Come June, the Nebraska and Alabama baseball teams fully expect to be in their usual NCAA regional slots after having gotten the best of most opponents from their respective power conferences, the Big 12 and Southeastern.

And so when the nationally ranked Huskers and Crimson Tide meet for a three-game set that begins tonight in Tuscaloosa, Ala., the results might eventually seem not so relevant to the big picture.

That, however, is not to say NU’s Mike Anderson or his Alabama coaching counterpart, Jim Wells, might not look back to the second weekend in March as being the one that set the table for a successful run to the postseason.

“To be honest with you, the first four weekends of this year have postseason implications,” Anderson said. “This four weekends have been designed for a long time about trying to make this team tough and create some things. There’s a lot of purpose behind it. … but there’s things that we have to get better at.”

No wonder Anderson will have nothing to say to his club about how this weekend’s results could factor into the late-May scenario.

“I want to go down there and win three games, but more importantly, in the long run for this team, it’s to find the rhythm of playing this game the right way,” Anderson said. “We’ll do a good job with our scouting reports and understand who our opponents are, but I promise you, we’ve got to get to a point that we are playing good baseball — just some simple things that we do on the field. We haven’t done that yet.”

Despite the fact that Wednesday marked the first time this semester it has practiced in Haymarket Park (a session that began in subfreezing temperatures), Nebraska is 1-1 against ranked competition and off to a 6-4 start. But to avoid an 0-3 showing at the Stetson Invitational in Deland, Fla., the Huskers had to rebound from blowing an eight-run lead to Iowa and getting run-ruled by Notre Dame on Sunday to beat the hosts on Monday.

Alabama would appear to be in the same boat.

The Crimson Tide, who recovered from being swept three games in Lincoln last March to play host to a NCAA super regional series, are 12-4. But on Tuesday, Wells’ experienced bunch lost to Southern Mississippi, then followed that by losing at home to Tennessee Tech on Wednesday.

“It doesn’t matter who you’re playing, if you play like we have lately they’ll beat the hell out of us,” Wells said.

At least with Nebraska up next, he won’t have any trouble getting his team’s attention.

“I recall them being very good, especially on the mound,” Wells said of the 2006 series against the Huskers at Haymarket Park in which the Crimson Tide suffered a deflating 2-1, 11-inning setback in the opener, then scored just three more runs over the next two games. “Looking back, it may have helped us go on to have a good season. They keep you on your toes. You have to play well for nine innings to keep with them.”

Nebraska second baseman Jake Opitz (who has a seven-game hitting streak and is batting .417 over that stretch) expects Alabama to be especially motivated for this weekend. Given what occurred last season, Wells isn’t so sure about any payback talk.

“Those thoughts might enter your mind if you were 15-1 and hadn’t just lost two games,” he said. “We’re kind of in a situation where we’re trying to get ourselves together and move forward.”

Even so, senior All-American center fielder Emeel Salem would love to be able to clear his memory of last year’s trip to Lincoln. And, no, he’s not referring to watching ice get shoveled from the field before one of the games.

“You try to think of it as just a series, but Nebraska knows just as well as we do that it’s two good programs, and when you have two big-name schools going up against each other there’s more intensity and emotion,” Salem said. “It really does (have a more significant meaning) because we went over there last year and didn’t play well at all all three days and got swept.”

And yet, Salem, who’s hitting .381 and leading his team with 12 steals and 20 runs, admits he and his teammates eventually got some good from the long weekend.

“When it happened, we really couldn’t see the positive, but that probably was the best thing that could’ve happened to our team at that point,” he said. “We understood how good Nebraska was, but we realized if we get some things straightened out, we could play with anybody.”

Look for that same phenomenon to repeat itself with both clubs this weekend.

Briefly

n Center fielder Bryce Nimmo is doubtful this weekend after a collision during the Notre Dame game left him with a concussion and sprained right shoulder. The Huskers will have Thad Weber back. The first baseman-DH-reliever missed last week’s action because of personal issues. Weber is hitting .389 with five RBIs and also has two shutout innings in his only pitching appearance.

n The Huskers have won their last eight regular-season games against SEC opponents, but in that same stretch have gone 0-4 against the SEC in the NCAA Tournament.

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

Starting pitchers

Today, 6:30 p.m: Tony Watson (1-0, 2.25 ERA) and Miers Quigley (2-0, 1.48)

Saturday, 4 p.m.: Charlie Shirek (1-1, 5.93) and Casey Kebodeaux (2-1, 1.42)

Sunday, 11 a.m.: Johnny Dorn (2-1, 4.26) and Bernard Robert (2-1, 3.07)

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