Huskers Announce 2003 Baseball Schedule

Lincoln - Thirty-one home games, including a three-game series against defending national champion Texas, highlight the 2003 Nebraska baseball schedule released Friday, July 26.

The Huskers, who are coming off the school's second straight College World Series appearance, will play 22 games against 2002 NCAA Tournament qualifiers, including non-conference tilts against fellow CWS qualifiers Rice and Notre Dame.

"I think our next season's schedule is one of the toughest in the nation," Nebraska Head Coach Mike Anderson said. "Being in a conference like the Big 12 always gives you a good foundation to work with in scheduling, and our goal is to face as many quality non-conference opponents as possible."

After playing 14 of its first 18 games on the road, Nebraska will spend most of April and May at Hawks Field, playing 20 of its final 24 games at home, including conference series against Missouri (April 11-13), Texas (April 18-20), Oklahoma State (May 9-11) and Baylor (May 16-18).

"The first thing that jumps out about the schedule is the number of home games, especially in April and May," Anderson. "Having the brand new ballpark and the crowd support we have had over the past few seasons allows us to bring non-conference opponents, such as a Louisiana-Lafayette, Minnesota and McNeese State, to Lincoln later in the season.

The Huskers open the season with nine straight road contests, beginning with the Round Rock Tournament which is played at the Dell Diamond, the home of the Double-A affliate of the Houston Astros. After traveling to Louisiana Tech for a three-game series, NU will head to Minneapolis for the Hormel Classic, a field that includes Notre Dame, Wake Forest and Big Ten champion Minnesota.

Nebraska makes its 2003 Hawks Field debut against a familiar foe, as NCAA qualifier Wisconsin-Milwaukee travels to Lincoln for a three-game series March 7-9. The Huskers will have a brief four-game homestand before traveling to Texas A&M (March 14-16) for a three-game series with the Aggies in their Big 12 Conference opener. The Huskers will spend part of spring break in Texas, traveling to Rice and Sam Houston State for single games on March 18 and 19.

April's schedule features 13 home games, including the Big 12 showdown with the Longhorns, who split four meetings with NU last season, and non-conference home games against McNeese State (April 15-16), Creighton (April 22 and 29) and Minnesota (April 30). In addition, the Huskers will travel to Wichita State on April 8, and NCAA qualifier Texas Tech (April 25-27).

NU will not leave the state during the regular season in May, playing all 10 regular season inside the state. The Huskers will host three-game series against Louisiana-Lafayette, Oklahoma State and Baylor. The only time the Huskers will leave Lincoln is for the annual non-conference matchup with Creighton in Omaha on May 13. The Big 12 Tournament will return to Oklahoma City after a one-year absence May 21-25 before NCAA regionals begin the following week. The 2003 College World Series is set for June 13-23 in Omaha.

The Huskers finished the 2002 season with a 47-21 record and reached the College World Series for the second straight season. Season ticket and individual game prices for next season will be announced later this fall.

