LINCOLN -- All-America right-hander Shane Komine tied school records with his 13th win of the season and 30th of his career, and Nebraska’s offense supplied plenty of support with 10 runs in the first three innings to propel top-seeded Nebraska to a 16-6 victory over fourth-seeded Northern Iowa in front of a school-record crowd of 4,604 at the NCAA Baseball Regional Tournament at Buck Beltzer Stadium in Lincoln on Friday.

With the win, Nebraska improved to 46-14 overall and advanced to the NCAA Regional semifinal game on Saturday at 3 p.m. The Huskers will meet the winner of Friday’s second game between No. 2 Rutgers (40-15) and No. 3 Brigham Young (38-20), scheduled for a 7 p.m. start.

Northern Iowa, which slipped to 34-27 on the year, will face the loser of the Rutgers vs. BYU game in Saturday’s first game at 11 a.m.

Komine, who improved to 13-1 with his 13th straight win on the season and 30-7 in his three-year career at Nebraska, took a perfect game into the fourth before allowing two unearned runs on one hit. The Honolulu, Hawaii native scattered six hits and two earned runs in eight innings. Komine struck out nine Panthers while issuing just one walk. He surrendered two runs each in the fourth, fifth and seventh innings.

Despite a strong performance, Komine said he battled stiffness in his back most of the afternoon.

“I just wanted to go out and throw strikes. The back was a little tight, but I did exercises to take the pressure off. I wanted to go out and throw well,” Komine said. “Throughout the game I loosened up more and found a way to use my arm more than my back. I threw mostly fastballs and curveballs to keep them off balance.

While Komine was cruising on the hill, sophomore designated hitter Matt Hopper led a 20-hit Husker attack with four hits, including his third grand slam of the season, and five RBIs. Sophomore centerfielder Jeff Leise, junior catcher Jed Morris and junior rightfielder Adam Stern each added three hits for Nebraska.

Nebraska Coach Dave Van Horn said the Huskers’ early offensive outburst was the key to victory.

“We came out with focus, especially offensively. We were geared up for (Nic) Ungs all week,” Van Horn said. “We did a great job coming out on a mission and took control the first three or four innings. I didn’t think we played good defense, but we’ll pick that up a little bit tomorrow.”

Hopper got the Huskers off to a hot start with the first grand slam of the season off Northern Iowa starter Nic Ungs, who fell to 11-2 with the loss. Ungs, who entered the game with a 1.95 ERA and had surrendered just seven homers on the year, was touched up for 10 runs on 10 hits, including three homers, in 2.2 innings for his shortest outing of the season, snapping a streak of 10 straight starts of at least seven innings for Ungs.

Nebraska’s first inning rally started when Leise led off with an infield single and moved to second on Northern Iowa third baseman Aaron McEachran’s throwing error. Leise advanced to third on Stern’s bunt single to third, before Ungs hit John Cole to load the bases with nobody out. Ungs struck out Dan Johnson for the first out of the inning, before Hopper unloaded for his 12th homer of the season and 32nd of his two-year career.

Hopper, who had four hits after seeing just six pitches from Northern Iowa hurlers, said he was trying to be aggressive against Ungs.

“I knew he attacked really well, and I was just looking for a pitch over the plate to drive,” Hopper said. “When I first hit it, I thought it could score at least a run, but it just kept going. It felt really good.”

After going quietly in the second, the Huskers sent 11 men to the plate in the third, scoring six runs on six hits while taking advantage of two Panther errors. Cole led off the inning by reaching first on McEachran’s second error of the game, before stealing his 26th base of the season. Johnson grounded out to first to advance Cole to third before Hopper ripped his 18th double of the season to improve his team-leading RBI total to 82 with his fifth RBI of the day. Justin Seely followed with an RBI double of his own to score Hopper before Morris unleashed his sixth homer of the season to right-center to give the Huskers an 8-0 lead. After Jeff Blevins flied out to center for the second out of the inning, Will Bolt singled to right and Leise ripped his sixth home run of the year to give Nebraska a 10-0 lead.

Nebraska added a single run in the fifth, two in the sixth, one in the seventh and two more in the eighth, as the Huskers scored at least one run in six of eight innings at the plate.

Nebraska Quotes (Game 1)
Coach Dave Van Horn
On Nebraska’s Performance:
“We came out with focus, especially offensively. We were geared up for (Nic) Ungs all week. His slider was better and he had a lot of zip on his fastball. We did a great job coming out on a mission and took control the first three or four innings. I didn’t think we played good defense, but we’ll pick that up a little bit tomorrow.”

