Nebraska Husker Baseball
The Nebraska Husker baseball team is having an outstanding 2008 season. After losing two of their first three games of the season, the Huskers have played outstanding baseball, particularly at home, and are currently ranked among the top teams in the country.
Nebraska is in the thick of the Big 12 Conference race this season along with Texas A&M and solid teams at Missouri, Oklahoma State and Baylor. They are sure to be a team that will among those contending for a trip to the College World Series this summer in Omaha.
Nebraska Husker Baseball History
Over the past decade, the Nebraska Husker baseball program has been one of the best in the country.
With three College World Series appearances and four Big 12 Conference championships in the past decade, few programs in the country can boast the kind of success that the Nebraska baseball program can.
The Nebraska Huskers won three consecutive Big 12 tournament titles between 1999-2001 and were Big 12 champions again in 2005. It wasn’t until 2001, though, that the Nebraska baseball team made the ultimate journey in college baseball – the 55-mile road trip east to Rosenblatt Stadium for the College World Series.
In its final season at old Buck Belzer Field, the Huskers defeated Rice to claim its first super-regional championship and a berth in the College World Series. The Huskers made it two in a row with another trip to Rosenblatt the following year, then made a third trip in 2005. Only five schools have made more trips to the College World Series in the past decade.
Heading into the 2007 season, the Nebraska Husker baseball program has had one of the most successful runs in terms of wins and losses. With a 368-145 record (.717) since 1999, only Rice, Florida State, Oral Roberts and Notre Dame have a better winning percentage among NCAA Division I schools.
The Nebraska Husker baseball program has also had a long run of success in producing talent that has moved to the top levels of Major League Baseball. With numerous All-Americans and 2005 Dick Howser award winner Alex Gordon wearing the Scarlet and Cream, Nebraska baseball has proven to be a springboard to major league opportunities for current players like Darin Erstad, Ken Harvey and Adam Stern and former standouts including Tim Burke, Pete O’Brien and Stan Bahnsen. A total of 19 Huskers were drafted in the top 10 rounds of the major league draft since 1999.
Nebraska’s unprecedented run of Big 12 Conference tournament titles in between 1999-2001, and their 2005 title, gives the Husker baseball team more conference tournament championships than any other team, including perennial powers Texas and Oklahoma State. That postseason success has led to seven trips to the regional tournament and four appearances in super-regionals. After losing a thrilling three-game super-regional to Stanford in 2000, the Huskers won super-regional titles in 2001, 2002 and 2005 to qualify for the College World Series.
In 2002, the Nebraska Husker baseball team moved from Buck Belzer Field, its home from 1979-2001, to the new Hawks Field at Haymarket Park. With traditional seating of over 4,400 and berm seating that brings the potential capacity to over 8000, the Huskers play in one of the premiere college baseball facilities in the nation.
The 32-acre, $29.5 million facility includes a unique system that keeps the park’s grass green and growing almost year-round. The SubAir system heats and cools the field, and is the first baseball-only facility in the nation equipped with the system.
While the Nebraska Husker baseball program has produced a number of outstanding individual stars over the years, the program’s fortunes as a team in recent years has helped the Huskers become one of the top college baseball programs in the nation. Playing in one of the best college baseball facilities in the country makes the Husker baseball team an attractive ticket for sports fans and a perennial contender for the College World Series.
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