Huskers prepare for home debut
Monday night, a snow day for the kids on Tuesday seemed more likely than the Nebraska baseball team having a chance to play its first home series of the season against UC Riverside this weekend.
Dawn, however, brought bad news to those who blew off their studies — and warm fuzzies to the Huskers, who Tuesday afternoon conducted their first outdoor practice of the semester at Haymarket Park.
Better yet, the forecast for this weekend is calling for temperatures to be in the 50s.
It figures that NU traveled to the West Coast to play Stanford last weekend only to have the conditions in Lincoln be significantly better than they were in sopping wet and nippy Palo Alto, Calif. Not surprisingly, Mike Anderson’s team came out and looked like it had been playing whiffleball since last fall while falling behind the Cardinal 17-0 in a Friday opener it lost 17-7.
The quick adjustment Nebraska made, though, both on the mound and at the plate, was nothing short of remarkable. After winning Friday’s nightcap 9-3, the Huskers came two wet-ball-caused errors (on the same play) of taking the finale.
Stanford is coming off a 28-28 season, but the Cardinal, with an obvious early-season advantage, expect to be markedly better and contending for a 14th NCAA regional in 15 years.
“The best thing we did was compete,” senior second baseman Jake Opitz said. “We’ll get better all around.“
The Huskers had expected peaks and valleys.
They fielded just .925 while making eight errors, but some of those were products of the conditions. Freshman shortstop Ben Kline also turned in the best two gems of the weekend, showing range and arm strength while throwing out a runner at first from his knees and also making a fully extended catch of a two-out, bases-loaded liner.
Sophomore outfielder DJ Belfonte got off to a 7-for-15 start (.467), while Florida transfer Cody Neer and seniors Opitz, Bryce Nimmo and Mitch Abeita all hit at least .300. All-Big 12 performer Jeff Tezak, however, playing with a sore knee, started just 2-for-11.
On the mound, Thad Weber will need to rebound from a three-inning outing in which he gave up six hits (four for extra bases), two walks and six runs. But the other starters, Johnny Dorn and Dan Jennings, gave up no earned runs. Redshirt freshman Mike Nesseth retired six of seven batters in his two relief outings. And junior college transfer Erik Anderson, auditioning to be the closer, had a 1-2-3 inning.
“A lot of guys showed potential, and I think we’re going to be really good,” said junior lefty Zach Herr, who had one good outing and in his other gave up one of the four homers Nebraska allowed during the weekend. “We take (the Stanford results) as kind of motivation into next week, and we’ll be good.“
Mark Marquess, now in his 32nd season coaching the Cardinal, was quick to note that without some help from the Huskers, his club would have exited the weekend on the short end of the series.
“I was very impressed with them offensively. They put the bat on the ball, didn’t strike out very much and came back and had a chance to tie it,” he said of the finale. “Jennings came back (after Saturday’s game had been suspended), and we never did figure him out.
“It was a tough game for them to lose, and good for us to win, because it was tough (conditions). I thought both teams played very well.“
National nuggets
n Texas A&M coach Rob Childress probably isn’t too happy that his pal Anderson cleared the way for former Husker pitcher Jon Klausing to have one final go-around at Northern Colorado.
Klausing, who missed last season and most of 2005 with a chronic back injury, didn’t participate in fall practice and then graduated from Nebraska in December before deciding he wanted to use an available fifth year of eligibility at the school close to his Arvada, Colo., home.
In College Station, Texas, on Saturday, he made his debut with the Bears by throwing a complete-game five-hitter in a 3-1, seven-inning win against A&M.
If the lefty can stay healthy, chances are he’ll get to pitch again at Haymarket. UNC, which split four games with the Aggies, plays four against the Huskers on March 7-9 and then two more March 25-26.
n UC Riverside opened its season last weekend by splitting a four-game home series against Washington, then playing Pepperdine on Tuesday. The Highlanders and Huskers split their two NCAA regional games last season in Tempe, Ariz.
In Tempe this past weekend, two-time defending national champion Oregon State got beat by Vanderbilt 8-1 and shut out 11-0 by Arizona State after beating Miami, Ohio 8-3.
The top-ranked Sun Devils went 3-0, but now their program is the focus of an internal investigation on the heels of a former player and graduate manager making charges of academic fraud and recruiting violations.
Mikel Moreno, a graduate manager at ASU last year and player on the 1998 College World Series team, told the East Valley (Ariz.) Tribune that he reported the alleged infractions to a NCAA compliance officer at the school last month.
According to coach Pat Murphy, Moreno was told in December that he could no longer be a part of the baseball program. In a release, Murphy stated, “My fear is people won’t remember what happens after the accusations are made. I hope everybody stays tuned for the outcome.“
Reach Curt McKeever at 473-7441 or cmckeever@journalstar.com.
