (50-14) went 20-8 in Big 12 Conference play and won the regular-season and league tournament titles en route to earning the No. 8 seed in the NCAA Tournament and playing host to a regional and a super regional. Nebraska went 5-0 in the regional and super regional tournaments, including a sweep ninth-seeded Rice, to land a spot in the College World Series.

The Huskers went 0-2 in their first-ever CWS, falling 5-4 to top-seeded Cal State Fullerton Friday. The losses were Nebraska's first back-to-back one-run defeats since the 1999 season.

"I told the team that they don't have anything to hang there heads about," Van Horn said "We didn't play our best ball here over the past few days. I give credit to the other teams for that. But we accomplished a lot this year. We won the conference championship and the conference tournament. I'm really proud of these guys. They were an overachieving team this year. We were a little thin on the mound and in a couple of other positions, but we found a way to win games.

"Today, things could have gotten out of hand pretty quick, but we found a way to hang in there. It was a good experience for us, but it was disappointing."

Tulane started the day quickly, taking a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. Andy Cannizaro followed Jon Kaplan's leadoff double with a single to right center. With runners on the corners, Jake Gautreau smacked a sacrifice fly to deep right field to score Kaplan for the 1-0 lead.

The Green Wave threatened again in the top of the second. Matt Groff led off with a double to right, and Spiehs hit Jay Heintz with a pitch to put runners on first and second. Anthony Giarratano tapped a sacrifice bunt and reached on an error when NU catcher Jed Morris nearly overthrew first. But with the bases loaded, the Huskers got out of the inning safely as the defense came through. R.D. Spiehs caught Groff stealing, and Tulane's Anthony Giarratano grounded into a double play to end the first half of the inning.

Nebraska tied it up in the bottom of the second when Jeff Leise plated Morris with a two-out, RBI single to right. John Cole then became just the fifth Husker to post 100 or more hits in a season with a single that advanced Leise to second. Stern slugged in the go-ahead run with a triple to center, plating Leise and Cole for the 3-1 advantage.

After two scoreless innings, Tulane struck again in the top of the fifth. Giarratano and Madden reached on back-to-back singles, and then advanced a base on a wild pitch from Spiehs. Kaplan plated Giarratano on a ground out to short, cutting the Huskers' lead to 3-2.

The Green Wave took the lead in the sixth as the Husker bullpen gave up four runs - three earned - on four hits. Van Horn sent Justin Pekarek to the mound at the top of the inning to replace Spiehs, who allowed two runs off five hits while striking out one in five innings of work. Pekarek, who had not pitched since Feb. 18 because of an elbow injury, gave up a solo homer to Jake Gautreau, the first batter he faced. James Jurries walked and then scored on a RBI single to deep center from Aubrey, prompting another pitching switch as Ott took the mound for Pekarek. But mental errors continued to plague the Huskers as Jeff Blevins overthrew first on what would have been a ground out by Groff. Aubrey scored on the error to make it 6-3, as Groff reached third when Giarratano ripped a single to left center. Madden singled to put runners at the corners for Tulane, but Kaplan popped up to Will Bolt, and Cannizaro flew out to left to end the inning.

Nebraska bounced back in the bottom of the sixth. Morris, the only Husker with a multiple-hit day, smacked a 2-2 pitch over the right field fence for a one-out solo home run, cutting Tulane's lead to two. The Huskers retired the side in the top of the seventh and continued to chip away at Tulane's lead in the bottom of the inning. After Matt Hopper had a near-home run snagged by the center fielder, Dan Johnson ripped a two-out solo shot to the same spot for his first home run of the NCAA Tournament. With Nebraska trailing by one, Blevins flied out to deep left center to end the inning.

Pekarek (0-1) took the loss for Nebraska, allowing three runs on two hits in 0.0 innings. The redshirt freshman from Staplehurst had allowed just one hit in his two previous appearances, covering seven innings of work.

Nebraska postgame notes
--- Nebraska went 0-2 in its first-ever College World Series appearance. NU is 1-3 in NCAA postseason elimination games under Coach Dave Van Horn, and now is 0-2 all-time against Tulane.

--- With the loss, Nebraska finishes its season with a 50-16 record, with their .757 winning percentage being the fourth-best in school history and the second-best since 1982.

--- Nebraska has finished with at least 50 wins in back-to-back seasons for the first time in school history. Nebraska�s 50-16 record this season is just one win shy of tying last year�s record for single-season wins at 51.

--- Nebraska lost back-to-back games for just the fourth time this season, with this weekend�s games both ending in one-run affairs. The last time Nebraska lost back-to-back one-run games was Feb. 6-7, 1999, when the Huskers fell to Oregon State, 4-3, and San Diego State, 12-11. Nebraska finishes the season with a 5-8 record in one-run games.

