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Sherman: Echoes of a bygone era stir postseason hope for Nebraska baseball

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Sherman: Echoes of a bygone era stir postseason hope for Nebraska baseball


LINCOLN, Neb. — Seven years of postseason magic began a quarter-century ago for Nebraska baseball. It matters more today than at any time since the run came to an end.

I’ll explain.

But first, a story from one of the peak moments of that era: On June 2, 2001, Nebraska hosted Rice in Game 2 of the only super regional ever played at Buck Beltzer Field.

It was, in fact, the final game at the rickety venue, which was quickly razed to make room for football practice space as Dave Van Horn’s baseball program upgraded into its new Haymarket digs. But as the early innings unfolded with a first trip to the College World Series in reach for Nebraska, another day at “The Buck” appeared inevitable.

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Rice sent Kenny Baugh to the mound. The hard-throwing right-hander was drafted with the 11th pick of the MLB Draft by the Detroit Tigers three days after his final collegiate appearance that Saturday.

Baugh never played in the big leagues amid the need for shoulder surgery. Part of the reason for his trouble, undeniably, remains buried in Lincoln.

He threw 171 pitches in 8 ⅓ innings against Nebraska. Let that sink in.

None of the first 11 plate appearances for the Huskers ended with a ball in play. Jeff Leise led off the top of the first for Nebraska. It was the visiting team after dispatching the Owls, 7-0, one day prior in the series opener.

Leise struck out. The outstanding player at the Lincoln Regional from the previous week, he walked back toward the third-base dugout. Teammates looked to him for a report on Baugh.

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“Good luck,” Leise said he told them, recounting the memory this week. “I didn’t really have much to add other than that. He was mid-90s with his fastball, but it looked harder than that, and he had a power curve.”

Baugh fought his control. Still, several of those 2001 Huskers, in rewatching the game a few years ago, traded texts in wonderment during the replay of the late innings over how Nebraska managed to beat the Owls. The Huskers scored three runs against Baugh in the ninth to take a 6-5 lead and won it in the 10th.

Junior shortstop Will Bolt caught the final out to ignite a dogpile.

The Huskers slayed a dragon. Rice beat Nebraska 16-2 four months earlier in the first game of that season. After another dogpile last Sunday in Omaha when Nebraska won the Big Ten tournament with Bolt at the helm, the Huskers’ resilience and competitive fire echoed a bygone era.

“A lot of memories come flooding back,” Bolt said.

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GO DEEPER

Nebraska baseball enters regular-season finale with postseason hopes still on the line

Now, the question is, can they travel a similar path in June?

Van Horn, Bolt’s old coach who has run the show at Arkansas since 2003, masterfully designed his Nebraska program to play with a collective chip on its shoulder.

“People didn’t think much of us when they saw us,” said Leise, a first-team All-American outfielder in 2002 who now provides baseball commentary for the Big Ten Network.

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From 1999 to 2005, Nebraska won four Big 12 tournaments. Three times out of the four, the Huskers lost their first games in Oklahoma City, then stormed back to raise a trophy.

These Huskers did the same last week. Instead of Chad Wiles, R.D. Spiehs and Scott Fries who ate innings unexpectedly, it was Will Walsh, Drew Christo and Jackson Brockett. In place of Dan Johnson and Jed Morris who smashed home runs, it was Josh Caron and Gabe Swansen.

“There are certain attributes, certain traits that all (championship teams) have,” Bolt said Sunday. “Toughness is at the top of the list. Talent, you’ve gotta have it. You’ve gotta have the dudes. You’ve gotta have the players.

“The separator is the toughness piece of it, just the unwillingness to waver from a process of showing up and having a job to do.”

In Bolt’s time as a player, Nebraska capitalized on the momentum gained from its second and third Big 12 tourney championships to win regionals. Trips to the CWS followed league tourney titles in 2001 and 2005. Texas beat the Huskers in 2002 to win the Big 12 tournament in Arlington, Texas, before both squads advanced to the CWS.

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I had a front-row seat for the rise of Nebraska baseball, reporting on those teams daily during the postseason for the Omaha World-Herald. What struck me was not the heroics on the diamond that put the Huskers over the top in do-or-die games.

It was their composure and togetherness. They were more of a force off the field than on it. I’ve seen more teams like them in decades of watching the CWS up close. Many hoisted trophies in Omaha.

