Huskers Have High Expections; Van Horn Ready for Second Year

A new look, a new attitude, better all-around talent and depth, a tougher schedule and higher expectations surround the Nebraska baseball program entering the 1999 season. With Coach Dave Van Horn's first recruiting class, the Huskers have added 20 new faces to blend with 11 returnees, including six returning starters, as Nebraska looks to battle for the Big 12 Conference crown.

Last season, the Nebraska baseball team proved it could hang with the elite teams in the Big 12 Conference. This season, the Huskers are out to show they are just as good as the five teams who qualified for NCAA Regional play.

Coach Dave Van Horn has added more depth, speed and power at every position, to give NU a chance to make its first trip to NCAA postseason play since 1985 and make the Big 12 Conference Tournament for the first time in school history.

The Huskers will depend on a lot of new faces to get the chance to compete in postseason play. Twenty newcomers will join 11 returning letterwinners, including six starters from the 1998 team, in trying to extend Nebraska's season into late May and early June.

Only four pitchers return from last season's 24-20 team, which finished with the team's first above .500 record since 1995.

Senior lefty Jay Sirianni and righty Jarod Bearinger are the veterans of the staff and junior right-hander Chad Wiles brings two seasons of Big 12 experience to the mound. Sophomore lefty Brian Rodaway saw action in eight games last year as a freshman and has some seasoning.

But after those four players, Nebraska has 11 pitchers who have never thrown a Division I pitch.

At the plate and in the field, the Huskers have added some quality players to an experienced lineup.

The top two hitters from last season, junior Ken Harvey and sophomore Danny Kimura return. Senior Jeff Hedman, who hit .307 and tied Kimura for the team lead with eight home runs, is back. Seniors Brian Johnson, Craig Moore, Erik Mumm and Scott Larsen combined to start 115 games last season and bring much needed experience to the squad.

With nine new position players in the mix, the Huskers can afford to use a combination of lineups and still give nightmares to opposing pitchers.

Pitchers
The experience of Jay Sirianni, Jarod Bearinger and Chad Wiles will carry the Huskers a long way, but a group of freshmen will be counted on heavily this year to lead the team.

Freshmen Shane Komine, R.D. Spiehs, Steve Hale, Brent Potter, Dave Schneider and Matt Hopper will have just a month to get ready for the grind of Big 12 Conference play before Nebraska travels to Oklahoma to open the Big 12 slate on March 5.

Sirianni has started 11 games in his career at NU, the most on the team. Bearinger has appeared in 48 games, including 10 starts. Wiles started eight games in 1998 and finished with a 3-3 record.

In the starting rotation, Van Horn said there are a lot of holes to fill.

"We have Jay Sirianni back who was a spot starter and key a middle reliever. We have Chad Wiles who is a starter and could find a spot as our closer and Jarod Bearinger who could start," Van Horn said.

The depth at starting pitcher goes as far as the freshmen can carry it, Van Horn said.

Righty Shane Komine brings impressive strikeout numbers from high school. Komine, a native of Honolulu, Hawaii, struck out 98 in 50 innings pitched last year as a senior at Kalani High School.

Van Horn said one freshman who continues to impress is R.D. Spiehs. A freshman from Grand Island, Spiehs improves every week Van Horn said.

"Both players have tremendous arms," Van Horn said. "The freshmen are going to give us a lot of innings in the starting rotation."

Freshmen Steve Hale and Brent Potter both throw a lot of strikes and have a chance to be starters once the conference season begins.

"In the early part of the season, we are going to experiment with starters and try to get some answers by the first Big 12 series."

In the middle to late innings, the Huskers can call on a variety of arms with four left-handers and three righties available to make relief appearances.

Left-handers Josh Latimer, Brandon Penas, Scott Fries and returning letterwinner Brian Rodaway will see the majority of the time in middle relief.

Latimer, a transfer from Kiswaukee College, has impressive junior college credentials after throwing 90 innings last year. Penas, a sophomore, transferred from Doane College and Fries transferred from Coffeyville Community College. Rodaway appeared in eight games as a freshman last season.

