Take 10 with Andy Sawyers

Despite the snow, ice, and cold, spring – and the baseball season – are just around the corner.  To help gear up for the upcoming season while making a difference in the community, the Nebraska Baseball program is hosting its first Baseball 101 event on Friday, January 26.  The day features a variety of classes about baseball, taught by the Husker coaching staff and local umpires, and serves as a fundraiser for City Impact, an organization dedicated to helping low-income children in the Lincoln area.  To get a better feel for what the day would be about, Huskers.com sat down to Take 10 with assistant baseball coach Andy Sawyers.

1. What is Baseball 101?
Andy Sawyers: Baseball 101 is a fun way for people who are baseball fans to get more knowledge about the game and hopefully be able to enjoy watching the Huskers more.

2. How was City Impact chosen as a partner?
AS: Coach Anderson made that choice.

3. What are you hoping this event will accomplish?
AS: I hope the people who come to Baseball 101 will be able to understand the game more and get more pleasure out of watching it.  Hopefully these people are fans who come to the games, so after Baseball 101, next time they go to a game, they should be able to understand what's going on better and enjoy it more.  Baseball's different than football in that it's not a ten-second play and then a rest; there's always something going on in baseball.  If you don't know what you're looking at, you could miss a lot of what's happening.  And, obviously, we want to raise money for City Impact.

4. What are you most looking forward to about the event?
AS: Raising funds for City Impact and helping local kids.

5. Are you teaching any of the sessions?
AS: I am.  I'm teaching two sessions, one on defensive strategies and one on film breakdown.

6. How many sessions will each participant attend?
AS: They have an opportunity to pick four of the 10 sessions we are offering during the day.

7. If you were attending the event as a fan instead of a coach, which sessions would you sign up for?
AS: I'd sign up for defensive strategies, offensive strategies, one on pitches and how they're thrown, and I'd definitely go to Coach Anderson's session on offensive strategies.  I know he'll be teaching the signs he uses, which should be pretty interesting for the fans.

8. One of the sessions scheduled is one on baseball terminology.  What would you say is the most out-there baseball term fans will learn?
AS: Ohhh...maybe...boat race...

9. What's the best piece of baseball knowledge you've ever learned?
AS: Swing hard in case you hit it.

10. We have about less than a month until the baseball season starts.  What can fans look forward to this season?
AS: They can look forward to a really good product on the field. We had a couple sophomore (All-Americans Tony Watson and Ryan Wehrle) turn down quite a bit of money to come back and play for the Huskers, so I think fans will want to see these guys who really want to stay in school and play for Nebraska.