“There’s a lot of anticipation — I know that,” sophomore third baseman Cody Asche said. “It’s been a long offseason.”
For Asche — who hit .290 while starting 33 of 43 games last spring — some of the pent-up emotion is the product of missing most of summer ball because of a hand injury. But mostly, it’s because the Huskers went 25-28-1 last year.
Since then, Nebraska has added 20 players to a roster that will be at 35 when play begins Feb. 19 at 2008 national champion Fresno State. NU’s recruiting class was ranked 13th-best nationally by Collegiate Baseball, but eighth-year coach Mike Anderson has a hunch his returning players will set the tone.
“There’s some veteran guys that have a bad taste in their mouth,” he said. “It’s good. Chemistry is good. Bonding is good. Talent level, I think, is improved. It’s a matter now of finding out the unknowns of the season. The unknown is how we’re going to perform. You just don’t know.”
Among the eight regular-position returnees who made at least 20 starts in 2009 are All-Big 12 first baseman Tyler Farst, who hit a team-best .333, and right fielder Adam Bailey, who led NU with 12 home runs and 50 RBIs.
