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.

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.

“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.

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.

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.

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.”

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.”

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)