NetSraskan
Thursday, April 11,1991
Beau Reid
takes a hit
at baseball
By Nick Hytrek
Staff Reporter
Picture this:
It’s the bottom of the ninth inning
and Nebraska leads Oklahoma Stale
by one run in the championship game
of the Big Eight baseball tournament.
There are two outs and Coach John
Sanders motions to the bullpen for a
right-handed reliever.
Beau Reid trots out to the mound.
He glares down from the mound at
the Cowboy batter and fires three
fastballs by him for the final out and
Nebraska wins the title.
Though it sounds like a dream, in
reality Retd is giving baseball a try.
The former Nebraska basketball
standout has been working out with
the baseball team for the past week,
trying to get his arm in shape to pos
sibly pitch by the end of the season.
Sanders said Reid approached him
last week and asked for a tryout.
“We’re still evaluating the possi
bility of Beau playing this spring,” he
said. “Once he has gotten himself
ready and we have evaluated him,
we’ll see what the possibility of his
playing is.”
Reid said he hasn’t played base
ball since he was a junior in high
school, but has always wanted to give
it a shot.
“I kind of wanted to do it after my
sophomore year but I decided I was
here to play basketball and my com
mitment was to Coach (Danny) Nee,”
Reid said. “But since I have a spring
free before summer basketball, I
thought I’d give it a try. I’m just
curious to see how hard I can throw
it.”
Reid said some of h is pitches were
clocked at 85 mph in high school,
“but that’s when I was only 6-foot-4
and 180 pounds.”
Reid is now 6-foot-8 and weighs
220 pounds.
Because of the long absence from
the game, Reid said he’s a little rusty.
“I couldn’t even remember how to
hold the ball tothrowacurveball,” he
said.
“He’s got a lot of work to do,”
Sanders said. “But he appears to have
good arm strength.”
Reid said curiosity wasn’t the only
reason for his working out with the
team.
See REID on 18
Doc Homer/Daily Nebraskan
Cedric McDonald (24) cuts around the defense during Wednesday’s scrimmage at Memorial Stadium.
Second scrimmage shows rough edges
By Todd Cooper
Staff Reporter
Offense first, defense second.
Although that wasn’t the priority
Coach Tom Osborne necessarily de
sired, it characterized Nebraska’s
second spring football scrimmage
Wednesday.
“I thought offensively, we played
pretty well the first part, and then we
started having some turnovers and
penalties,” Osborne said. “I thought
defensively, we did not play very
well the first part, and then as the
scrimmage went on they played very
well.
“But with only three practices prior
to this scrimmage, I suppose it’s hard
to look really smooth.”
Nebraska’s first team offense looked
pretty smooth on the initial drive of
thel 1/2 hour scrimmage. First-string
quarterback Mickey Joseph scored
from 22 yards out on the fourth play
of the drive against the second-string
ers. His 26-yard completion to junior
college transfer Vincent Hawkins set
up the score.
That accounted for half of Joseph’s
completions. The senior from Mar
rero, La. was two for seven Wednes
day with three interceptions. Joseph
was the second leading rusher in the
scrimmage with 41 yards on four
carries.
Senior Mike Grant threw a 10
yard pass for the second score of the
scrimmage. Grant had 14 yards on
two for five passing and had 39 yards
on six carries.
Second-suing quarterback Tom
Haase threw for the third touchdown
of the scrimmage — an eight-yard
toss to tight end Daryl Leise between
two defenders at the back of the end
zone. Haase finished with 38 yards
and one touchdown on three for seven
passing. Keithcn McCant had 19 yards
on three for five passing and had 22
yards rushing on three carries.
“I don’t think anyone just jumped
out and had a great day,” Osborne
said. “I think each one took his turn at
doing some good things.”
But Osborne said the quarterbacks
weren’t as stable as they could have
been.
“A big part of being a quarterback
is consistency — being able to go out
there for 50 or 60 plays and not hav
ing more than one or two bad ones,”
Osborne said. “1 think each one of
them had a couple of bad plays in
only 15 or 16 snaps.
“But then again, that’s a function
of just starting out. I don’t think any
one’s really comfortable yet.”
Osborne found the I-back position
most comforting Wednesday.
Sophomore Derek Brown had 46
yards on Five carries — including
runs of nine and 13 yards — to lead
the Husker I-backs. Freshman Calvin
Jones was the third leading rusher
with 38 yards on six carries.
