NU baseball starts to believe
ByAdamKlinker
Senior staff writer
There’s something about the human
brain that makes it very susceptible to
believing in just about everything.
And with that belief, the brain can
not discern an imagined act and one that
is real.
For a long time, the Nebraska base
ball team thought it could be a con
tender. Thus far into the 1999 season, it’s
convinced itself, its brain and much of
the nation, that it is.
No. 19NU (20-6 overall, 8-1 in the
Big 12 Conference) now sits atop the
Big 12, sweeps teams like Texas in a
three-game series, is nationally ranked
in three polls and breaks NCAA
records.
~ ‘‘it’s always in the back ofyour mind
that you could be up there,” Comhusker
first baseman Ken Harvey said. “But
until you really hear it and see it for
yourself... once you see the team get
ting that kind of recognition, it’s a real
eye-opener.”
It’s all a matter of what you choose
to believe, Harvey said. And once NU
Coach Dave Van Horn got the Husker
squad to believe in winning, the victo
ries followed.
“Sometimes that takes awhile,” Van
Horn said of establishing a winning
spirit “But this team has learned how to
win, and they like it. Onoe you’ve
learned to win, you just keep winning.”
That learning process came easy for
the Huskers, especially after having to
forget the less-than-stellar moments
that have preceded the rise to the top.
With a mix of the old guard, rem
nants from the John Sanders era and
new blood mixed together by new
coaching leadership, Nebraska baseball
is winning at a clip that has not been
reached in over 10 years.
“I love to win,” NU freshman sec
ond baseman Will Bolt said. “That’s a
big thing. I knew it would happen here;
that’s one of the main reasons I came
here. The program is on the rise; people
are starting to get excited. I just knew.”
And it seems as if they all knew,
Harvey said.
“ From the beginning of the season,
the goals have been the same, only the
belief in those goals has grown stronger
as new words start creeping into the
Husker baseball vocabulary: words like
“Big 12 Tournament” and “regional.”
“Just like anyone else, we want to
get to the Big 12 Tournament,” Harvey
said. “We want to win the Big 12. We
want a regional spot. We want the World
Series. Our goal is the same - make it to
Omaha.”
U
We want the World
Series. Our goal is the
same - make it to
Omaha.”
Ken Harvey
Husker first baseman
Still, NU remembers what it has
taken to get this far, and the squad
knows it will only take more if those
goals are to be truly realized
“We’re just starting to get the
respect,” Bolt said. “We’ve just got to
keep the focus and remember what’s
ahead of us. But there’s never a doubt in
Coach’s mind. They’ve instilled in us
that we’re going ©"Win?’
There is a lot of baseball left, Van
Horn admits, but there’s no time like the
present, and no state of mind like the
one that NU is grabbing onto.
Harvey said the attitude remained
high, and seeing the tangible element of
what were previously only dreams had
been a definitive moment in history.
Said Harvey, without hesitation:
“Nebraska baseball is for real.”
DANCING
THURSDAY
April 1st, 15th & 29th
Doors open
at 8p.m.
Lessons begin
at 8:30 p.m.
of Donee SportlJSA
ThePLAMOR
Call 475-4030
far «ww« fnfa.
Advertising Positions
Applications are now being taken for summer and fall sales
positions in the advertising department of the Daily Nebraskan.
Must be available 15-20 hours per &eefc, be dependable, outgoing,
and excited about working with people. Any major Js acceptable. I
Ws offer commissions based on sales and plenty of sales and
creative experience. '
Summer positions begin no later than May 17 and fall positions begin no later
than August 2. Orientation will be scheduled in April for those hired. Summer
staff do not have to be registered for classes, but must be enrolled in at least six
hours during this Spnng or the fall semester, maintain a 2.0 minimum G.P.A., and not be on academic
probation. Applications are available at the Daily Nebraskan advertising office, basenfent of the Nebraska
Union, and must be returned before WEDNESDAY, APRIL 7.
——- - ___:_I*__!
Huskers lose three
to draft, injuries
From staff reports
Three Nebraska basketball play
ers have said their good-byes to NU,
all on different terms with different
directions for the future.