“You can tell this team is close,” Leise said. “They go to bat for each other. When things get tough, they fight through adversity. We played that way. We practiced that way. There was a level of excellence that everybody strived for.”

Ohio State flattened Nebraska 15-2 in the opening game for both teams at this year’s Big Ten tournament. Just as the Huskers responded after several difficult defeats in April and May, they won last week behind ace pitcher Brett Sears. He beat Purdue, and then Nebraska went to work in ending the stays of Ohio State, Indiana and Penn State.

“That confidence and that experience,” Bolt said, “that postseason feel, the butterflies, all of that they’re taking with them this week.”

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The Huskers head to the Stillwater Regional as the No. 2 seed of four teams, set to face Florida on Friday at 2 p.m.

Sears will be on the mound, ready to slay a dragon.

LSU beat the Gators last year in the decisive third game of the CWS championship series. This year, Florida still hits home runs like a national title contender. But it’s 28-27 and snuck into the 64-team field.

“We’ll play anybody in the country and it’s not going to change our approach,” Christo said. “We’re going to show up and be the same team every day.”

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That these Huskers last week showed a resemblance to the best teams in school history — with a coach who connects one era to the other — offers hope of a memorable June on the horizon.

(Photo of Caleb Clark: Courtesy of Nebraska Athletics)





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Nebraska

How to watch #7 Nebraska vs. #18 Michigan wrestling: Time, TV channel, FREE live streams

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How to watch #7 Nebraska vs. #18 Michigan wrestling: Time, TV channel, FREE live streams


The 7th-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers hit the road for Ann Arbor and a nationally televised Friday night dual with the No. 18 Michigan Wolverines. The match is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. ET with TV coverage on BTN and streaming on-demand.

  • How to watch: Live streams of the Nebraska vs. Michigan match are available with offers from FuboTV (free trial), SlingTV (low intro rate) and DirecTV Stream (free trial).

#7 Nebraska Cornhuskers (6-2) at #18 Michigan Wolverines (4-2)

NCAA wrestling match at a glance

When: Friday, Jan. 24 at 6 p.m. ET

Where: Crisler Center, Ann Arbor, Mich.

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TV channel: BTN

Live streams: FuboTV (free trial) | SlingTV (low intro rate) | DirecTV Stream (free trial)

Nebraska comes off a 31-7 home loss to No. 1 Penn State that also showed the Cornhuskers in a positive light with scrappy performances up and down their lineup, highlighted by a major decision win by Ridge Lovett over Shayne Van Ness at 149 pounds. Nebraska now wrestles three of its next four matches on the road, beginning with Friday’s dual with Michigan, followed by a Sunday match at Michigan State and a trip to No. 2 Iowa on Feb. 7.

Michigan is 4-2 with losses in two of its past three duals to Maryland (19-18) and most recently to No. 8 Minnesota (25-10). The Wolverines are on a run of wrestling five straight ranked teams, highlighted by the Nebraska match and a Feb. 7 date with No. 1 Penn State in State College.

Nebraska Cornhuskers vs. Michigan Wolverines: Know your live streaming options

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  • FuboTV (free trial)excellent viewer experience with a huge library of live sports content; free trial lengths vary.
  • SlingTV (low intro rate) discounted first month is best if you’ve run out of free trials or you’re in the market for 1+ month of TV
  • DirecTV Stream (free trial) not the same level of viewer experience as FuboTV, but the 7-day free trial is still the longest in streaming.

The Huskers and Wolverines are set for a 6 p.m. ET start on BTN. Live streams are available from FuboTV (free trial), DirecTV Stream (free trial) and SlingTV (low intro rate).



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Nebraska can provide a roadmap for U.S. energy and tech leadership • Nebraska Examiner

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Nebraska can provide a roadmap for U.S. energy and tech leadership • Nebraska Examiner


When President Trump unveiled his new Domestic Energy Council in November, he noted that, “with U.S. energy dominance, we will drive down Inflation, win the A.I. arms race with China (and others), and expand American diplomatic power.” To get a glimpse of how this would work in practice, look no further than Nebraska.

Few states have successfully achieved the all-of-the-above energy mix that Nebraskans enjoy today. The Cornhusker State’s balanced, diverse energy portfolio and publicly owned power utilities have yielded tremendous results for Nebraska residents, and we consistently rank near the top of all states in grid reliability and lowest-cost electricity rates. Lowering these energy costs has helped combat the inflation that has eroded so many Americans’ standard of living over the past several years.

