Huskers Expect Success

[huskerswrkhavoc]

NU baseball team expects success this year

 

BY CURT McKEEVER/Lincoln Journal Star

Monday, Feb 02, 2009 - 09:49:22 pm CST

 

By now, those who know Erik Bird — even members of his family — ought to know better than to ask him how he thinks things are going to work out for the Nebraska baseball team.

 

“I always tell them we’re going to be terrible,” the senior pitcher said after the Huskers held their first full-team practice of the spring in the Hawks Championship Center on Monday.

 

Usually, that assessment brings about an incredulous, “Oh, really?” And then Bird gives his honest answer of: “No, not really.”

 

“Nebraska’s always going to be good,” he said. “We’re always going to be in a (NCAA) regional.”

 

Even though that’s been the case nine of the past 10 seasons, that doesn’t keep people from asking.

 

This year, they look at the Baseball America preseason poll and see Texas A&M No. 1, Texas No. 4, Baylor No. 8 and Missouri No. 10. Heck, Oklahoma, which barely made the eight-team Big 12 Conference Tournament last season, is No. 16.

 

The Huskers? Well, let’s just say it’s a safe bet they won’t be picked by Big 12 coaches to finish any higher in the league than the No. 6 ranking they received last season.

 

NU then proceeded to finish third, ahead of the top three favorites: Texas, Missouri and Baylor.

 

No wonder Taylor Massey feels the way he does about the Huskers.

 

“I feel like we’re going to be pretty good,” said the freshman pitcher from Fort Worth, Texas. “As long as we work hard, we’ll be pretty good.”

 

Massey admits he didn’t know much about Mike Anderson’s program until 2005, when it made the College World Series. Then, he started looking up the team’s recent history and learned what others told him after they’d heard he was being recruited by NU.

 

“They said, ‘You’d be dumb to pass up that opportunity,’” Massey said.

 

And, so, without any pageantry — OK, for a change there were some television crews on hand to document the action — Massey joined a 33-player squad that includes 15 newcomers who are dead set on making the most of their chances.

 

... on making Bird look like the wise old veteran.

 

... and on proving to their seventh-year coach that they can become a group that’s more than just highly competitive.

 

“You take last year, where there wasn’t many expectations and we did some good things. I think that was fun for people to see,” Anderson said. “But let’s be realistic. We don’t want an underdog, overachieving team every year. What we want is an underdog, dominant team. Let’s get to that point. We’re trying to win championships. We don’t want to just be good.”

 

Briefly

 

Freshman pitcher Nick Ludemann will have shoulder surgery soon that will sideline him for the season. Ludemann, from Creighton Prep, went through fall practice after previous surgery and figured to challenge for a role as a middle-inning reliever.

 

Reach Curt McKeever at 473-7441 or cmckeever@journalstar.com.