--- After not receiving a single base-on-balls on Friday against Cal State Fullerton (the first time this season NU had not received at least one walk and only the third time in the last three years), Nebraska batters recorded three walks in the first inning today against Tulane. Green Wave starting pitcher Beau Richardson tied his season-high with four walks, three of which came in the first inning.

--- Nebraska recorded five earned runs against Tulane�s Beau Richardson, one more than his total earned runs allowed in his last four outings, which covered 22.0 innings.

--- With two balks called against Tulane�s Richardson today, Nebraska benefitted from four balks in its two CWS games and received the benefit of 23 balks against opposing pitchers this season. The total of seven balks called through the first five games this weekend set a CWS record, surpassing the five balks called in the 1983 CWS. The Huskers were just 0-for-1 in stolen base attempts at the CWS.

--- NU centerfielder Jeff Leise�s RBI bloop single in the second inning was the first hit of the CWS for the Huskers� bottom three hitters (Jed Morris, Will Bolt and Leise). Bolt added single in the fourth, while Morris added a solo home run in the sixth and single in the eighth, as the trio was 4-for-10 with three runs and two RBI. The rest of NU�s lineup was 4-for-25 with two runs and three RBI.

--- With a single in the second inning, NU leftfielder John Cole recorded his 100th hit of the season, becoming just the fifth Husker in history to reach the milestone. Cole tied Paul Meyers (1985) with 100 hits and ranks fourth in school history behind Francis Collins (109 in 1997), and fellow first-team All-Americans Ken Harvey (107 in 1999) and Darin Erstad (103 in 1995). He also extended his hitting streak to 10 games, the longest current streak on the team. Cole�s longest hitting streak of the season is 20 games, which is also a team high. He hit safely in 30 of his last 31 contests dating back to April 10. Cole�s .418 average is the seventh-best single-season average in school history.

--- Senior starter R.D. Spiehs went 5.0 innings, allowing two runs on five hits with one strikeout. The two runs were the fewest he had allowed in a starting appearance since going 5.0 scoreless innings against UT-San Antonio on April 17 and was his second-lowest total of the season when starting a game. Spiehs� appearance was just his second of the 2001 NCAA postseason and his first start. He threw 5.1 scoreless innings in relief in an 8-3 win over Rutgers, allowing just six hits in the NCAA Regional title game. He did not throw in the Super Regional in Lincoln, Neb., on June 1-3. Today�s loss marked the first time in his 10 starts that NU has lost and only the second time the Huskers have been held to 10 runs or less.

--- Redshirt freshman Justin Pekarek made just his third appearance of the 2001 season when he entered the game at the start of the sixth inning before taking the loss while lasting 0.0 innings with two hits and three runs. Coming into today�s game, Pekarek had pitched 7.0 innings this season while sidelined with an elbow injury, allowing one hit with six strikeouts and one walk. His last appearance came on Feb. 18, 2001, against UNLV.

--- Sophomore catcher Jed Morris hit his seventh home run of the season, with a solo shot in the sixth inning that cut Tulane�s lead to 6-4. Morris� last home run before today came on May 25 against Northern Iowa in Nebraska�s first game of the NCAA Regional. Morris, who also collected his 42nd RBIs of the year, hit just three home runs since March 30. He hit four homers in his first 19 games of the season, and just three in his last 35 games.

--- Senior first baseman Dan Johnson collected his first home run in seven games, dating back to the Big 12 Tournament title game on May 20, when he hit two against Texas A&M. Johnson increased his NU single-season record for home runs to 25 with the roundtripper, and now has 46 career homers, second only to the 48 by Bobby Benjamin in 1988-90. Johnson also finished as NU�s and the Big 12s record holder in career slugging percentage, finishing his two-year career with an .791 mark, topping Marc Sagmoen�s the .782 mark from 1992-93.

--- While adding to his single-season home run total, Dan Johnson also gained possession of the team and conference lead in RBI, as he finished with 86 RBI this season, just one ahead of sophomore designated hitter Matt Hopper (85). The 86 RBI ties for second in NU single-season history with Ken Harvey (1999) and Paul Meyers (1985). Mike Duncan�s 90 RBIs in 1985 is the only total that his higher.

--- With two solo home runs today against Tulane, the Huskers finished the season with 81 homers on the year to tie the 1988 Huskers for second in school history. The total trails only the 1985 squad, which hit 94 home runs as a team.

--- The six pitchers used by the Huskers today against Tulane was the third-highest total of the season. NU used seven pitchers on two seperate occasions this season, against Oklahoma State (10-8 NU victory, May 5) and Kansas (12-3 NU loss, April 22).

Source: University of Nebraska Athletic Dept.