2003 Baseball Schedule

Month	Date	Day	Opponent	Location	Time
February	14	Fri.	Round Rock Tournament (Cal-Berkley, SW Texas, UT-Pan American)	Round Rock, Texas	TBA
	15	Sat.	TBA	Round Rock, Texas	TBA
	16	Sun.	TBA	Round Rock, Texas	TBA
	21	Fri.	Louisiana Tech	Ruston, La.	TBA
	22	Sat.	Louisiana Tech	Ruston, La.	TBA
	23	Sun.	Louisiana Tech	Ruston, La.	TBA
	28	Fri.	vs. Wake Forest (Hormel Classic)	Minneapolis, Minn	TBA
March	1	Sat.	at Minnesota (Hormel Classic)	Minneapolis, Minn.	TBA
	2	Sun.	vs. Notre Dame (Hormel Classic)	Minneapolis, Minn.	TBA
	7	Fri.	Wisconsin-Milwaukee	Hawks Field	2:05 p.m.
	8	Sat.	Wisconsin-Milwaukee	Hawks Field	1:05 p.m.
	9	Sun.	Wisconsin-Milwaukee	Hawks Field	1:05 p.m.
	11	Tues.	Nebraska-Kearney	Hawks Field	2:05 p.m.
	14	Fri.	Texas A & M	College Station, Texas	TBA
	15	Sat.	Texas A & M	College Station, Texas	TBA
	16	Sun.	Texas A & M	College Station, Texas	TBA
	18	Tues.	Rice	Houston, Texas	7 p.m.
	19	Wed.	Sam Houston State	Huntsville, Texas	TBA
	21	Fri.	Kansas State	Hawks Field	2:05 p.m.
	22	Sat.	Kansas State	Hawks Field	2:05 p.m.
	23	Sun.	Kansas State	Hawks Field	1:05 p.m.
	25	Tues.	Cal Poly	Hawks Field	4:05 p.m.
	26	Wed.	Cal Poly	Hawks Field	4:05 p.m.
	28	Fri.	Oklahoma	Norman, Okla.	TBA
	29	Sat.	Oklahoma	Norman, Okla.	TBA
	30	Sun.	Oklahoma	Norman, Okla.	TBA
April	1	Tues.	Western Illinois	Hawks Field	6:05 p.m.
	2	Wed.	Western Illinois	Hawks Field	2:05 p.m.
	4	Fri.	Kansas	Lawrence, Kan.	TBA
	5	Sat.	Kansas	Lawrence, Kan.	TBA
	6	Sun.	Kansas	Lawrence, Kan.	TBA
	8	Tues.	Wichita State	Wichita, Kan.	7 p.m.
	11	Fri.	Missouri	Hawks Field	6:35 p.m.
	12	Sat.	Missouri	Hawks Field	2:05 p.m.
	13	Sun.	Missouri	Hawks Field	1:05 p.m.
	15	Tues.	McNeese State	Hawks Field	6:35 p.m.
	16	Wed.	McNeese State	Hawks Field	2:05 p.m.
	18	Fri.	Texas	Hawks Field	6:35 p.m.
	19	Sat.	Texas	Hawks Field	2:05 p.m.
	20	Sun.	Texas	Hawks Field	1:05 p.m.
	22	Tues.	Creighton	Hawks Field	6:35 p.m.
	25	Fri.	Texas Tech	Lubbock, Texas	TBA
	26	Sat.	Texas Tech	Lubbock, Texas	TBA
	27	Sun.	Texas Tech	Lubbock, Texas	TBA
	29	Tues.	Creighton	Hawks Field	6:35 p.m.
	30	Wed.	Minnesota	Hawks Field	6:35 p.m.
May	2	Fri.	Louisiana-Lafayette	Hawks Field	6:35 p.m.
	3	Sat.	Louisiana-Lafayette	Hawks Field	2::05 p.m.
	4	Sun.	Louisiana-Lafayette	Hawks Field	1:05 p.m.
	9	Fri.	Oklahoma State	Hawks Field	6:35 p.m.
	10	Sat.	Oklahoma State	Hawks Field	2:05 p.m.
	11	Sun.	Oklahoma State	Hawks Field	1:05 p.m.
	13	Tues.	Creighton	Omaha, Neb.	TBA
	16	Fri.	Baylor	Hawks Field	6:35 p.m.
	17	Sat.	Baylor	Hawks Field	2:05 p.m.
	18	Sun.	Baylor	Hawks Field	1:05 p.m.
	21-25	Wed.-Sun.	Big 12 Conference Tournament	Oklahoma City, Okla.	TBA
	29-31	Fri.-Sun.	Regionals	Campus Sites	TBA
June	6-8	Fri.-Sun.	Super Regionals	TBA	TBA
	13-23	Fri.-Mon.	College World Series	Omaha, Neb. (Rosenblatt)	TBA