NU hopes to get back on track

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BY CURT McKEEVER

While Mike Anderson sensed a hurt in his Nebraska baseball team, a condition brought on by two losses in three weekend games against Texas Tech, senior pitcher Quinton Robertson wanted to make sure no one thought the Huskers were licking their woundsMonday at Haymarket Park.

Robertson believes that will be evident today, when 15th-ranked NU returns to the field at 6:35 p.m. for a key matchup against No. 10 Wichita State.

"We don't feel like we're in a losing streak or not playing good baseball," said Robertson, who watched NU drop its first Big 12 Conference home series in the last 14. "It's little thing that can be fixed, and we started doing that today in practice. You could tell there's almost an anxiousness (to play again)."

Robertson, a 6-foot-5 right-hander, will take the mound tonight to face a team that's hitting .334. The Shockers are coming off a four-game sweep of Illinois State that improved their record to 20-5.

Considering how Tech battered NU pitching while scoring 20 runs during the final two games of the series, the Huskers could be crossing their fingers, hoping that Robertson provides a much-needed Band-Aid.

"I don't want to say stop the bleeding, because that's probably not a necessary statement," he said. "We've just got to keep playing good baseball."

While the weekend losses knocked Nebraska from first to third in the Big 12, the Huskers still are 24-7.

Robertson did say that tonight's game could have far-reaching implications for both teams. While Wichita State is 12-0 in the Missouri Valley Conference, the Shockers have dropped their last five non-league games (three to nationally ranked opponents).

"There could be a lot of importance on RPI (power rankings), who hosts (NCAA) regionals, maybe even recruiting," said Robertson. "I do say it will be fun tomorrow."

Two years ago, Robertson caught the Nebraska-Wichita State game from the Haymarket Park stands as part of his recruiting trip. While the Shockers won that game, and have taken the last three in the series, it hardly soured Robertson on the Huskers.

"That was very exciting to sit in the stands and know you have a chance to be a part of that," he said.

Now that it's come, Robertson plans to make the most of it.

Although he has twice as many losses as a year ago, when he went 10-2 and earned All-Big 12 honors, the Richland, Miss., native has allowed just one earned run over his last two starts while improving to 3-4. Robertson's earned run average of 4.65 is just slightly up from last year's 4.23, and he has a 4-to-1 strikeouts-to-walks ratio.

"I know I can pitch," he said. "Pitching's an attitude, and I'm just as cocky as I've always been. I know I'm pretty darn good."

Nebraska, which is hitting .301, expects to see either left-handed freshman Derek Roach (0-0, 0.0) or right-handed senior Kyle Banick (1-1, 4.50) tonight.

When asked Monday what concerned him the most about the Texas Tech series, Anderson started to go through a list, then paused.

"I've always seen the way our pitching staff has responded when they do have some problems, so I'm fine with them," he said. "My main concern is our offense. We need to get that going."

It was no surprise, then, that Nebraska spent a good portion of Monday's practice working on hitting fundamentals before finishing with a short scrimmage.

At game-like tempo, mind you.

"It is (big)," Anderson said of tonight's game, "because we'd like to get our team back on track. And, obviously, we'd like to get back in the win column.