Husker Baseball Opens Fall Drills

Lincoln ? The Nebraska baseball team hits the diamond for the first time to begin fall practice Thursday afternoon. Today’s workout begins a stretch of 29 practices over the next 35 days for the Huskers, who look to bounce back after missing the NCAA Tournament last year for the first time since 2004.

“We are excited to be on the field to begin practice,” Nebraska Coach Mike Anderson said. “It is important to use the fall to get everyone on the same page and get them acclimated to college baseball. We are going to have some freshmen contribute and we will use the fall to get them ready for the upcoming season.”

One thing Anderson has noticed is the competitiveness of this group, as it went through conditioning and skill instruction over the past two weeks.

“The fall is a big evaluation period for us, and it has been even more competitive than I anticipated, which I am thrilled by that,” Anderson said. “We have a lot of opportunities for people to play, whether it is on the mound or in the field, and are looking to see how it plays out throughout the fall.”

Anderson, who begins his eighth year at NU, welcomes back one of his most experienced teams, as 20 letterwinners are back, including eight position players who made at least 20 starts a year ago. The offensive returnees are led by All-Big 12 first baseman Tyler Farst, who hit .333 with three homers and 36 RBIs, and senior outfielder Adam Bailey, who batted .325 with 12 homers and 50 RBIs. Bailey, a 38th round draft pick of the New York Yankees, topped the Huskers in homers, RBIs and slugging percentage (.598) in 2008.  Other returnees who made at least 20 starts include infielders Kyle Bubak and Cody Asche, catcher Cory Burleson and outfielders DJ Belfonte, Boomer Collins and Khiry Cooper, who will miss fall drills because of football.

On the mound, the Huskers welcome back 12 pitchers who combined for 84 percent of the innings and 88 percent of the team’s wins and strikeouts from a year ago. Junior right-hander Mike Nesseth returns after going 5-4 with two saves and striking out 73 over 64.2 innings of work. NU brings back five of its top six starting pitchers, including Casey Hauptman, Sean Yost, Michael Mariot and Jordan Roualdes. Yost earned all-star honors in the Northwoods League over the summer, while Mariott was ranked by Baseball America as one of the top prospects in the M.I.N.K. League this summer.

Another reason for optimism is a recruiting class that features several players who could make an early impact as Huskers. In fall conditioning, five of the top six performance scores were by newcomers and the class features four players ? all pitchers ? who have been previously drafted.

“We have a class of newcomers that we feel great about and being able to get nearly the whole class through the draft is huge for our program,” Anderson said. “We have to be patient, but we think there are quite a few players who could make an impact for us this year.

Some of the newcomers who have been impressive during the skill instruction portion have been freshmen Chad Christensen, Bryan Peters, Josh Scheffert and Tom Lemke, while junior college transfers Patric Tolentino and Ryan Hughes could be counted on to fill significant roles.

The Huskers will work out throughout the next three weeks and will have the annual Red/White Series from Oct. 8-10 at Hawks Field. The start times for the first two games has been set for 2 p.m. with the final start time to be determined.

2009 Red/White Series Dates:
Thursday, Oct. 8 ? 2 p.m.
Friday, Oct. 9 ? 2 p.m.
Saturday, Oct. 10 - TBA