Why Baseball should be our #3 sport

[BornRed]

My brother was visiting and as always, we start talking Cornhuskers. The conversation eventually lead to which sports were the most popular. We both agreed football was number one and volleyball was number two. At that point we diverged. He asked me the question of what sport did I think "should" be number three. Tough question. After giving it lot of thought, I picked baseball and gave him my reasons why. He agreed with me. So I thought I would post and share our thoughts.

The top reason was we literally have the CWS in our back yard. Imagine if we went to the CWS. The excitement that would wash across the state would be palpable. Tickets would be harder than ever to obtain. The CWS is so woven in the fabric of our love of sports (having been in Omaha forever), I would argue the excitement could rival women's volleyball.

When it comes to baseball, the BIG is the weakest of the power five conferences. Neither one of us could remember the last time a BIG school won the CWS. There is no reason why we should be doing so poorly. We have the facilities and decent local talent. We should be top 3 every year. I look at a school like Coastal Carolina and think, why can't that be us?

I love Erstad, but the Coach is just not getting the job done. Is it talent? Lack of player development? Why don't we get more serious about baseball and spend some money for a big time coach. Build it and they will come.

 

[katymac]

I'm not sure it should be #3 but I agree that we should have a powerhouse of a baseball team. I would love to have big red in the college world series just like everyone who bleeds red. Help us moos!

 

[ColoREDo]

Baseball was never our #3 when we were in a real conference and a top team in the nation.

Its volleyball and then everything else.

 

[HuskerWeatherman]

The top reason was we literally have the CWS in our back yard. Imagine if we went to the CWS. The excitement that would wash across the state would be palpable. Tickets would be harder than ever to obtain. The CWS is so woven in the fabric of our love of sports (having been in Omaha forever), I would argue the excitement could rival women's volleyball.

When it comes to baseball, the BIG is the weakest of the power five conferences. Neither one of us could remember the last time a BIG school won the CWS. There is no reason why we should be doing so poorly. We have the facilities and decent local talent. We should be top 3 every year. I look at a school like Coastal Carolina and think, why can't that be us?

I love Erstad, but the Coach is just not getting the job done. Is it talent? Lack of player development? Why don't we get more serious about baseball and spend some money for a big time coach. Build it and they will come.

"Imagine if we went to the CWS."

You do know that we did, right? ... Not that long ago. 2001, 2002, 2005.

Yes, the excitement was awesome.

We've previously discussed the many negatives to having a baseball program in the Big Ten. And the sad reality, it's very, very difficult to build anything resembling a dynasty in our conference when it comes to baseball. I hate to say it, while the Big Ten provides advantages for many sports, it's a huge disadvantage over what the Big 12 offered when it comes to baseball. The chances of us ever seeing something resembling the Dave Van Horn era again are only slightly above zero (or maybe zero).

You mention Coastal Carolina ... and ask why that can't be us ... that school sinks everything into baseball. It's the only sport they compete in D-I. Baseball is everything to that school. And they have a winning tradition that goes back about 30 years. And maybe most importantly, climate. There simply aren't traditional baseball powers from northern, cold weather climate schools. Those warmer weather regions have a huge advantage of being able to practice and play the game for most of the year (and not having to hit the road for all/most of their early-season games).

Nebraska fans will strongly support any sport. Pinnacle Bank Arena is packed and rocking when the basketball product is good. True, the Final Four is not coming to Omaha. Though earlier rounds sometimes do -- though no guarantee NU would play near home. But realistically, what matters most is the fan support during the regular season. We are fully capable of tremendous fan support for hoops.

I don't know that either program -- baseball or basketball (men's) has the ability of being a national power. Certainly, men's basketball always will get more exposure nationally. And climate doesn't matter. And the Big Ten is a solid hoops conference. I suppose either sport could be NU's #3 -- and both have been at times. Actually, when one is doing well -- it becomes #2 behind football. I've seen it before for both NU baseball and NU basketball -- just not consistently over a long period. I doubt you'll ever lock either into a consistent #2 or #3 fan favorite. It's just going to vary by the success of the team.

 

[Porkchopexpress]

Build it and they will come.

HWM did a good job of working through most of the post, but NU did build it (Haymarket/Hawks Field) and Dave van Horn still left.

