Baseball Hauls in Nationally Rated Recruiting Class

Lincoln ? For the second straight season, the Nebraska baseball team's recruiting class was among the top classes nationally, as Collegiate Baseball released its 2003 recruiting class rankings Tuesday.

The Huskers' 17-member recruiting class was ranked No. 30 nationally by the publication, and was one one of five Big 12 programs (also Texas, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Baylor) ranked by Collegiate Baseball.

The class includes 12 freshmen, four junior college transfers and Wayne State transfer Jared Hertzel. It is highlighted by a highly decorated freshman class that included right-handed pitcher Matt Foust, who was the Gatorade Kansas Player of the Year, and left-handers Jon Klausing and Tony Watson. Klausing was chosen by the Rocky Mountain News as the Colorado Pitcher of the Year, and Watson was the Bob Feller Award winner for the top pitcher in Iowa.

In addition, five other freshmen: Brad Furnish (Texas), Braden Keith (Colorado), Mike McDonald (Kansas), Matt Pike (Colorado) and Al Smith (Nebraska) were chosen as first-team all-state selections, as NU's recruiting class includes players from eight states (Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Colorado, Oklahoma, Texas, Oregon and Wisconsin).

The four-player junior college contingent is highlighted by right-hander Brett Jensen, who earned first-team NJCAA All-America honors at Iowa Central Community College. Utility player Colin Shockey and first baseman/outfielder Beau Sullivan were both all-conference selections last spring. Three of the recruits were selected in the 2003 First-Year Player Draft, including Watson (23rd round by Florida), Pike (32nd by Boston) and Jensen (45th by Baltimore).

North Carolina and South Carolina were rated with the top recruiting classes, as nearly all of the schools represented were from the Sun Belt states. Nebraska and Notre Dame (29th) were the only northern programs represented in the Collegiate Baseball rankings.

The Huskers were ranked 23rd last year in the rankings, as NU's class featured All-Big 12 pitcher Quinton Robertson (10-2, 4.23 ERA), freshmen All-Americans Alex Gordon (.319-7-48) and Tim Schoeninger (4-2, 4.30 ERA, 6 SV) and Zach Kroenke (6-2, 2.72 ERA), who was a regular in the Huskers' weekend rotation during conference play last spring.

Many of the newcomers will be highlighted in the annual Red/White Series, which takes place Oct. 7-11 at Hawks Field. Admission is free for the best-of-five series, with starting times set for 3 p.m. each day, except for the series finale, which is slated for 10 a.m. (if necessary).