Huskers Begin Practice Saturday Morning

Lincoln ? The Nebraska baseball program begins its defense of its Big 12 regular-season title Saturday morning with the opening of spring practice. With temperatures expected to rise into the mid-40s on Saturday, the Huskers will start practice with some hitting and pitching drills inside Schulte Fieldhouse, beginning at 9 a.m. before getting some work in at Hawks Field.*

"We have two plans in place for the first practice, depending on the weather," Nebraska Coach Mike Anderson said. "Our hope is to be outside tomorrow."

The Huskers, who are ranked as high as 20th (Collegiate Baseball) in the national polls (21st in Sports Weekly/ESPN Coaches poll and 24th in Baseball America) return 17 letterwinners, including seven returning starters, from a team that went 47-18 and won the school’s second conference title in three seasons. The Huskers, who return a pair of first-team All-Big 12 selections in first baseman Curtis Ledbetter and pitcher Quinton Robertson, were picked third by the Big 12 coaches in the preseason poll released late Thursday.

"I feel good about our leadership and our team chemistry," Anderson said. "The kids have done a lot of work on their own (since the semester began), and the weight room work has been outstanding. Their work habits during the fall and up to this point have been very good."

Another reason for Anderson’s optimism is that the Huskers are getting healthy after suffering numerous injuries during the fall. Ledbetter, shortstop Joe Simokaitis, outfielder Brandon Fusilier and pitchers Brian Duensing and Dusty Timm all missed the fall with injuries, but have all been cleared for the start of spring practice. Only Fusilier, who is recovering from off-season shoulder surgery, and Timm, who had Tommy John surgery last March, will be restricted during drills.

"Our health situation is a lot better than it was at the end of the fall," Anderson said.

A pair of pitchers, freshman left-hander Tony Watson (shoulder) and redshirt freshman Mike Harmelink (elbow) recently underwent surgery and will be candidates for medical hardships this spring.

The Huskers will practice over the next four weeks to prepare for their season opener at New Mexico on Feb. 20. In all, the Huskers will face five ranked teams ? Rice, North Carolina, Florida State, Minnesota and San Diego ? in the opening month before the Huskers’ home opener on March 16 against Western Illinois. In all, NU will face 10 teams ranked in the Collegiate Baseball preseason poll.

"We have four weeks to get ready for what I consider the toughest schedule Nebraska baseball has ever played," Anderson said. "We have our work cut out for us, especially in the early part of the year. If you look at our schedule, we wanted to challenge ourselves early. We are hoping that we learn something about our team from the first part of the season that will help us in the end."