 

[joncarl]

I think it should be hockey.

 

[ColoREDo]

We are handcuffed by being in a crappy baseball conference. College baseball is already watered down by minor league ball and then most of the best players that do want to play in college are going to play in a real college conference.

As it stands, baseball will never deserve being the #3 sport at Nebraska. Husker fans will always support its teams, but in reality, baseball is a substandard sport in the Big 10.

 

[Hooked on Huskers]

I think it should be hockey.

Join B1G conference

 

[joncarl]

Join B1G conference

In all seriousness, like HWM said, Nebraska Baseball was good, I remember going to Rosenblatt and watch Nebraska play in the series. If they can get back to that point or at least making super regionals on a somewhat regular basis I think baseball can be the Number 3 sport.

Problem is too many people like me that will watch if they are winning, I just don't care for baseball but I love Nebraska, but I need the 'fringe' teams to do well to pay attention.

 

[joestrummer]

"Imagine if we went to the CWS."

You do know that we did, right? ... Not that long ago. 2001, 2002, 2005.

Yes, the excitement was awesome.

We've previously discussed the many negatives to having a baseball program in the Big Ten. And the sad reality, it's very, very difficult to build anything resembling a dynasty in our conference when it comes to baseball. I hate to say it, while the Big Ten provides advantages for many sports, it's a huge disadvantage over what the Big 12 offered when it comes to baseball. The chances of us ever seeing something resembling the Dave Van Horn era again are only slightly above zero (or maybe zero).

You mention Coastal Carolina ... and ask why that can't be us ... that school sinks everything into baseball. It's the only sport they compete in D-I. Baseball is everything to that school. And they have a winning tradition that goes back about 30 years. And maybe most importantly, climate. There simply aren't traditional baseball powers from northern, cold weather climate schools. Those warmer weather regions have a huge advantage of being able to practice and play the game for most of the year (and not having to hit the road for all/most of their early-season games).

Nebraska fans will strongly support any sport. Pinnacle Bank Arena is packed and rocking when the basketball product is good. True, the Final Four is not coming to Omaha. Though earlier rounds sometimes do -- though no guarantee NU would play near home. But realistically, what matters most is the fan support during the regular season. We are fully capable of tremendous fan support for hoops.

I don't know that either program -- baseball or basketball (men's) has the ability of being a national power. Certainly, men's basketball always will get more exposure nationally. And climate doesn't matter. And the Big Ten is a solid hoops conference. I suppose either sport could be NU's #3 -- and both have been at times. Actually, when one is doing well -- it becomes #2 behind football. I've seen it before for both NU baseball and NU basketball -- just not consistently over a long period. I doubt you'll ever lock either into a consistent #2 or #3 fan favorite. It's just going to vary by the success of the team.

PBA is packed even when they put a crappy product on the court.

 

[HuskerWeatherman]

PBA is packed even when they put a crappy product on the court.

True. But it's still new.

Hawks Field went through the same thing.

 

[joestrummer]

True. But it's still new.

Hawks Field went through the same thing.

It did and there is certainly still a honeymoon phase with PBA, but:

1. When Haymarket Park opened, the Huskers were as good as they've ever been, and

2. A capacity PBA crowd is twice the size of a capacity Haymarket Park crowd.

I just think, especially with the conference change, NU baseball will be stuck at 4th teat. It was a fun run in the early 2000s.

 

[ShortSideOption]

My brother was visiting and as always, we start talking Cornhuskers. The conversation eventually lead to which sports were the most popular. We both agreed football was number one and volleyball was number two. At that point we diverged. He asked me the question of what sport did I think "should" be number three. Tough question. After giving it lot of thought, I picked baseball and gave him my reasons why. He agreed with me. So I thought I would post and share our thoughts.

The top reason was we literally have the CWS in our back yard. Imagine if we went to the CWS. The excitement that would wash across the state would be palpable. Tickets would be harder than ever to obtain. The CWS is so woven in the fabric of our love of sports (having been in Omaha forever), I would argue the excitement could rival women's volleyball.

When it comes to baseball, the BIG is the weakest of the power five conferences. Neither one of us could remember the last time a BIG school won the CWS. There is no reason why we should be doing so poorly. We have the facilities and decent local talent. We should be top 3 every year. I look at a school like Coastal Carolina and think, why can't that be us?