Former Cornhusker center and
Big 12 player of the year Venson
Hamilton left school two weeks ago
to begin workouts at a camp in
Indiana run by ex-Husker Tyronn
Lue’s agent, Andy Miller.
Hamilton will be appearing in an
NBA prospect camp this weekend in
Portsmouth, Va., in hopes of going on
to the NBA’s pre-draft camp in June
and making himself available for the
June 30 two-round NBA draft.
Hamilton rounded out his four
year playing,careCT at Nebraska atop
the all-time Husker rebounding
charts and also was a member of the
1,000 point/1,000 rebound club.
Also making decisions to leave
the NU program this week were
Husker guards Todd Smith and Joe
Holmes.
Smith, a redshirt freshman from
Milledgeville, Ga., speared in eight
games and scored one point in the
1998-99 season. He played six games
in 1997-98 and scored 10 points.
/ After stress fractures in his lower
legs that required the surgical
implanting of steel rods, Smith
missed most of the 1997 season and
was granted a medical hardship.
Smith will depart NU in search of
more playing time at a different
school.
Holmes, who has been plagued
by recurring back problems that stem
from a car crash a few years ago, has
also finished his playing career at NU.
A junior-college transfer from
Tyler (Texas) Junior College, Holmes
started 24 of 33 games at point guard
this season for the Huskers, averaging
1.7 points per game and dishing out
41 assists.
With NCAA approval of a med
ical hardship, Holmes will finish out
the semester in school under scholar
ship. Because of his injuries, he is not
expected to continue his basketball
career.
Warren anticipates tackling
fourth season as a leader
By Darren Ivy
Senior staff writer
It’s hard to picture Steve Warren
being thrown around by anyone.
At 6-foot-1 and 305 pounds,
Warren is one of
the biggest players
on the Nebraska
football team. But
growing up in the
Warren family, he
wasn’t always the
biggest boy. One
of his older broth
ers is 6-foot tall
an H nminHe
warren and the other one
“"is 6-fooMaliand 32,0j»unds.
- “They threw me around a lot;” said
Steve, who weighed 290 pounds when
he-graduated from Kickapoo High
School (Springfield, Mo.) in 1996.
Playing football against his older
brothers and their friends helped
Warren to become an aggressive defen
sive player and formed the foundation
for his collegiate career. Now a senior,
Warren is ready to become toe leader of
toe defensive front Warren is thankful
his brothers were willing to take him
along to pictoig) games.
“Some older brothers wouldn’t take
. their little brothers along,” Warren said.
“They liked to take me along because I
was big enough that ! could go play with
them and hold my own. I got used to
playing with older people. As I was
growing up, I was used to being physi
cal. That helped me a tot” ^
At NU, Warren has played all three
* years, recording six tackles and a half
f f \ \ f r\ \
\ W “ \ \ :
Spring ft.e|iort
sack in 1996,19 tackles and one sack in
1997 and 26 tackles and no sacks in
1998.
Junior lineman Luis Almanzar said
statistics only tell part of the tale.
“He’s a really strong, powerful guy,”
Almanzar said “He’s great at stopping
the ran.”
For his size, Warren is remarkably
quick and hard to move. Warren said his
quickness and power are what enables
him to play nose tackle.
Warren was unable to participate
during winter conditioning as he recov
ered from knee surgery, He’s how IOC
percent and ready to be a leader.
“At practice I try to keepeverybody
having a rositive attitude,” Warren said.
“I think/mis year we need to go out and
have fuml think last year, about midway
through the season; people stopped hav
ing fun.lt was beginning to be more of a
routine. People were losing hope.”
The soft-spoken Warren does his
leading mostly by example, but he’s not
aftaidto get after people.
‘Tm not a real vocal player,”
Warren said “I’m not the rah-rah type,
but if I have to, I will say something. If 1
see something I don’t Idee, I’m going to
make it known to the rest of the players.”
Despite Warren’s soft-spoken atti
tude Almanzar said Warren is unques
tionably the leader of the interior line
men.
“We just follow behind him,”
Almanzar said “He ignites the engine,
and we just help him push it”
Join the Husker
Football Recruiters
Students, help the Husker Football
team and coaches recruit student-athletes.
Call Curt at 472-5055 by April 5th for
details and to set up an interview.