Huskers get extra time for practice
Off to a 21-4-1 start and now ranked among the top 10 nationally, the Nebraska baseball team could easily go into a cruise control mode.
Mike Anderson claims that’s not likely to happen.
Over the next four weeks, the Huskers play just one midweek game, which means they’ll have more time to fine-tune some things they had less time to address while playing two midweek contests during the past three weeks.
“I think we’re playing the game right, but I just think we can get a little bit more composed at what we’re doing,” said Anderson, whose club travels to Omaha tonight for the first of three games this season against Creighton. “Practice time has been really tough. We’ve been adding it on to BP and adding it on to other things.
“(Having the extra day to practice), there’s things that we can talk about, talk through, and hopefully help develop this team a little bit more.”
After winning two of three games at Texas and moving atop the Big 12 standings last weekend, NU climbed to No. 9 in the Collegiate Baseball rankings, No. 10 in the USA Today/ESPN coaches poll and 11th in Baseball America.
If fans are wondering how seriously the Huskers and Bluejays (18-7) take their out-of-league competition, consider that tonight Creighton is throwing its No. 1 starter for Missouri Valley Conference action, lefty Jeremy Hauer, who just threw seven shutout innings on Friday against Illinois State.
The Huskers are countering with lefty Dan Jennings, who threw 10 scoreless innings last week to run his streak to 18 while improving his record to 3-0 with a 1.96 earned-run average.
Indeed, Nebraska can wait another day to practice.
“We’re comfortable. We’re ready to play,” Husker third baseman Jake Mort said. “It’s one of those things that baseball you just keep playing and keep playing.
“Yeah, it’ll help getting a practice or two in there, but as far as us playing every day, we’re getting a practice in when we are playing. It’s not like high school, when we show up an hour before the game and then play.”
Anderson, who has praised his sixth club for consistently being focused, expects to see more of that attribute in light of the fact it matched its season high of four errors while dropping Sunday’s series finale at Texas 12-3.
“It’s tough to answer that on a day you get beat, making all those mistakes,” Anderson said when asked to name areas where he’s seen his club improve. “I think we’re getting better with our purpose. We have a lot of guys that understand what we’re trying to do at the plate, and in the pitching I think we’re starting to show some more composure.
“I don’t think we saw it all that well (Sunday), but that’s the game of baseball. (While we’re winning regularly,) we’re also trying to figure out what happened in four losses.”
Reach Curt McKeever at 473-7441 or cmckeever@journalstar.com.
Mike Anderson claims that’s not likely to happen.
Over the next four weeks, the Huskers play just one midweek game, which means they’ll have more time to fine-tune some things they had less time to address while playing two midweek contests during the past three weeks.
“I think we’re playing the game right, but I just think we can get a little bit more composed at what we’re doing,” said Anderson, whose club travels to Omaha tonight for the first of three games this season against Creighton. “Practice time has been really tough. We’ve been adding it on to BP and adding it on to other things.
“(Having the extra day to practice), there’s things that we can talk about, talk through, and hopefully help develop this team a little bit more.”
After winning two of three games at Texas and moving atop the Big 12 standings last weekend, NU climbed to No. 9 in the Collegiate Baseball rankings, No. 10 in the USA Today/ESPN coaches poll and 11th in Baseball America.
If fans are wondering how seriously the Huskers and Bluejays (18-7) take their out-of-league competition, consider that tonight Creighton is throwing its No. 1 starter for Missouri Valley Conference action, lefty Jeremy Hauer, who just threw seven shutout innings on Friday against Illinois State.
The Huskers are countering with lefty Dan Jennings, who threw 10 scoreless innings last week to run his streak to 18 while improving his record to 3-0 with a 1.96 earned-run average.
Indeed, Nebraska can wait another day to practice.
“We’re comfortable. We’re ready to play,” Husker third baseman Jake Mort said. “It’s one of those things that baseball you just keep playing and keep playing.
“Yeah, it’ll help getting a practice or two in there, but as far as us playing every day, we’re getting a practice in when we are playing. It’s not like high school, when we show up an hour before the game and then play.”
Anderson, who has praised his sixth club for consistently being focused, expects to see more of that attribute in light of the fact it matched its season high of four errors while dropping Sunday’s series finale at Texas 12-3.
“It’s tough to answer that on a day you get beat, making all those mistakes,” Anderson said when asked to name areas where he’s seen his club improve. “I think we’re getting better with our purpose. We have a lot of guys that understand what we’re trying to do at the plate, and in the pitching I think we’re starting to show some more composure.
“I don’t think we saw it all that well (Sunday), but that’s the game of baseball. (While we’re winning regularly,) we’re also trying to figure out what happened in four losses.”
Reach Curt McKeever at 473-7441 or cmckeever@journalstar.com.
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