Despite weather, NU baseball team ready to go
digg it!
Facebook
del.icio.us
Seed Newsvine
Fark It
Reddit
BY CURT McKEEVER / Lincoln Journal Star
Mike Anderson had some reporters thinking they had a major story Tuesday afternoon when he mentioned how Nebraska athletic director Tom Osborne had just signed off on a $7.5 million renovation to Haymarket Park.
The money would be used to invest in a climate-control system that keeps the air temperature in Haymarket Park at a constant 75 degrees.
Yeah, right. When pigs fly.
The top candidates to fill starting positions left vacant by departures from last season are: at first base, junior college transfer Tyler Farst and Florida transfer Cody Neer; in left field, Farst, junior Nick Sullivan and freshman David Stewart; and, at shortstop, freshman Ben Kline and senior Jeff Tezak.
In addition, junior Jake Mort will start the season at third while senior Craig Corriston serves a six-game suspension as the result of an NCAA secondary violation.
On the mound, right-handed seniors Johnny Dorn (a 31-game winner) and Thad Weber have locked up two of the four starting spots for the opening weekend. Left-handed junior Dan Jennings, Arizona State transfer Joe Hatasaki, another lefty, and a couple of righthanders, junior college transfer Aaron Pribanic and freshman Matt Freeman, are competing for the other two slots.
Anderson labeled his sixth team as one filled with players who are either proven or full of promise.
"If we can mix and mold and put those pieces of the puzzle together, we're going to be in good shape," he said. "These kids are prepared for the challenges."
* ROUGH SCHEDULE: NU, which will be trying to make its ninth NCAA Tournament in 10 seasons, has 17 non-conference games scheduled against prime tourney contenders Stanford, UC Riverside, Arkansas, Creighton, Wichita State and Louisiana-Lafayette.
"We just need to play the game the way we know how," Mort said. "It doesn't matter who we’re playing, Nebraska's a good enough team that if we play the game the right way, hopefully, the results will take care of themselves."
* CHANGING THE IMAGE: Having been barraged by repeated negative publicity last season, when he handed out multiple suspensions and dismissed two players for off-the-field issues, Anderson was pumping up the character of his 2008 squad.
He noted the team's grade-point average from the fall semester was the highest in 10 years, cited players and coaches for putting in more than 350 hours of community service during the semester break and pointed out a January clinic raised around $12,000 for Lincoln's City Impact Learning Center' after-school literacy program.
"I do understand the need to let people understand what these young people do," Anderson said.
Mort, a Spanish major, might have had the most unique project, as he rode with local law enforcement to help translate during some traffic stops.
"I think it's one of those things that the coaches demand for our life," Mort said of being involved in the community. "If we're responsible off the field, we're going to be responsible on the field. I think it helps us focus better."
* PITCHER ROSE INJURED: Left-handed redshirt freshman pitcher Eric Rose has joined catcher Drew Gray on the injured list. Rose will be evaluated after complaining of a tender shoulder on Monday.
- Curt McKeever
“The colder it gets, the closer it gets,” Anderson said before being asked any questions about his team’s season.
Here we go again. The Huskers are nine days away from opening up at Stanford and they’ve yet to practice outdoors.
Naturally, their company line is that it’s no big deal, that other than some team defensive work they can’t get to, preparations really aren’t affected.
Never mind the fact that NU will have a new shortstop, first baseman and left fielder, or that only five of the 17 pitchers have seen action, the weather dominated Tuesday’s question-and-answer session.
And sometimes, it didn’t even take a question about the frosty conditions for someone to wind up talking about them.
Anderson, a Colorado native who is entering his 14th season with the Huskers and sixth as head coach, answered an inquiry about the new NCAA uniform starting dates for practice and competition by bringing up a situation in 2001 when Nebraska played at Rice in its season opener.
NU was ranked No. 4, but the No. 7 Owls had already played four games (in addition to being able to start practice earlier) and rolled to a 16-2 victory. Nearly four months later, the Huskers swept Rice in a NCAA Super Regional to earn their first trip to the College World Series.
“We progressed and kept getting stronger,” Anderson said, making a point about how northern-climate teams started at a disadvantage. “A ball thrown away, an error here, a pitcher not getting the job done — those types of things always happen for every team early in the year. When you get to 12, 13, 14 games, you start to iron some of those things out, and when you’re playing teams that have one or two games under their belt, those teams haven’t ironed those things out, so I’d like to think there’s going to be some even footing in the beginning.
“It’d be even more even footing if we could get 75-degree temperatures out at Haymarket Park.”
See? There’s the weather reference.
“But again,” Anderson continued, “no complaints that way. We’re in good shape.”
Besides, it’s nice and warm inside the cavernous confines of the Hawks Championship Center or Cook Pavilion — the winter homes of the Huskers.
“They can be viewed as obstacles,” Anderson said of indoor-only workouts. “My biggest fear is me saying something in front of (players) that would give them any … excuse.
“We chose Nebraska … and this is part of the package, so let’s make it work. If we can’t get outside, it’s just part of what it is.“
Reach Curt McKeever at 473-7441 or cmckeever@journalstar.com.
Most Commented news