NU's baseball schedule features tourney teams
Should Nebraska be in a position next May of needing to convince the NCAA Division I Baseball Committee it deserves a spot in the NCAA Tournament field, the Huskers may fall back on their opponents.
The 2008 schedule, released Thursday, includes five teams — Arkansas, Texas, Wichita State, Texas A&M and Missouri — that were No. 1 seeds in the 2007 NCAA Tournament. Three other teams NU will face — Cal Riverside, Louisiana-Lafayette and Creighton — also were in the tournament.
“Last year was an example where playing a tough schedule paid off in getting into the NCAA Tournament,” NU coach Mike Anderson said. “Because of the tough nonconference schedule we played, and the wins against good teams outside of the Big 12, it not only helped us prepare for the conference, but helped us in the NCAA regional.”
Nebraska finished fourth in the Big 12 and had a 30-25 overall record before being picked to play in the NCAA Tournament for the eighth time in nine years. The Huskers then reached the title game of a regional for the sixth time in eight seasons.
NU — which just wrapped up an expanded fall session that included a pair of seven-inning exhibition games against Nebraska-Kearney — opens the 2008 season at Stanford on Feb. 22. That’s the new uniform starting date for all NCAA teams. In addition, no team can begin spring practice before Feb. 1.
The Huskers’ trip to Palo Alto, Calif., will be their first since 2000, when they lost the final game of a NCAA Super Regional series that denied them their first trip to the College World Series.
The man who guided Nebraska’s program then, Dave Van Horn, will be back in Haymarket Park with his Arkansas team for two games in March. Rob Childress, who came to NU with Van Horn and then stayed on with Anderson, will bring his Texas A&M squad to Lincoln for a three-game series.
Cal Riverside, which NU lost to and then eliminated in last year’s NCAA regional, Wichita State and Creighton also come to Haymarket Park.
Nebraska returns eight of nine players from its late-season starting lineup of 2007. Left fielder Andy Gerch, who’s rehabilitating after a second major shoulder surgery, will miss the first 12 games, and third baseman Craig Corriston the first six as penalty for having committed NCAA secondary violations last June. The Huskers’ 16-member pitching staff also includes 11 who have never played for NU.
Briefly
Redshirt freshman pitcher Brian Feekin has left the team. Feekin, a lefty from Papillion, had performed well enough this summer to be chosen for the Coastal Plain League all-star game.
It’s not clear why Feekin left. However, players who want to transfer to a different Division I program without having to sit out a year of competition must do so by the end of this semester. Thereafter, the new transfer rule goes into effect.
Reach Curt McKeever at 473-7441 or cmckeever@journalstar.com.
The 2008 schedule, released Thursday, includes five teams — Arkansas, Texas, Wichita State, Texas A&M and Missouri — that were No. 1 seeds in the 2007 NCAA Tournament. Three other teams NU will face — Cal Riverside, Louisiana-Lafayette and Creighton — also were in the tournament.
“Last year was an example where playing a tough schedule paid off in getting into the NCAA Tournament,” NU coach Mike Anderson said. “Because of the tough nonconference schedule we played, and the wins against good teams outside of the Big 12, it not only helped us prepare for the conference, but helped us in the NCAA regional.”
Nebraska finished fourth in the Big 12 and had a 30-25 overall record before being picked to play in the NCAA Tournament for the eighth time in nine years. The Huskers then reached the title game of a regional for the sixth time in eight seasons.
NU — which just wrapped up an expanded fall session that included a pair of seven-inning exhibition games against Nebraska-Kearney — opens the 2008 season at Stanford on Feb. 22. That’s the new uniform starting date for all NCAA teams. In addition, no team can begin spring practice before Feb. 1.
The Huskers’ trip to Palo Alto, Calif., will be their first since 2000, when they lost the final game of a NCAA Super Regional series that denied them their first trip to the College World Series.
The man who guided Nebraska’s program then, Dave Van Horn, will be back in Haymarket Park with his Arkansas team for two games in March. Rob Childress, who came to NU with Van Horn and then stayed on with Anderson, will bring his Texas A&M squad to Lincoln for a three-game series.
Cal Riverside, which NU lost to and then eliminated in last year’s NCAA regional, Wichita State and Creighton also come to Haymarket Park.
Nebraska returns eight of nine players from its late-season starting lineup of 2007. Left fielder Andy Gerch, who’s rehabilitating after a second major shoulder surgery, will miss the first 12 games, and third baseman Craig Corriston the first six as penalty for having committed NCAA secondary violations last June. The Huskers’ 16-member pitching staff also includes 11 who have never played for NU.
Briefly
Redshirt freshman pitcher Brian Feekin has left the team. Feekin, a lefty from Papillion, had performed well enough this summer to be chosen for the Coastal Plain League all-star game.
It’s not clear why Feekin left. However, players who want to transfer to a different Division I program without having to sit out a year of competition must do so by the end of this semester. Thereafter, the new transfer rule goes into effect.
Reach Curt McKeever at 473-7441 or cmckeever@journalstar.com.
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