Tuesday, April 9, 1996 Page 7
Trevor Parks
Husker teams
have big titles
to live up to
No more Tommie Frazier. No
Christian Peter. No Billie Winsett.
No Christy Johnson and no Allison
Weston.
Next fall when the time comes
for the Nebraska volleyball and
football teams to defend their na
tional titles, both teams will have
distinctly different looks from the
past.
The heroes from those champi
onship quests arc gone. Now new
players will have to step forward.
The Cornhusker football team
will lose 21 seniors, all of whom
contributed to the back-to-back na
tional championships. Those faces
are not appearing at spring practice
for the first time since 1992, and
they are missed.
Frazier is not taking snaps from
Aaron Graham anymore. Now
Adam Treu is the snapper on field
goal attempts. Grant Wistrom is
snapping on punts, and Aaron Tay
lor, a left tackle last season, is hik
ing the ball to an often unknown
quarterback.
The battle to replace Frazier is
between Scott Frost and Matt
Turman — a far cry from the
Frazier-Berringer war waged last
season. New players like Treu, Jeff
Ogard and Jon Zatcchka must step
in to fill spots vacated by trusty vet
erans.
But like last year, it is time to
move on. The 1994 championship
team was different from the 1995
team. The 1996 edition of the Husk
ers also will be different.
The Nebraska volleyball team is
experiencing the same identity cri
sis.
The three players who led the
Huskcrs to a 63-2 record over the
past two seasons will be gone. Next
fall’s seniors — Jen McFaddcn,
Kate Cmich and Maria Hedbeck—
now must step forward. As sopho
mores and juniors, these three also
took ownership of the 63-2 record
and the national title.
Around the NU Coliseum, the
only remnant of last year’s team is
an occasional appearance by
Weston to help out a weak middle
blocking position riddled with in
juries.
For McFaddcn, thinking about
a future without Winsctt, Weston
and Johnson is not a nightmare.
“It’s more of concentrating on
getting the chemistry together with
this team now, and not worrying
about their loss,” McFaddcn said.
That’s kind of the same idea the
football team had last season before
its repeat championship.
Last year everyone wanted to
know if the football team could do
it again and if the volleyball team
could do it at all.
The answers to the questions
were yes, but that was last year.
Now these teams arc trying to cre
ate their own identities.
Parks is a senior news-editorial ma
jor and a Dally Nebraskan senior re
porter.
Huskers go for five wins in a row
By David Wilson
Staff Reporter
The Nebraska baseball team will
_ Kri n n r% r\ nr_
** *
game winning
streak to Man
hattan, Kan., to
day to play
against a strug
gling Kansas
State team at 7
p.m.
The Wildcats
lnct fnnr nf
Clark their *ast s‘x
games, dropping
their record to 19-12 overall and 3-5
in the Big Eight.
“We played real well early in the
year,"’ Kansas State coach Mike Clark
said. “But lately we’ve been treading
water. They arc coming around at the
wrong time for us.”
The Comhuskers, 14-18-1 overall
and 3-8 in the Big Eight, have scored
34 runs over their past four games, but
the offense has been backed by four ,
strong pitching performances.
Against Oklahoma last Wednesday,
Pat Driscoll threw the Huskcrs’ only
complete game of the season, holding
the Sooners to two runs on six hits.
Driscoll, who lowered his eamed-run
average to 5.64, will start today.
“They’re playing their best ball
right now,” Clark said. “It just took
them a little time to get things orga
nized, but they got things going right
now.”
The Wildcats, who average nine
runs per game, were held to just 12
runs in a three-game scries last week
end against Missouri.
“For the last two weeks, we’ve been
real inconsistent,” Clark said. “Now
we’ve got to do well in the conference.
The Big Eight is wide open. It’s a very
strong league this year.”
Kansas State will enter today’s
game with a .304 team average led by
junior second baseman Scott Pocpard,
who is hitting .369. Poepard, the only
Wildcat to play in all 31 games, also
owns a team-high 39 RBI.
Offensively, the Huskers are led by
junior left fielder Francis Collins, who
owns a team-high .410 average.
Collins extended his hitting streak to
17 games on Sunday against Oral
Roberts with a 3-for-5 performance.
He also leads the team with six stolen
bases and has hit safely in 10 of his
last 18 at-bats.
Senior right-hander Matt Kocman
will start on the mound for Kansas
State. Koeman, 4-3, has a 4.68 ERA
and has struck out a team-high 48 bat
ters in 59 2/3 innings.
“Up until this weekend, our offense
was the strength,” Clark said. “We
came back and got 15 hits on Suriday
and that’s a positive sign. Pitching has
been a strong point until lately.”
The Kansas State staff has allowed
an average of 4.8 earned runs per
game, but the Wildcat pitchers gave
up a total of 24 runs over their past
three games.
Junior left-hander Jon Oiseth will
start for Kansas State in Wednesday’s
2 p.m. game. Oiseth, 5-1, owns a 4.45
ERA and has struck out 30 batters in
32 1/3 innings.
Steve Fish, who leads the Huskers
with four wins, will start for the Husk
ers on Wednesday. Fish owns a team
low 5.61 ERA.
“We’ve let a lot of close games slip
by,” Clark said. “We’re close, but close
doesn’t get you anywhere. We’ve got
to put a good stretch together one of
these days.”
The two teams will play a three
game series this weekend at Buck
Beltzer Field.