I love Erstad, but the Coach is just not getting the job done. Is it talent? Lack of player development? Why don't we get more serious about baseball and spend some money for a big time coach. Build it and they will come.

B1G is barely a top 10 conference, forget power 5. We've went thru how the B1G destroys our ability to effectively recruit with schools from the SEC and Big12 able to recruit 70 guys in 4 years and us not even to 35. Nebraska baseball has only made it out of the regional four times in its history, but those are so recent that's what people expect. We also have fewer conference championships in baseball than Kansas does in football. It kind of goes back to basketball and how everyone thinks if we build it kids will come. Doesn't necessarily work that way when you haven't been good.

To defend Erstad a bit, we have been conference champions or conference runner-up over 50% of the time with him leading our team. That's nothing to scoff at and truthfully isn't that bad unless people are looking at the exception (super regional appearances) rather than the norm (getting to regionals).

But to those points brought up from others, we have to do better in the post-season. For whatever reason, the past few years we've folded. Early in Erstad's career, we forced the powerful Indiana to a second championship game and lost by one. But what has happened recently?

For me it all starts with recruiting better in-state, and we did that in 2018. We got five of the top six recruits. When you think about us telling Hoffman he couldn't walk on and he gets drafted fifth round, that hurts. When we have Sean Chandler in our program with a 12+ ERA, then he transfers out and gets drafted 6th round, that stings. When Michael Helman gets drafted 11th round and would have came here after his first year at Hutch when he only had a UNOmaha offer, you shake your head. And the kid from Wichita State going 3rd overall is a great example of if we would have offered him, we would have all said "why". Wichita State can oversign, he grows 5", and all of a sudden becomes a stud.

Furthering that point, Mojo Hagge is one of our studs and was about the 15th best baseball player in his class in the state of Nebraska. We are lucky he walked on. You need the Wilkenings and Schreibers, but you absolutely need to get 3 or 4 guys every year from in-state. The talent is there. And we need to get them early from JUCO like we just did with the kid from Beatrice JUCO after his first year. Don't allow them to have a second year and get picked up by a southern school like Helman/Hoffman did at A&M, Divis at UTArlington.

What concerns me is are the results linear? Would Helman or Hoffman of been as good? What about Bohm? Chandler left to get better. We have numerous people that have gotten better while being here, but part of me wishes Erstad would have made a move this offseason for at least one different assistant.

Local talent staying was the first issue we needed to correct and most important, luckily we changed that and people will be excited with the results from this 2018 class of Nebraska kids. We will see if that changes things a bit. Losing Wilkening means our pitching has to carry us, luckily we got some MLB arms committed to help us and we get roughly 5 guys back next year that were out.

 

[ShortSideOption]

It did and there is certainly still a honeymoon phase with PBA, but:

1. When Haymarket Park opened, the Huskers were as good as they've ever been, and

2. A capacity PBA crowd is twice the size of a capacity Haymarket Park crowd.

I just think, especially with the conference change, NU baseball will be stuck at 4th teat. It was a fun run in the early 2000s.

I agree and disagree. With the conference change, basketball should have the best shot. Scholarship restrictions in the B1G just make it so tough on baseball. But with the local baseball talent compared to local basketball talent, I could argue baseball could get very good in just a couple cycles compared to Nebraska basketball and what they are up against.

 

[HuskerWeatherman]

It did and there is certainly still a honeymoon phase with PBA, but:

1. When Haymarket Park opened, the Huskers were as good as they've ever been, and

2. A capacity PBA crowd is twice the size of a capacity Haymarket Park crowd.

I just think, especially with the conference change, NU baseball will be stuck at 4th teat. It was a fun run in the early 2000s.

Oh, I agree. I'm certainly not under the illusion that baseball will be our #3 sport (certainly not consistently), as outlined in my initial.

Realistically, it's football then everything else. Sure, women's volleyball is our consistent winner -- but the vast majority of Husker fans would rather watch the basketball team lose a first round NCAA tournament game than the volleyball team win a national title. If any one sport has the easiest path to become the #2 fan favorite at UNL, it's men's basketball. Just as is the case for the national college sports scene in general.

The Van Horn era was something else. Electric, in fact. It will never happen again in Lincoln.