Right-handed freshmen Schneider and Hopper and junior Davis Pickinpaugh will be called upon in relief duty. Schneider and Hopper were both first-team all-state picks as seniors in high school. Pickinpaugh transferred from Kansas City (Kan.) Community College, and in the fall, assistant coach Rob Childress helped Pickinpaugh develop a sidearm delivery

Redshirts Jeff Blaesing and Gregg Jones may also be available after recovering from arm injuries that sidelined them last year.

"We will try to do a lot of match-up pitching," Van Horn said. "There are a lot of questions with all the new pitchers we have and need to answer them as soon as possible."

Outfielders
The Huskers will feature an entirely new outfield in 1999 from last season.

Seniors Erik Mumm and Scott Larsen are joined by five additions in the outfield. Junior college transfers Jamal Strong, Adam Shabala and Kyle Brunen will help with experience after seeing substantial playing time on the junior college level. Freshmen Adam Stern and John Cole have unlimited athletic ability and are two of the fastest players in school history.

"I feel the outfield is a lot quicker," Van Horn said. "We have a lot more depth and a lot of combinations we can go with, and we made a great improvement over last year's team defensively in the outfield."

Mumm started 22 games in left field and Larsen started 35 in center. Mumm had five stolen bases to rank second on the team and Larsen had a team-best 33 walks.

Shabala will be the Huskers' starter in center field and most likely will be Nebraska's leadoff hitter. Last season at Kiswaukee College, Shabala hit .401 and stole 37 bases.

Strong transferred to Nebraska in January and will battle for the starting spot in left field. At Citrus College, Strong hit .513 and had 40 stolen bases for the Owls last year. Brunen also joined the Huskers in January and he will be in the hunt for playing time as well. At Grayson County Community College, he hit 19 home runs and had a .369 batting average.

Stern and Cole are two of the best all-around athletes in the school history. Cole showed his athletic ability setting baseball team records in the 10-yard dash (1.51 seconds), 40-yard dash (4.59 seconds) and tying the record for the vertical jump with 36 inches at team testing in December. Stern ran a 4.69 40-yard dash, second fastest on the team. He was a 22nd round draft pick by the Toronto Blue Jays in the 1998 Major League Baseball draft.

"There is going to be a lot of competition to play out there with the speed of the players," Van Horn said. "It is going to be a game-to-game battle for guys to stay in the lineup.

"We did what we were trying to do in recruiting and that is bring in some speed, some good defensive players and some guys who can help us on the base paths."

Infielders
In the infield, the experience returns at the corners, but the middle will see a change from the past two seasons.

Senior Craig Moore and junior Ken Harvey saw all the time at first base last season and sophomore Danny Kimura returns for his second year at third base.

Gone in the middle of the infield are two-year starting shortstop Bryan Schmidt and second baseman Kevin Harrington. But the newcomers Van Horn has added should be solid replacements.

Freshman Will Bolt and John Cole will battle for the second base job to replace Harrington. Bolt was a first-team all-state selection in Texas at Conroe High School where he hit .489. Bolt can play both second and short, but will start at second. Cole may see some time at second base and will also play in the outfield.

At shortstop Brandt Vlieger will take over for Schmidt, who was drafted by San Diego following his senior season last year. Vlieger can play short, second and third. At Grayson County College, Vlieger helped the Vikings to the NJCAA World Series. He hit .365 with 11 home runs and had a .936 fielding percentage in 65 games.

Also helping to strengthen the infield is junior Jim Bailey, who can play third or second and will back up Kimura at third. Last year, Bailey hit .351 with 62 runs batted in and 22 home runs at New Mexico Junior College. He may play more of a utility role in 1999, Van Horn said.

"We brought in some players who can play more than one position," Van Horn said. "With Kimura, Hedman, Moore and Harvey, we feel like we are going to have a solid infield that is going to make the plays and show some pretty good range."

Kimura returns following an honorable-mention freshman All-America season at third base. He showed his arm strength and made some solid defensive plays at the hot corner. Kimura hit .340, second best on the team and tied for the team lead with eight home runs, while being the team leader with 41 runs batted in.

First base might be the deepest position on the team, with Harvey, Moore and senior Jeff Hedman returning with experience. Together, the three players combined to start 99 games at first, in the outfield or as a designated hitter last year.