Strickland
takes shot
at football
By Trevor Parks
Senior Reporter
Just 11 days after finishing his Ne
braska basketball career, Erick
Strickland became a Comhusker ath
lete again Monday — this time wear
ing a red No. 26 football jersey to prac
tice instead of his normal No. 21.
Strickland, who was named the
most valuable player of the National
Invitation Tournament on March 28,
worked out at wide receiver at Memo
rial Stadium with the Huskcr football
team.
“This is the point in my career right
now where I don’t want to make any
decisions without saying 1 tried or got
a feel for everything,” Strickland said.
“This is just a one-week trial period
to see how it feels again, and I’ll go
from there.”
Four years ago, Strickland was an
all-state wide receiver at Bellevue
West before signing a letter of intent
to play basketball at Nebraska. He also
signed a professional baseball contract
with the Florida Marlins after leaving
high school.
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ill/ iuu tujrvu wiui uiv iuva in juur
ing the football team throughout his
college career, and finally felt the tim
ing was right. Strickland will play ei
ther wingback or split end.
Strickland, 6-foot-3 and 210
pounds, is also trying to better him
self for June’s National Basketball
Association draft. He participated in
an NBA tryout camp in Portsmouth,
Va., last weekend.
Strickland, whose 1,586 career
points rank sixth all-time in Nebraska
basketball history, owns the school
record for career steals with 257.
“This is what this week is for,”
Strickland said, “to get a feel, to get
my feet wet and leam the offense a
little bit. So if it was to happen that I
was going to play football in the fall,
I wouldn’t be lost.”
Coach Tom Osborne said he was
pleased to finally have Strickland on
the field.
“He may or may not stay with it,”
Osborne said. “We just told him if he
wanted to have a shot, he’d probably
need to get some work in this spring.
We think he’d be a good player.”
Strickland, who will graduate in
August, will have to be on scholarship
to play football. While playing bas
ketball, his tuition was paid by the
Marlins.
“I don’t think they would want me
out here if I wasn’t going to come out
and play and make an impact,”
Strickland said.
Scott Bruhn/DN
Nebraska sophomore Angela Blackwood pitches
Saturday during the Huskers’ 15-11 win over Kansas.
Blackwood propels
Nebraska in relief
By MIKe MUCK
Senior Reporter
Rhonda Revelle faced a di
lemma when she arrived at the NU
Softball Complex on Sunday morn
ing.
The Nebraska softball coach
knew senior pitcher Stacie Stafford
would be starting in the
Comhuskers’ third and final game
of the weekend against Kansas. The
two teams split on Saturday, with
Kansas winning the first game 3-2
and the Huskers taking the second
game 15-11.
But Revelle did not know how
long Stafford, who pitched 10 in
nings Saturday, would be able to
throw on Sunday, or who would
relieve her.
Nebraska’s top reliever, Angela
Blackwood, threw three innings in
the second game on Saturday, giv
ing up nine runs on nine hits and
issuing U1ICC WU1K.S.
Revellc’s fear that Blackwood
wouldn’t be ready Sunday lessened,
however, when the Huskcr pitcher
arrived at the field.
“I have to give Angela a ton of
credit,” Rcvclle said. “I spoke to
Angela, and she was very disap
pointed in her outing on Saturday
to the point she said,' I have no one
else to blame but myself.’
“But it wasn’t a noose around
her neck. It was like, 'What can I
do to improve today because I’m
still needed today?”’
Trailing 3-1 in the top of the
fourth inning, the Huskers called on
Blackwood, who entered the game
and responded by pitching six in
nings in relief. She gave up one
unearned run and picked up the win
in the Huskers’ 6-4 victory, raising
her record to 10-3. Nebraska im
See BLACKWOOD on 8
Patience
earns spot
for Hesse
By Gregg Madsen
Staff Reporter
When Jon Hesse came to Nebraska
in 1992, he was hoping to make a
2uick impact as a member of the
lornhusker defense.
Instead of spending his first two
seasons making tackles for the
Rl irts r»n
game days,
Hesse had to do
something less
glamorous. He
had to wait his
turn.
“Nebraska’s a
place where
sometimes, you
inst hnvr* tn wait
Hesse in line,” Hesse
said. “I guess
you just have to have patience.”
Hesse’s patience, along with his
dedication in the weight room, has fi
nally paid off. The senior-to-be from
Lincoln Southeast High School is the
Huskers’ No. 1 Mike linebacker this
spring, ahead of sophomore Jay Fore
man, who started at Sam linebacker
last season.
For the last three seasons, Hesse
was the backup. After redshirting in
1992, he saw limited playing time be
hind senior Mike Anderson in 1993.
In his sophomore and junior seasons,
Hesse earned two letters while back
ing up veterans Phil Ellis and Doug
Colman.
The three years he spent as a
backup, Hesse said, have made him
more appreciative of his No. 1 spot this
spring.
“It means a lot,” he said. “I’ve been
here four years kind of waiting my
turn, and I feel I deserve it.”
Hesse used his time as a backup to
build his strength and speed in the
weight room.
In his first season, Hesse weighed
210 pounds. Now he plays at 250
pounds, and he said he hadn’t lost any
speed with the weight gain.
“1 wasn’t real strong when 1 came
here,” he said. “It’s helped a lot to
develop my strength and get bigger.
Actually, I’ve gotten a little faster.”
Hesse began the 1995 season as a
backup to Jared Tomich and Luther
Hardin at left rush end. But he moved
back to middle linebacker and re
corded 37 tackles behind Ellis and
Colman. His 20 solo stops ranked
eighth on the team.
See HESSE on 8