Smart energy policy is not only a boon for residential consumers but also bolsters our industrial strength. Industrial customers account for most of Nebraska’s energy consumption, so maintaining low energy prices translates into a competitive edge for our state’s farmers and ranchers, meatpackers, truckers and manufacturers. President Trump has made rebuilding American industrial might a centerpiece of his administration, and Nebraska has shown what strategic energy and infrastructure development can do to attract jobs and investment.

The race with China on AI

Wind turbines north of Neligh, Nebraska, loom over a farm field (Paul Hammel/Nebraska Examiner)

A similar lesson can be applied to the AI race with China that President Trump has made clear he intends to win. Energy dominance and tech leadership have become increasingly intertwined, and it is not a coincidence that Nebraska’s high marks in energy and grid reliability have corresponded with a growth in our state’s tech workforce and data center construction.

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Tech jobs across our state numbered approximately 37,000 in 2022, an eight percent year-over-year increase, according to a study from the University of Nebraska prepared for the Nebraska Tech Collaborative. The same study found that this industry had a $20 billion annual economic footprint in Nebraska.

Data centers are key to this booming innovation economy, and they represent the backbone of the AI and cloud capabilities being harnessed by Nebraska businesses, academic institutions and government agencies. Mom and pop retailers use these tools to punch above their weight in the marketplace, and recently local hospitals have started incorporating AI in their daily operations both to streamline administrative tasks like charting and to improve patient care, as it helps address nursing shortages by re-assessing appropriate staffing ratios. Companies, including Union Pacific, use AI tools to optimize operations and work with customers to help predict shipping patterns and better align service with needs.

Role of higher learning

Local universities are leveraging AI’s growth in Nebraska and offer new courses to ensure that we are attracting and cultivating the skilled workforce we need to sharpen U.S. tech competitiveness and win the AI arms race. In fact, the University of Nebraska at Omaha is leading the charge with the state’s first AI-focused bachelor’s degree.

U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., listens to an ag researcher at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln speak about their work on Monday, June 19, 2023, in Lincoln, Neb. (Zach Wendling/Nebraska Examiner)

With a 74 percent surge in demand for AI specialists over the past five years, our academic institutions recognize the need to close the skills gap and cultivate home-grown talent to help drive the innovation economy forward. U.S. Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., said it well during a data center announcement in Lincoln: “The importance of innovation in national security and AI between the public and private sectors cannot be understated, and we’re working on that right here in Nebraska.”

Nebraska’s position as an energy and tech leader can offer the new administration a battle-tested roadmap for how to fuel innovation and attract investment through smart, pragmatic policies. The best thing we can do as a state is keep our foot on the accelerator and continue to lead by example.

Brett Lindstrom is an executive and advisor in financial services and charitable giving and served in the Nebraska Legislature from 2015-2023, including as chair of the Banking, Insurance and Commerce committee. The Republican ran for governor in 2022.

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Nebraska’s Ridge Lovett tabbed Big Ten Wrestler of the Week

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Nebraska’s Ridge Lovett tabbed Big Ten Wrestler of the Week


LINCOLN, Neb. (Huskers.com) – For the second time this season, Husker Ridge Lovett (149) has been named Big Ten Wrestler of the Week. The senior earned the honor after his major decision over Penn State’s No. 2 Shayne Van Ness. With the win, Lovett improved to 11-1 (7-0 dual) on the season, and brings home the fourth weekly conference honor for the Big Red.

Lovett has garnered 30 dual points for the Huskers yet this season, leading the Big Red, by means of two falls, one major decision, one tech. fall and three decisions in duals. The senior has won three of his four top-10 bouts this season, his only loss to No. 1 Caleb Henson in the Cliff Keen Final. Following the Huskers win over Van Ness, Lovett also rose to No. 2 in the national InterMat rankings.

The last Husker to be honored twice in a season with the Big Ten weekly award was Mikey Labriola in 2021-22. The last time three Big Red wrestlers were honored in weekly awards from the conference was in the 2018-19 season. In no season on record have the Huskers received weekly honors in more than three weeks, making Lovett and the 2024-25 season the first.

Up next, Lovett and the Huskers head to Michigan for a double-dual weekend. NU will start at No. 18 Michigan in Ann Arbor on Friday, Jan. 24 at 6 p.m. (CT), which will be televised on BTN. On Sunday, Jan. 26, the Big Red take on Michigan State at noon and will be streamed on B1G+.

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