Harvey led the team with a .373 average following a freshman season where he hit .388. In 20 games at first, he made one error.

Moore was just as solid at first base. In the 24 games he started at first, the Huskers were 17-7 and he made just one error while posting a fielding percentage of .995.

The left-handed hitting and fielding Hedman gives Nebraska another option at first. In an attempt to get Hedman in the lineup, Van Horn used Hedman as a DH and an outfielder. Hedman had a solid season hitting .307 and tying for the team lead with eight home runs.

"We had a good infield last season, we just did not have a lot of depth," Van Horn said. "This year, if someone gets injured we have a player who can come in, take his place and not miss a beat. We have a lot of options and it gives us some combinations in our lineup because we have some left-handed hitters who are infielders."

Catchers
The Huskers have one of the best duos behind the plate in the country with senior Brian Johnson and junior college transfer Justin Cowan.

Johnson started 28 games as the Huskers' catcher last season and hit .283 with five home runs, all in Big 12 Conference play. He was solid defensively allowing one passed ball and throwing out 16 runners.

"Brian is one of the top returning defensive catchers in the league, if not the best," Van Horn said. "He is bigger and stronger and he is better than he was last year."

Helping pack the 1-2 punch behind the plate is junior college transfer Justin Cowan.

Cowan, a third-team All-American at South Mountain Community College last year, hit .403 with 15 home runs and 80 runs batted in.

"Justin is an outstanding receiver as well as an outstanding hitter," Van Horn said. "They both will catch a lot. When one is not catching there is a great chance one of them will be playing as our designated hitter, third base or in the outfield."

Also behind the plate, freshmen R.D. Spiehs and Brian Kent will be available. Spiehs will spend most of the 1999 season on the mound and Kent, who Van Horn said has improved vastly since the fall, will help add depth to the position.

Schedule
Coach Dave Van Horn has also worked hard to upgrade the Huskers' schedule.

The Huskers play their first 10 games away from home in 1999. Nebraska opens on the road at the Showdown in the Desert on Feb. 5 against New Mexico State. The Huskers also play Oregon State and San Diego State that weekend.

Nebraska travels to Louisiana for the first time since 1973 with four games at Ruston, La. A doubleheader with Louisiana Tech and two games with Lamar await the Huskers.

The road trip continues with three games at the Marriott West Loop Invitational in Houston on Feb. 19-21. Nebraska plays 1998 NCAA tournament participant Nicholls State, preseason No. 4 Rice and Jacksonville State.

"We wanted to try to play the toughest schedule we could," Van Horn said. "We go on the road the first three weekends and play 10 games against quality Division I programs."

However, the Huskers have been struggling on the road the past two seasons. NU owns a 6-32 mark in true road games the past two years.

"We have to do a lot better job on the road," Van Horn said. "We have to be more mentally prepared to play on the road. The factors you face like playing in somebody else's ballpark, with the crowds is something we have to get used to. Last year's team couldn't get over the hump on the road, but played well at home. We need to get off to a good start on the road."

The home opener is against Wisconsin-Milwaukee for the second straight season with a three-game series on Feb. 27-28.

Then the Huskers open conference play at 1998 NCAA Tournament qualifier Oklahoma, a team NU swept three games from last season.

After the trip to Norman, Okla., Nebraska is set to play 28 of its final 41 games at home. Featured on the schedule is a rugged Big 12 slate that features series at Kansas, Texas A&M, Iowa State and Texas Tech and home series with Baylor, Texas, Oklahoma State, Missouri and Kansas State. NU plays non-conference home games against Chicago State, Cal Poly, Western Illinois, Northern Iowa and two games with in-state rival Creighton. The Huskers and Bluejays are also scheduled to play at Rosenblatt Stadium on April 27.

"From the middle of the season on, we play a lot of home games and we hope we have answered a lot of questions and are playing our best baseball by then," Van Horn said. "We have a good chance to put together a big finish and make a run at the tournament and regional play."

The eight-team Big 12 Tournament is held at the Southwestern Bell Ballpark in Bricktown in Oklahoma City, May 20-23. This year, the NCAA field has been expanded to 64 teams with a regional and a super regional to decide who goes to the 54th College World Series.