LINCOLN — Logic dictates that the next three months must amount to a bounceback season for Nebraska baseball.

The suggestion gets no direct argument from the Huskers or their eighth-year coach as NU begins a season-opening, four-game series at 8:05 tonight at 2008 NCAA champion Fresno State.

Still, coach Mike Anderson avoids looking back at a season that has threatened to damage the perception of NU baseball and alter its spot on the national landscape, built through a decade of success.

“I don't live my life looking at what I did three years ago,” Anderson said. “I can't remember what I had for lunch last week, let alone last year. We learned from it. We're going to get better from it. We're hard-core about it. Adversity makes you better. I think I'd do our kids a disservice if we focus on (2009).”

The Huskers finished 25-28-1 last year and missed the NCAA postseason for the second time in 11 seasons. They placed last in the 10-team Big 12, struggled to pitch consistently and lost seven straight weekend series.

Attendance slipped 33 percent to less than two-thirds capacity at Haymarket Park, the still-sparkling, nine-year-old stadium.

Nebraska's image took a hit. Baseball America picked the Huskers to finish ninth this year in an apparently mediocre conference that placed only No. 1 Texas among the preseason Top 25. Big 12 coaches pegged the Huskers for eighth.

The Huskers aren't living in the past, either. Questions about last season typically elicit an array of how-dare-you looks from NU players.

“I really don't want to go into detail too much about what went on last year,” senior center fielder DJ Belfonte said.

Said pitcher Mike Nesseth, targeted for the role of closer this year after shuffling between the bullpen and starting rotation last season: “I don't want to talk about that too much.”

From projected starting pitcher Casey Hauptman: “There's no more talking about that.”

Senior outfielder Adam Bailey offers a bit more.

“What is there to say about last year?” said Bailey, who led the Huskers with 12 homers and 50 RBIs but saw his production drop sharply after the first month. “It was fun, but it was terrible at the same time.

“Last year, that's not us. We're capable of a lot more.”

At least the Huskers appear unified. But there's no denying the stakes for Nebraska this spring. Struggle for one year, and it's correctable. Twice, it's a trend.

“These kids have great character. They have great talent,” third-year pitching coach Eric Newman said. “If we focus on what happened last year for motivation, that's not going to take us where we want to go. I don't think we have a team where, if we're just better than last year, that's good. We feel like this team has a chance to be pretty special.”

NU returns a solid offensive core and added key depth to a more mature pitching staff, which looks to improve dramatically on its 6.22 earned-run average.

The aftermath of the Huskers' one-year slide illustrates the tenuous nature of playing in the Big 12 North. Because of its proximity and climate, NU rides a narrow fence with the pundits. Perhaps with recruits, too, but coaches say recruiting has not suffered in the wake of 2009.

Anderson, in contrast to his first few years in charge at Nebraska, said he's not overly worried about the reputation of NU baseball.

“I'm more concerned about the character,” he said. “The reality is, we're a very solid program in what we do on and off the field, how we treat our players from an academic standpoint, community service — you name it, all those things. The one thing that didn't happen last year was a result we wanted.

“That changes the perception, but it doesn't change the character.”

He's convinced those good results are about to return.

“I'm always confident,” Anderson said, “and probably, to my own fault, too optimistic all the time. That's who I am. That's who I'll always be. It's worked for me.”

Contact the writer:

402-444-1031, mitch.sherman@owh.com

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