Dawn, however, brought bad news to those who blew off their studies — and warm fuzzies to the Huskers, who Tuesday afternoon conducted their first outdoor practice of the semester at Haymarket Park.
Better yet, the forecast for this weekend is calling for temperatures to be in the 50s.
It figures that NU traveled to the West Coast to play Stanford last weekend only to have the conditions in Lincoln be significantly better than they were in sopping wet and nippy Palo Alto, Calif. Not surprisingly, Mike Anderson’s team came out and looked like it had been playing whiffleball since last fall while falling behind the Cardinal 17-0 in a Friday opener it lost 17-7.
The quick adjustment Nebraska made, though, both on the mound and at the plate, was nothing short of remarkable. After winning Friday’s nightcap 9-3, the Huskers came two wet-ball-caused errors (on the same play) of taking the finale.
Stanford is coming off a 28-28 season, but the Cardinal, with an obvious early-season advantage, expect to be markedly better and contending for a 14th NCAA regional in 15 years.
“The best thing we did was compete,” senior second baseman Jake Opitz said. “We’ll get better all around.“
The Huskers had expected peaks and valleys.
They fielded just .925 while making eight errors, but some of those were products of the conditions. Freshman shortstop Ben Kline also turned in the best two gems of the weekend, showing range and arm strength while throwing out a runner at first from his knees and also making a fully extended catch of a two-out, bases-loaded liner.
Sophomore outfielder DJ Belfonte got off to a 7-for-15 start (.467), while Florida transfer Cody Neer and seniors Opitz, Bryce Nimmo and Mitch Abeita all hit at least .300. All-Big 12 performer Jeff Tezak, however, playing with a sore knee, started just 2-for-11.
On the mound, Thad Weber will need to rebound from a three-inning outing in which he gave up six hits (four for extra bases), two walks and six runs. But the other starters, Johnny Dorn and Dan Jennings, gave up no earned runs. Redshirt freshman Mike Nesseth retired six of seven batters in his two relief outings. And junior college transfer Erik Anderson, auditioning to be the closer, had a 1-2-3 inning.
“A lot of guys showed potential, and I think we’re going to be really good,” said junior lefty Zach Herr, who had one good outing and in his other gave up one of the four homers Nebraska allowed during the weekend. “We take (the Stanford results) as kind of motivation into next week, and we’ll be good.“
Mark Marquess, now in his 32nd season coaching the Cardinal, was quick to note that without some help from the Huskers, his club would have exited the weekend on the short end of the series.
“I was very impressed with them offensively. They put the bat on the ball, didn’t strike out very much and came back and had a chance to tie it,” he said of the finale. “Jennings came back (after Saturday’s game had been suspended), and we never did figure him out.
“It was a tough game for them to lose, and good for us to win, because it was tough (conditions). I thought both teams played very well.“
National nuggets
n Texas A&M coach Rob Childress probably isn’t too happy that his pal Anderson cleared the way for former Husker pitcher Jon Klausing to have one final go-around at Northern Colorado.
Klausing, who missed last season and most of 2005 with a chronic back injury, didn’t participate in fall practice and then graduated from Nebraska in December before deciding he wanted to use an available fifth year of eligibility at the school close to his Arvada, Colo., home.
In College Station, Texas, on Saturday, he made his debut with the Bears by throwing a complete-game five-hitter in a 3-1, seven-inning win against A&M.
If the lefty can stay healthy, chances are he’ll get to pitch again at Haymarket. UNC, which split four games with the Aggies, plays four against the Huskers on March 7-9 and then two more March 25-26.
n UC Riverside opened its season last weekend by splitting a four-game home series against Washington, then playing Pepperdine on Tuesday. The Highlanders and Huskers split their two NCAA regional games last season in Tempe, Ariz.
In Tempe this past weekend, two-time defending national champion Oregon State got beat by Vanderbilt 8-1 and shut out 11-0 by Arizona State after beating Miami, Ohio 8-3.
The top-ranked Sun Devils went 3-0, but now their program is the focus of an internal investigation on the heels of a former player and graduate manager making charges of academic fraud and recruiting violations.
Mikel Moreno, a graduate manager at ASU last year and player on the 1998 College World Series team, told the East Valley (Ariz.) Tribune that he reported the alleged infractions to a NCAA compliance officer at the school last month.
According to coach Pat Murphy, Moreno was told in December that he could no longer be a part of the baseball program. In a release, Murphy stated, “My fear is people won’t remember what happens after the accusations are made. I hope everybody stays tuned for the outcome.“
Reach Curt McKeever at 473-7441 or cmckeever@journalstar.com.
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