Three Huskers to Earn Degree on Saturday

Lincoln ? Three former baseball players are among the 45 Husker student-athletes scheduled to graduate during Saturday morning’s commencement ceremonies at the BobDevaneySportsCenter.

 

Mike Harmelink, Jon Klausing and Al Smith will all earn their undergraduate degrees on Saturday, as all three players were members of Nebraska’s 2005 College World Series squad.

 

Harmelink spent five years in the Husker baseball program, serving as a relief pitcher on a pair of Big 12 championship teams in 2003 and 2005. A three-time Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll selection, Harmelink made 22 career appearances, going 0-1 with a 4.33 ERA. He struck out 30 hitters over 27.0 career innings. A two-year member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, he graduates with a degree in art.

 

Smith played baseball for two seasons before injuries curtailed his career. His best season came in 2004, when he batted .296 with a homer and three RBIs in 18 contests. He was a three-time member of the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll and will graduate with a degree in English.

 

Klausing, who earns an advertising degree, pitched for three seasons at Nebraska before being sidelined with a back injury. A four-time member of the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll, Klausing compiled a 5-2 career record in 22 appearances as a Husker. His best season came in 2006, when he went 4-2 with a 3.65 ERA in nine appearances, highlighted by tossing seven innings of one-hit ball in a start against WichitaState.

 

The Huskers’ 45-member graduating class consists of student-athletes from 14 U.S. states and three foreign countries, including Germany, Latvia and South Africa. Nearly all of Nebraska’s varsity teams are represented in the group, while the Huskers graduated with nearly 20 different majors in their fields of study. Despite the diversity of the group, a total of 20 Nebraska natives made up nearly half of the class.