NU's Bird ready to face the Bluejays
The signs point to a classic case of sibling rivalry.
Erik Bird, instead of going to Omaha Northwest High School like his older brother Brandon, stayed closer to home and became an all-state pitcher at Omaha Burke.
Rather than becoming a Creighton Bluejay, he chose the evil empire down in Lincoln.
Surely, those moves were intentional — clear indications of kid brother revolting for having been picked on too much?
Right?
“There’s nothing that I want to just not do as my brother does,” said Erik, who’s expected to start against Creighton when the teams meet at Rosenblatt Stadium on Wednesday night, 24 hours after they square off at Haymarket Park. “He’s set the best example there possibly could be for baseball, school, life — everything. So, really, if I followed what that guy does, I’d probably be a lot better off.”
While pitching for Creighton from 2001-05, Brandon Bird made 88 appearances, the third-most in school history. In 2005, he saved 11 games to help the Bluejays reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2000.
Brandon is currently completing his chiropractic training at Logan University in suburban St. Louis. So, yeah, there’s a lot to admire.
Nebraska baseball fans are just glad the younger Bird landed in a different nest.
As a freshman, the right-hander allowed only two earned runs in 24 appearances. Last season, he notched saves in his first three outings and, after enduring a rough stretch, salvaged a trying year that included a three-game suspension for an off-the-field incident by posting a 1.35 earned-run average of his final 10 outings.
Now — having changed his throwing motion from sidearm to more of an over-the-top delivery — Bird is well on his way to becoming one of the biggest success stories for NU first-year pitching coach Eric Newman.
In six of his nine appearances this season, the 6-foot-2, 220-pound Bird has allowed no earned runs.
In four starts — the only ones of his career — he’s 2-0 with a 1.37 ERA. In his last start — four days after he gave up seven hits and seven runs in two-thirds of an inning of relief at Oklahoma State — Bird blanked fifth-ranked Wichita State during a career-long 62/3-inning outing.
“That’s one of those things where it’s like either you really get mad at yourself or you just laugh that they hit every single thing you threw,” Bird said of his appearance against the Cowboys. “We were kind of laughing in the dugout after the game, like ‘How the heck did that happen?’ So I got over it pretty quick.
“It was pretty important to try to get them (the coaches) to believe in me again.”
Bird proved his readiness by limiting the Shockers to just three hits. His performance came after Newman put Bird through some fundamental drills during pregame warm-ups.
Apparently, against Oklahoma State, Bird’s front shoulder was flying out on release, which made his pitches flatter and easier to hit. In order to try and correct that, Newman stood a few feet to Bird’s right as he warmed up in the bullpen.
“He would tell me that I couldn’t touch him, because if I fly out I’ll hit him in the head,” Bird said. “If I would’ve hit him — you saw what he can do today — so, it kind of got into me a little bit.”
Bird was referring to Newman’s ejection from the Huskers’ 6-3 loss to Kansas on Sunday, when he unloaded on the home plate umpire for not getting a call on a pitch he thought should have resulted in an inning-ending strikeout.
Come Wednesday, Bird will be aiming to bring the same kind of intensity, though more controlled, while performing before one of the largest college crowds anywhere this season.
“It’ll be a little bit more exciting with that crowd,” Bird said. “That’ll be fun playing my brother’s old team. I talked to him on the phone last week. He said, ‘You’re probably going to start against my old team. Are you nervous?’ I said, ‘Nah, it’s just Creighton.’”
Bird smiled, as if he knew that jab would produce the desired reaction.
This time, his brother wasn’t biting.
He did “what every brother would do,” Erik said. “He doesn’t have much resentment if I do well against Creighton.”
Reach Curt McKeever at 473-7441 or cmckeever@journalstar.com.
Erik Bird, instead of going to Omaha Northwest High School like his older brother Brandon, stayed closer to home and became an all-state pitcher at Omaha Burke.
Rather than becoming a Creighton Bluejay, he chose the evil empire down in Lincoln.
Surely, those moves were intentional — clear indications of kid brother revolting for having been picked on too much?
Right?
“There’s nothing that I want to just not do as my brother does,” said Erik, who’s expected to start against Creighton when the teams meet at Rosenblatt Stadium on Wednesday night, 24 hours after they square off at Haymarket Park. “He’s set the best example there possibly could be for baseball, school, life — everything. So, really, if I followed what that guy does, I’d probably be a lot better off.”
While pitching for Creighton from 2001-05, Brandon Bird made 88 appearances, the third-most in school history. In 2005, he saved 11 games to help the Bluejays reach the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2000.
Brandon is currently completing his chiropractic training at Logan University in suburban St. Louis. So, yeah, there’s a lot to admire.
Nebraska baseball fans are just glad the younger Bird landed in a different nest.
As a freshman, the right-hander allowed only two earned runs in 24 appearances. Last season, he notched saves in his first three outings and, after enduring a rough stretch, salvaged a trying year that included a three-game suspension for an off-the-field incident by posting a 1.35 earned-run average of his final 10 outings.
Now — having changed his throwing motion from sidearm to more of an over-the-top delivery — Bird is well on his way to becoming one of the biggest success stories for NU first-year pitching coach Eric Newman.
In six of his nine appearances this season, the 6-foot-2, 220-pound Bird has allowed no earned runs.
In four starts — the only ones of his career — he’s 2-0 with a 1.37 ERA. In his last start — four days after he gave up seven hits and seven runs in two-thirds of an inning of relief at Oklahoma State — Bird blanked fifth-ranked Wichita State during a career-long 62/3-inning outing.
“That’s one of those things where it’s like either you really get mad at yourself or you just laugh that they hit every single thing you threw,” Bird said of his appearance against the Cowboys. “We were kind of laughing in the dugout after the game, like ‘How the heck did that happen?’ So I got over it pretty quick.
“It was pretty important to try to get them (the coaches) to believe in me again.”
Bird proved his readiness by limiting the Shockers to just three hits. His performance came after Newman put Bird through some fundamental drills during pregame warm-ups.
Apparently, against Oklahoma State, Bird’s front shoulder was flying out on release, which made his pitches flatter and easier to hit. In order to try and correct that, Newman stood a few feet to Bird’s right as he warmed up in the bullpen.
“He would tell me that I couldn’t touch him, because if I fly out I’ll hit him in the head,” Bird said. “If I would’ve hit him — you saw what he can do today — so, it kind of got into me a little bit.”
Bird was referring to Newman’s ejection from the Huskers’ 6-3 loss to Kansas on Sunday, when he unloaded on the home plate umpire for not getting a call on a pitch he thought should have resulted in an inning-ending strikeout.
Come Wednesday, Bird will be aiming to bring the same kind of intensity, though more controlled, while performing before one of the largest college crowds anywhere this season.
“It’ll be a little bit more exciting with that crowd,” Bird said. “That’ll be fun playing my brother’s old team. I talked to him on the phone last week. He said, ‘You’re probably going to start against my old team. Are you nervous?’ I said, ‘Nah, it’s just Creighton.’”
Bird smiled, as if he knew that jab would produce the desired reaction.
This time, his brother wasn’t biting.
He did “what every brother would do,” Erik said. “He doesn’t have much resentment if I do well against Creighton.”
Reach Curt McKeever at 473-7441 or cmckeever@journalstar.com.
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