Parity shapes Big 12 baseball teams
NU coach says southern schools have advantage of outdoor play, warmer weather
By Brandon Schulte
Staff writer
In baseball, where the difference
between a win and loss can come
down to one swing of the bat or a
great defensive
play, little sepa
rates the winners
from the losers.
The same is
true for the base
ball teams in the
Big 12
Conference as it
kicks off the
.. u 1999 conference
van Horn schedule.
NU Coach Dave Van Horn, for
one, can’t wait to get the conference
schedule under way.
“I’m excited and so are the play
ers,” Van Horn said. “Whenever we
play our conference teams, the games
are a little more exciting. The players
start to pick up their intensity and
concentration because of the level of
competition.”
Last season the competition was
fierce - a mere 11 games separated
first-place Texas A&M from last
place Kansas. Seven of the 11 teams
in the conference posted winning
records in 1998, while five, A&M,
Baylor, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State
and Texas Tech, made the NCAA
Regional Tournament.
Kansas State Coach Mike Clark
sees parity in a strong conference
nationally.
“Our league is very balanced; I
don’t see a ‘weak sister’ in the
bunch,” Clark said. “Schools have
won tough non-league games and
right now our power rating is very
good (third nationally behind the
SEC and Pac-10).”
The conference is led by the four
Texas schools, which are all ranked.
No. 8 Texas A&M leads the group. It
came within one game of the College
World Series last year and has started
out hot this year (12-2 overall and 3-0
in the Big 12 Conference).
No. 10 Texas has been quite a sur
prise this year after struggling to an
11-18 conference record last spring.
The young Texas squad (11-6,3-0) is
trying to be the 43™ NCAA Regional
team in school history.
No. 13 Texas Tech is off to a 13-4,
3-0 conference start. It’s trying to
make its fifth straight NCAA base
ball tournament appearance.
No. 21 Baylor has been fast out of
"V.
the gate compiling a 12-4 overall and
3-0 conference record respectively.
They also participated in the NCAA
tournament last season.
In the early part of the season Van
Horn says the southern schools in the
Big 12 have an advantage.
“The southern schools get to
practice and play outside all year
round,” Van Horn said, “whereas we
have to battle the weather in the early
part of the season.
“There definitely is (a gap
between the southern and northern
schools) early in the season. They
usually get off to a lot better start and
we have to make it up in the second
half of the season.”
In order for the northern schools
to make up the gap, they myst have
quality repetitions indoors and hope
for good enough weather to engage in
outdoor workouts.
Because of that, the southern
teams again look to be favored by a
long shot.
But in a preseason informal
coaches poll, Van Horn said, coaches
were divided on whether defending
champion Texas A&M or Texas Tech
would be the toast of the conference
come May. And after that, the rest of
the spots were unknown.
“When it’s all said and done,” Van
Horn said, “two or three teams will
pull away, but spots three through
eight should be up for grabs.”
For Nebraska to improve on their
seventh place finish in die conference
and 10-13 conference record, it will
need to play better on the road, as it
was 4-14 overall and 2-10 in confer
ence road games last year. NU needs
good defense and better hitting than
die team has had in past campaigns.
Other schools going for the three
through eight positions include
Oklahoma State, Oklahoma,
Missouri, Iowa State, Kansas and
Kansas State.
Iowa State (5-5,0-0) after finish
ing just behind Nebraska at 20-27,
10-18 hopes to be above .500 this
year.
Kansas has the best opportunity
to improve after going a dismal 22-29
overall and 7-20 in conference last
year. So far the team has a way to go,
judging by its 2-8,0-3 record.
Kansas State has faced several
early difficult tasks and a record of 6
8, 0-3 confirms these early season
battles.
Missouri (6-5, 0-3) narrowly
missed an NCAA bid last spring and
will try to make their third Consecu
tive trip to the Big 12 tournament.
Oklahoma (9-6,0-0) will open its
Big 12 slate this weekend against
Nebraska, used a 42-20 record last
year to earn a trip to the NCAA tour
nament.
Perennial power Oklahoma State
is on the fringes of the top 25 ranking
thanks to an 8-4,0-3 record to date. A
sixth place conference finish last sea
son propelled them to an NCAA
berth.
A top-five conference finish
would allow NU to compete in the
Big 12 conference tournament for the
first time in school history and most
likely gamer a place in the NCAA
Regional tourney - somewhere the
Cornhuskers haven’t been since
1985.
Then there is the most important
aspect of the game that Clark says
will separate who finishes in the top
or bottom of the conference.
“Pitching,” he said. “It’s the
whole name of the game. Quality
starters and relievers will separate the
top echelon from the rest of the teams
in the conference and in the nation.”
H
The southern schools get to practice and
play outside all year round' whereas we
have to battle the weather in the
early part of the season.”
Dave Van Horn
NTJ head coach
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