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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (April 7, 1998)
Baseball team returns» after long road stint By James Nicas Staff Reporter MANHATTAN, Kan. - Two months into the season, the Nebraska baseball team might feel more at home at a Holiday Inn rather than Buck Beltzer Field. This season, the Comhuskers have played 22 of their 25 games on the road. Before Sunday night - after the Kansas State series - NU had spent only two nights in Lincoln since March 21. The Huskers will play host to Peru State in a double header Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. at Buck Beltzer Field. “I can’t wait to get back,” NU senior Cliff Durham said after the Huskers’ 11-9 loss to the Wildcats Sunday. “It gets depressing being on the road forever like this.” With so much time on the road, Nebraska junior Scott Larson said it had been difficult keeping his mind on baseball and schoolwoik. “It’s tough to keep focused all of the time,” Larson said. “We try to do our schoolwork on the road, but it is difficult when we are never home.” Nebraska has not played a home game since Feb. 22. During its recent 19-game road trip, NU went 10-9, including a first-place finish in the Hawaii Rainbow Easter Baseball Tournament in Honolulu over spring break. The Huskers have had six home games canceled - three of which were supposed to be against lower-division foe Kansas. -<§$jsk.' • ”We needed ftyhaye Kansas at home,” NU Coacli pave Van Horn said. “Those games Were important to help us reach die Big 12 Tournament.” Nebraska (13-12) currently ranks last in the Big 12 with a conference record of 1-5. Only the top six league teams qualify for the Big 12 tourna ment May 14-17 in Oklahoma City, Okla. However, all is not lost for the Huskers. Ten of NU’s next 12 games will be at home. ;> “It’s good to go home,” Van Horn said. “I hope we remember how to get to our field. We haven’t even practiced on our field for over a month.” But the upcoming home stand will not be easy for Nebraska. Van Horn said it might be the most challenging part of the Huskers’ schedule. “In Division I, you win at home,” Van Horn said. “Three out of the four teams are ranked so we are glad to be playing them here.” Even with Texas A&M, Oklahoma and Texas Tech coming to Lincoln in the next two weeks, Larson said NU could not be at a better place. “It is nice to come home to fans that will cheer for us.” NU ace Voss demonstrates work ethic to match talent VOSS from page 6 That in itself, Sippel said, should be considered among Voss’s great accom plishments this season. “I don’t want her to even pitch as much as she is now,” Sippel said. “She’s getting better about it. I don’t have to say as much to her about cut ting back as I did last season. And maybe next year, I won’t have to say anything to her. But I doubt it.” Voss’s will to improve led her to practice hitting off a tee every day this summer in order to work her way into NU’s lineup. She also throws for at least an hour six days a week in the offseason. “I never get tired of it,” Voss said. “That’s just the love for the game. I must be infatuated with it or something. “I think it’s just the drive in me to be perfect, and no one is ever perfect. That goal keeps me striving every day.” Men’s golfers lead Arkansas tourney From Staff Reports The Nebraska men’s golf team got off to a strong start at the Arkansas State Indian Classic in Jonesboro, Ark., as the Comhuskers took the lead with a score of 577. Wichita State is 10 points behind NU, posting a 587 in two rounds for second place. “We played real well in the morning,” NU Coach Larry Romjue said. “We were 11 over in the after noon because a couple individuals didn’t play as well as they could have.” Junior Scott Gutschewski fin ished the day with a two-round total of 142. Gutschewski’s 69 and 73 put him in second place behind Iowa State’s John Brackmann, who leads with a 141 series. The final round of the 18-team tournament will begin this morning. The Huskers are looking for a strong finish in preparation for the Wheatshocker Invitational in Wichita, Kan., April 13-14. “I am going to be real disap pointed if we don’t win this tourna ment,” Romjue said. In St. George, Utah, the Nebraska women’s golf team strug gled in its first day of the Utah Dixie Classic. The Huskers shot a total of 323 in 27 holes, putting NU in a tie for 16th place. Texas Tech leads the competition with 299 points. Sophomore Elizabeth Bahensky finished the day in a tie for 32nd to lead the Huskers. Bahensky shot a 41 and 37 in two rounds. Nee prepares for life without Lue REPLACE from page 6 ;y ^ he could adjust, but they can get a point off-guard role.” Nee agreed, and said he would pre fer Fields away from the point “He’s not really point guard,” Nee said. “We’ll keep him where he is.” Beyond Nebraska’s point guard search, losing Lue also could change the face of the Big 12 Conference as a whole. Texas Tech Coach James Dickey, who lost center Tony Bathe to the NBA two years ago, said players leaving early can hurt the overall success of the conference. “Look at last year,” Dickey said. “Both us and Colorado would have been top-25 teams if Tony and Chauncey Billups had not left. We’ve got the players in this conference, they just didn’t stick around. “Guys like Tyronn Lue and (Kansas forward) Paul Pierce are great for the [ Filling me shoes The Mowing an> _^3 players to tie NBA Draft alter toe 199M7u._jn and how »wy fared this season. Team Player Record w/ptayer Recot * denotes NCAA Tournament quaiiier # denotes national champion conference. With them leaving, it just diminishes what would have been two really good teams in the Big 12.” Dickey also said the road ahead could be tough for Lue, as Dickey’s former player, Bathe, has struggled in the NBA with the league’s worst team: Matt Haney/DN the Daiver Nuggets. ‘Tony’s happy maybe two days out of the month,” Dickey said. ‘Tyronn is probably making the right decision concerning the money, because that’s what motivated Tony. But there’s no camaraderie in the NBA.” A 4| i i i i *.1 i € 1 Available at 56th & Holdrege Only 1 17th &‘N’ ; No Appointments Necessary I 476-9466 $6 Off Oil Change Service with UNL student 1 Now Only $19.70 ! 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