On Shane Komine’s Pitching Performance:
“Shane didn’t feel really good, but he came out with good control and command. He threw where he wanted.”

Shane Komine
On his performance:
“I just wanted to go out and throw strikes. The back was a little tight, but I did exercises to take the pressure off. I wanted to go out and throw well. Throughout the game I loosened up more and found a way to use my arm more than my back. I threw mostly fastballs and curveballs to keep them off balance.

On Nebraska’s Early Lead:
“It takes a lot of pressure off. It really helped me settle down.”

Matt Hopper
On Northern Iowa Pitcher Nic Ungs and Hopper’s First Inning Grand Slam:

“I knew he attacked really well, and I was just looking for a pitch over the plate to drive. When I first hit it, I thought it could score at least a run, but it just kept going. It felt really good.”

On Nebraska’s Chance to Win the Regional:
“We’re confident but our two biggest games are still ahead.”

Nebraska Notes
--With its first-ever home win in NCAA Regional Tournament play, the Huskers have won four straight NCAA Regional games after going 3-0 at the 2000 NCAA Regional in Minneapolis, Minn.

--Nebraska’s 16 runs set a school NCAA Tournament record, surpassing the 14 runs scored in the Huskers’ 18-14 loss to Mississippi State in the first game of the 1999 NCAA Regional at Columbus, Ohio.

--Nebraska improved to 10-10 all-time in NCAA Tournament play.

--With four runs in the first inning and six runs in the third inning, Nebraska now has scored four or more runs in an inning 56 times in 60 games this season.

--Shane Komine tied a Nebraska record with his 13th consecutive victory since losing his first decision this season on Feb. 11 against Georgia Tech, tying Troy Brohawn’s 13 straight victories in 1993. Komine, 13-1, also tied Brohawn’s school record for single-season victories.

--Shane Komine improved his career record to 30-7, which also ties the Nebraska record for career wins with Jeff Anderson, who posted 30 victories from 1981 to 1984.

--Shane Komine’s nine strikeouts increased his season total to 136, which trails only his 157 strikeouts last season on the Nebraska single-season charts.

--Matt Hopper’s four-hit performance was his second of the season and fourth four-hit game of his career. His career high is five hits against Iowa State in 2000. It was Hopper’s 23rd multiple-hit game of the season and 46th of his career. Hopper has three-straight multi-hit games and is hitting .563 (9-for-16) in the Huskers’ last three games.

--Matt Hopper’s five RBI effort improved his season total to 82 to take over the team lead ahead of Dan Johnson’s 81 RBIs. Hopper now has 23 multiple-RBI games on the season and 40 in his career.

--Jed Morris’ three-hit performance was his seventh multi-hit game of the season. Morris’ two-run homer in the third was his sixth of the year.

--Jeff Leise’s three-hit effort gave him his 27th multi-hit game of the year, while his two-run homer in the third inning was his sixth of the season and his first since March 28 (vs. Wisconsin-Milwaukee, Game 2).

--Adam Stern’s three-hit performance was his 22nd of the year, giving him one more than his 21 multi-hit games last season.

Northern Iowa Notes (Game 1)

--Matt Hopper’s home run was the second career grand slam and first this season allowed by Nic Ungs (Steve Mazzola from Southern Illinois hit the first on May 5, 2000, in the 2nd inning).

--Nic Ungs had only given up three runs (two earned) in the first inning of his first 14 starts this season combined before allowing four to Nebraska today.

--Nic Ungs entered the Nebraska game with 10 straight starts of 7 or more innings.

--Nic Ungs gave up eight runs (two earned) in his only other loss of the year vs. Wichita State.

--Nic Ungs only other game that he has allowed three home runs came on May 5, 2000 vs. Southern Illinois.

--The 10 runs scored off Nic Ungs today was the most he has ever allowed, surpassing nine runs allowed on two occasions.

--Second-team All-American Nic Ungs is Northern Iowa’s first-ever All-American pitcher.

--Ryan Brunner’s fourth inning single extended his hitting streak to 11 games and his streak of reaching base to 92 consecutive games.

--First-team All-American first baseman Ryan Brunner is Northern Iowa’s first since Duane Josephson in 1964.

--Northern Iowa’s four errors tied a season high.