Shockers will give Huskers a big test
The way Nebraska baseball coach Mike Anderson sees it, if the Huskers and Wichita State take care of things in their respective conferences, both will wind up playing host to NCAA regionals at the end of next month.
Never mind what comes from tonight’s rare tangle between top 10 teams at Haymarket Park.
“You might say you pick one over the other for a regional based on what happens in this game,” Anderson said. ... “But if we both stay on track and we’re both deserving, that will take care of itself, so I don’t think you put that much into one game.”
Since reviving their series in 2001, NU and Wichita State have played in NCAA regionals the same season on five occasions. In four of those, both were in position to play host to a regional, but the only time they did was in 2002. That year, the Shockers beat the Huskers in Lincoln during the regular season.
Wichita State also won the teams’ 2003 meeting, but ended up playing its regional at Rice, while NU ended up hosting. Nebraska also remained at home for regionals in 2005 and ’06 after defeating the Shockers in the regular season.
Coach Gene Stephenson’s current squad — which has been in Nebraska since last weekend, when it won two of three against Creighton — is 27-5 with a No. 5 national ranking. But the Shockers are second to Northern Iowa in the Missouri Valley Conference.
NU, which split a pair of lopsided games at Oklahoma State after dropping a 1-0 decision in the series opener, is 25-6-1, ranked as high as No. 9 and second to Texas A&M in the Big 12.
The Huskers haven’t played host to a top-10 opponent since 2005, when they won two of three from Baylor and dropped two of three vs. Texas. That left their all-time record against top-10 opponents at Haymarket Park at 8-7.
Wichita State is set to pitch right-hander Tim Kelley, a redshirt freshman who’s No. 4 in the Shockers’ rotation. Junior right-hander Erik Bird will make the fourth start of his career at NU.
Kelley is 4-1 with a 4.00 earned-run average. Bird (1-1, 5.19) is coming off a relief outing at Oklahoma State on Saturday, during which he gave up seven runs on seven hits hits in just two-thirds of an inning. However, in his three starts this season, the Omaha Burke graduate is 1-0 with a 2.08 ERA.
Anderson said Bird, who threw 30 pitches Saturday, will throw tonight for “as long as he can be effective. Each time we’ve seen him have a tough outing, he’s responded pretty well.”
Last year, Bird gave up a two-run, eighth-inning single that capped Wichita State’s four-run rally in a 5-3 win.
The Shockers currently have seven lineup regulars hitting better than .300 and are paced by junior third baseman Conor Gillaspie, a Millard North graduate who’s hitting .411 with 40 RBIs.
Briefly
Junior catcher Drew Gray, originally expected to miss six weeks after injuring his rotator cuff in early February, has had minor surgery that will keep him sidelined for the entire season. Anderson said Gray, a 27th-round pick in last year’s MLB draft, should be recovered by next fall.
Reach Curt McKeever at 473-7441 or cmckeever@journalstar.com
Never mind what comes from tonight’s rare tangle between top 10 teams at Haymarket Park.
“You might say you pick one over the other for a regional based on what happens in this game,” Anderson said. ... “But if we both stay on track and we’re both deserving, that will take care of itself, so I don’t think you put that much into one game.”
Since reviving their series in 2001, NU and Wichita State have played in NCAA regionals the same season on five occasions. In four of those, both were in position to play host to a regional, but the only time they did was in 2002. That year, the Shockers beat the Huskers in Lincoln during the regular season.
Wichita State also won the teams’ 2003 meeting, but ended up playing its regional at Rice, while NU ended up hosting. Nebraska also remained at home for regionals in 2005 and ’06 after defeating the Shockers in the regular season.
Coach Gene Stephenson’s current squad — which has been in Nebraska since last weekend, when it won two of three against Creighton — is 27-5 with a No. 5 national ranking. But the Shockers are second to Northern Iowa in the Missouri Valley Conference.
NU, which split a pair of lopsided games at Oklahoma State after dropping a 1-0 decision in the series opener, is 25-6-1, ranked as high as No. 9 and second to Texas A&M in the Big 12.
The Huskers haven’t played host to a top-10 opponent since 2005, when they won two of three from Baylor and dropped two of three vs. Texas. That left their all-time record against top-10 opponents at Haymarket Park at 8-7.
Wichita State is set to pitch right-hander Tim Kelley, a redshirt freshman who’s No. 4 in the Shockers’ rotation. Junior right-hander Erik Bird will make the fourth start of his career at NU.
Kelley is 4-1 with a 4.00 earned-run average. Bird (1-1, 5.19) is coming off a relief outing at Oklahoma State on Saturday, during which he gave up seven runs on seven hits hits in just two-thirds of an inning. However, in his three starts this season, the Omaha Burke graduate is 1-0 with a 2.08 ERA.
Anderson said Bird, who threw 30 pitches Saturday, will throw tonight for “as long as he can be effective. Each time we’ve seen him have a tough outing, he’s responded pretty well.”
Last year, Bird gave up a two-run, eighth-inning single that capped Wichita State’s four-run rally in a 5-3 win.
The Shockers currently have seven lineup regulars hitting better than .300 and are paced by junior third baseman Conor Gillaspie, a Millard North graduate who’s hitting .411 with 40 RBIs.
Briefly
Junior catcher Drew Gray, originally expected to miss six weeks after injuring his rotator cuff in early February, has had minor surgery that will keep him sidelined for the entire season. Anderson said Gray, a 27th-round pick in last year’s MLB draft, should be recovered by next fall.
Reach Curt McKeever at 473-7441 or cmckeever@journalstar.com
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