Huskers Earn First-Ever No. 1 Ranking in Baseball

Lincoln - For the first time in school history, Nebraska is the nation's top-ranked team on the diamond, as the Huskers moved to No. 1 in the Baseball America poll released Monday afternoon. The Huskers, 34-9 on the season, have won 17 of their last 19 games after winning four of five games last week.

"It's a big honor for the program to be ranked No. 1 with all that we have gone through over the past three and a half years," Nebraska Coach Dave Van Horn said. "It has been an uphill climb and it has happened faster than we expected. We are excited, but we have to keep going about our business which is to continue winning games and win the Big 12."

Nebraska's highest ranking in any poll prior to this week was a No. 2 ranking by Baseball America on March 29, 1983, and April 18, 1983. The Huskers, who lead the Big 12 with a 15-4 conference mark, also moved to second in the Baseball Weekly/ESPN Coaches poll and fourth in the Collegiate Baseball poll. In fact, NU's rankings in each of the three major polls are the highest rankings in school history.

Nebraska is the first Big 12 team to be ranked No.1 nationally in any national poll since Texas A&M was the top-ranked team by Baseball America on May 17, 1999.

Three different teams are ranked first nationally in this week's national polls. Notre Dame heads the Collegiate Baseball poll with a 34-5 record and a 14-game winning streak, while Stanford, which lost three of four games last week after topping all three polls a week ago, is first in the Baseball Weekly/ESPN Coaches poll and enter the week with a 32-10 mark.

The Huskers return to action this week with four scheduled contests, including a matchup with Creighton Tuesday evening that will be televised throughout the state by Nebraska Educational Television (NETV2, Ch. 17 in Lincoln). Nebraska returns to conference play this weekend with a three-game series at Texas A&M.

"This is an important week for us, especially with the way we were beat on Sunday.," Van Horn said. "We need to get back on the winning track against Creighton. Texas A&M is always a program ranked in the top 25, and it is always difficult to win in College Station. We are going to have to play extremely well to win down there."

No.

School

Overall

Week

Prev.

1. Nebraska 34-9 4- 1 3

2. Notre Dame 35-5 4-0 5

3. Stanford 32-10 1-3 1

4. Miami 33-10 3-0 6

5. Louisiana State 30-13 3-2 2

6. Southern California 29-14 3-1 8

7. Rice 36-13 2-3 4

8. Cal State Fullerton 30-11 4-1 10

9. Tulane 35-8 4-0 11

10. Pepperdine 31-12 4-0 13

11. Florida State 34-12 1-3 7

12. Clemson 28-15 2-2 12

13. Georgia Tech 31-12 2-2 9

14. Tennessee 33-10 2-1 14

15. Mississippi 30-13 3-1 18

16. Central Florida 36-10 4-0 17

17. East Carolina 36-10 3-1 19

18. Baylor 30-15 3-1 20

19. Stetson 36-6 4-0 22

20. Arizona State 26-14 2-1 15

21. Wake Forest 31-12 4-1 23

22. Mississippi State 26-15 5-1 25

23. South Alabama 31-11 2-1 21

24. Auburn 29-12 3-1 NR

25. Georgia 26-15 2-2 NR