Easton Baseball's 2012 Big 10 Baseball Preview

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Easton Baseball's College Baseball Preview is up for the NCAA conferences, including the Big 10, which writer Eric Sorenson has cautious optimism for. Of note:

A change is a-comin’ and there are brighter times are ahead for the Monsters of the Midwest. A long-dormant sport is rising like Godzilla from the sea. But will that manifest itself a year or two early? Will we be talking about the Big 10 in glowing terms this June? I’m not saying it’s impossible.
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He also has the Big 10's 11 baseball teams (remember: no Wisconsin) projected to finish as follows:

1- Michigan State

2- Nebraska

3- Purdue

4- Minnesota

5- Indiana

6- Iowa

7- Illinois

8- Ohio State

9- Penn State

10- Michigan

11- Northwestern
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And what about DoNU? Mr. Sorenson heaps some reserved praise on our team:

NEBRASKA (30-25, 9-17 in Big 12).

The Good News:

So here we go. A new conference. A new attitude. And most importantly, a new head coach in charge of directing this big-money program: the inimitable Darin Erstad. The former Husker hitting machine is still a name all baseball fanatics are well-aware of after having a highly-lauded career in the Bigs recently come to an end. That name recognition will curry a lot of favor on the recruiting trail too. Can’t wait to see what corners this program turns. For this year, they’ll be loaded for bear, returning eight starters, a couple others who were part timers (including hyper-talented OF Khiry Cooper, who hit .260 and was 6-for-7 in stolen bases) and all three weekend starters on the mound in RHP Jon Keller, RHP Tyler Niederklein (8-3, 34.17) and RHP Tom Lemke (though I admit, he started 14 games as a frosh, but only five last season). Biggest news of all?… Pitching guru Ted Silva comes in to join the staff. Believe me, that’s huge. The Huskers will be soph heavy on the mound with Keller, RHP Brandon Pierce (0-1, 4.02, 2svs, 20apps) and lefties Thyler King (0-1, 2.21, .149OBA) and Zach Hirsch (0-0, 2.04, .238OBA), who should both be leaned upon more this season. The defense, which was an outstanding .975 last season (would’ve led the Big 10) will have 1B Kurt Farmer (.275-2-32), who could make the move to 3rd base, 2B Bryan Peters (.273-2-30, 12SBs) and incoming 1B Austin Christensen (who was the Iowa Player of the Year). But Kash Kalkowski (who returns after being drafted last June) could make the move to 1st base if early indications are correct. The Big Red stole just 50 bases last year… ummmm, with coach Erstad in charge, look for that number to possibly double. The recruiting class that ended up coming to campus despite the coaching change is pretty sweet, led by LHP Aaron Bummer (31st round pick, Yankess), C Richard Stock (a transfer from USC, former 45th round pick of the Brewers) and JC transfer RHP Travis Huber (who has been drafted twice, including 39th round pick by the Marlins last June). But the real find was Minnesota shortstop Pat Kelly, who looks likely to take over the shortstop duties after a bang-em-up fall campaign.
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Now, IIRC, Khiry Cooper has given up baseball to focus on football because of injury, right? If so, there's a gaffe by the writer, as it was published this morning.

Now, here's the bad news per Mr. Sorenson:

The Bad News:

Well, I guess it’s easy to say that the bad news with a youthful, inexperienced head coach like Darin Erstad is that you know it’ll take a while for him to get used to the gig. Beyond that, the horrible 3-8 finish to last year’s month of May was a big eyesore to the Big Red post-season hopes and, ultimately, the straw that broke the back of outgoing coach Mike Anderson, who was a long-time blood-red Husker from back in the John Sanders days. Too bad too, ‘coz despite the poor finish it looked like the Cornhuskers were making strides last season. There are only five seniors on this year’s squad. Most of the offense is back, obviously, but the Cornhuskers can’t hit just .270 again this year. There are certainly a number of players that need to reach their potential in 2012.
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Honestly, doesn't look like they see anything 'bad', save for Coach Erstad's inexperience--just stuff to fill the bad portion of the piece out. Good thing he's got proven head coaching talent helping him out. :)

Anyway, here's the link again if you'd like to read the rest of the article, including the best non-conference series (Cal @ NU is #2):

http://blogs.eastonb...-10-conference/

 
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Great find! Thanks for sharing.. I think that this team and the leadership it has, has a lot of potential to do good things this year.