“Derek had one or two really good
runs,” Osborne said. “Calvin’s really
going to be a good player — he did
some great things.”
Osborne said the Huskcrs’ young
offensive line held up well against a
strong defensive front.
“We do have some talent out here,”
Osborne said. “The question is whether
we can get it straightened out and
smoothed out quickly enough.”
NU’s Mueller enigma, but talent talks
Domeier
Mueller toiiowed tennis club pal
Robert Sjoholm and childhood
friend Kathrin Edclkottcr to the
Comhuskers.
Edelkotter became the top player
in the lineup for the Huskcr women
in the fall. Mueller stayed behind
until the spring, completing his West
German military obligation.
At one of those rare home events,
I met him. At the time, he had been
in school for a month and already
was winning at No. 3.
Mueller had been unfortunate
enough to come to Nebraska with
out the linguistic expertise of an
Ildiko Guba, the Hungarian who
plays No. 1 singles for the women’s
team. Guba can, at latest count,
speak between 40 and 50 languages
fluently.*
(^slight exaggeration)
Mueller had to struggle with
English. I interviewed him that
February day. For questions re
quiring something other than a “yes”
or a “no,” he shrugged his shoul
ders. He wouldn’t even talk after
yes-no questions, shaking his head
instead.
The story that Monday contained
no quotes from Matthias Mueller.
A few months later, I was cov
ering a women’s dual in Lincoln,
watching Edelkotter. Mueller was
standing next to the stands near
me.
Edelkotter misplayed a ball and
barked a sharp, two-syllable word
under her breath.
Seeing a chance to learn a Ger
man cuss word and to pull a sen
tence out of Mueller, I turned and
said, “Matthias, what did she say?”
Mueller slowly turned, with a
look of part confusion, part annoy
ance and part pity. Then he said
what was at that lime the longest
sentence I had heard from his mouth.
“She said her name.”
So she had. Here he is, having
enough trouble with the language,
and I have to go asking stupid
questions.
He has talked to me since then,
despite the proof of my stupidity.
He’s friendly, personable, even
talkative.
His initial hesitancy, his per
sonality and his immense talent,
though, have made him something
of an enigma and something of an
oddity on the court.
In college tennis, most matches
don’t have referees, and the com
petitors often argue calls. They
debate a while, allow a little give
and-take throughout the match and
decide on the call.
Mueller had no time for that his
first year. When his opponent ar
gued a point, he would react with a
shocked look. How could he be
wrong?
If his opponent kept protesting,
Mueller would concede. He’d throw
his arms down in disgust, shake his
head and walk back to the baseline.
And he always would win the
next point.
See DOMEIER on 16
Basketball team
signs Nebraskan,
but loses Texan
From Staff Reports
The Nebraska men’s basketball
team signed Jason Glock but lost out
on junior college center Carroll Bou
dreaux on Wednesday, the first day
this spring that teams could sign re
cruits to national letters-of-intent.
Glock followed up on his verbal
commitment by signing.
“He comes from a high school
winning tradition,” Nebraska coach
Danny Nee said in a press release.
“He’s a player that has a chance to
become a good all-around player at
Nebraska.”
Glock not only comes from a high
school winning tradition, he comes
from the high school winning tradi
tion in Nebraska. Wahoo won the
Class B state championship each of
his years and won the last 90 games of
his caieer. For those four years, Wahoo
went 101-1, and Glock didn’t play in
the loss.
Glock was the consensus Nebraska
high school playcrofthe year in 1990
91 and finished as the all-time state
See BASKETBALL on 18
Home matches for the Nebraska
tennis teams are about as rare as
ROTC members at kiss-ins.
The two men’s duals and the
three women’s duals this weekend
at the Cather-Pound courts are the
only Big Eight tennis action in
Lincoln this spring.
It’s the last chance to see senior
lldiko Guba and her smooth ground
strokes. It’s the last chance to watch
Nancy Tyggum, Meghan Quinn,
Steve Barley and Scott Randolph,
too.
It’s one of the last chances to
see junior Matthias Mueller, and
those chances shouldn’t be passed
up.
Mueller came from Hamm,
(West) Germany, in the spring of
1989 and won the Big Eight title at
No. 3 singles. As Nebraska’s No. 1
player the past two years he has
bounced around the top 30 in the
NCAA, currently holding the 26th
spot.
And Mueller had to step into the
lineup at the same time he was
stepping into classrooms where he
hardly knew the language.