 
95huskers said:
Great find! Thanks for sharing.. I think that this team and the leadership it has, has a lot of potential to do good things this year.
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No problem. The guy, IIRC, operates out of Omaha, and I've got a feed set up for his site. Not the best site for College Baseball, but not the worst, either.

 
Sorry, I lied. Just had to log in.

90. NEBRASKA 2011 record: 30-25 overall, 9-17 Big 12

Key returnees : 1B Kash Kalkowski (.299/5/42), OF Chad Christensen (.292/1/16), RHP Jon Keller (3-6, 3.62), RHP Brandon Pierce (0-1, 4.02), RHP Tyler Niederklein (8-3, 4.17), RHP Tom Lemke (2-0, 5.29)

The skinny: After once again failing to reach the NCAA postseason last year, the Huskers decided to make a change, parting ways with long-time head coach Mike Anderson. Now, former big-league star Darin Erstad is leading the way, and promises to instill a hard-nosed attitude … There’s no reason why the Huskers shouldn’t be more productive than they were last season in the Big 12. Now in the Big Ten, the Huskers, who hit .270 last season, welcome back six of their top seven hitters … Pitching-wise, injury prone Tom Lemke finally is showing signs of a full recovery and is having an excellent spring camp. Meanwhile, look for Brandon Pierce to increase his role, and for Tyler Niederklein to have an even better campaign. The Huskers should be just fine on the mound with pitching coach Ted Silva leading the way.

Expectation level: : The Huskers definitely have a chance to reach the NCAA postseason. Though doing so as an at-large bid could be difficult with the program still learning Erstad’s ways, they have a legitimate chance to win the Big Ten title. It’ll be very interesting to see how the Huskers perform in their new league this season.
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While I think that we will succeed in the Big Ten compared to where we would be in the Big 12, it isn't going to be nearly the cake walk that everyone seems to think that it will be.

 
huskerswrkhavoc said:
While I think that we will succeed in the Big Ten compared to where we would be in the Big 12, it isn't going to be nearly the cake walk that everyone seems to think that it will be.
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Agreed. Illinois, Michigan State, and IIRC Michigan all may give us fits this year.

However, I still think our non-con schedule is more daunting than our Big 10 schedule. If we get through that unscathed...

 
matthew_m_g said:
huskerswrkhavoc said:
While I think that we will succeed in the Big Ten compared to where we would be in the Big 12, it isn't going to be nearly the cake walk that everyone seems to think that it will be.
Click to expand...
Agreed. Illinois, Michigan State, and IIRC Michigan all may give us fits this year.

However, I still think our non-con schedule is more daunting than our Big 10 schedule. If we get through that unscathed...
Click to expand...
I agree that our non-con is a little more tough than the Big Ten sched.. Unless the Big Ten grows a few baseball powerhouses, we better start making the non-con harder. 2 of 3 from Cal is almost a must.. and Cal will not be as good this year as last.

 
huskerswrkhavoc said:
matthew_m_g said:
huskerswrkhavoc said:
While I think that we will succeed in the Big Ten compared to where we would be in the Big 12, it isn't going to be nearly the cake walk that everyone seems to think that it will be.
Click to expand...
Agreed. Illinois, Michigan State, and IIRC Michigan all may give us fits this year.

However, I still think our non-con schedule is more daunting than our Big 10 schedule. If we get through that unscathed...
Click to expand...
I agree that our non-con is a little more tough than the Big Ten sched.. Unless the Big Ten grows a few baseball powerhouses, we better start making the non-con harder. 2 of 3 from Cal is almost a must.. and Cal will not be as good this year as last.
Click to expand...
We have a four-game deal with Cal, just FYI.

 
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