Nebraska baseball begins today at 3:00 pm CST in San Marcos, Texas, as the Huskers travel to the Texas State tournament to take on the Texas State Bobcats. The Bobcats were the Southland Conference regular season champions last season, but lost the year-end tournament to Lamar, and were not selected to participate in the 2010 NCAA baseball tournament.
The games this weekend will not be televised, but online audio will be available via Huskers.com and radio will be provided by the Husker Sports Network including 1400 - KLIN in Lincoln and 1110 - KFAB in Omaha.
Projected Starters for Nebraska are:
LF - Kale Kiser - 2010 Honorable Mention All Big 12
CF - Khiry Cooper
RF - Josh Scheffert
3B - Cody Asche - 2010 Honorable Mention All Big 12
SS - Chad Christensen
2B - Bryan Peters
1B - Kurt Farmer
C - Cory Burleson or Patric Tolentino
Pitching Rotation
vs Texas State
Tyler Niederklein • So. • RHP • 6-2 • 203 • Omaha, Neb. (Millard West)
Niederklein will make his ninth career start.
vs Air Force
Jon Keller • Fr. • RHP • 6-5 • 231 • Cedar Rapids, Iowa (Xavier) and
Dylan Vogt • So. • RHP • 6-2 • 193 • Omaha, Neb. (Millard South)
Freshman Keller may make a very early start in his collegiate career, one of three freshman pitchers that was drafted by MLB but chose college. Vogt made three appearances last season as a freshman.
vs Washington
Tom Lemke • So. • RHP • 6-8 • 228 • Phoenix, Ariz. (NW Christian) vs Washington
Lemke started 14 games last season and will be counted on to be one of Nebraska's top pitchers this season.
vs Missouri State
Sean Yost • Jr. • RHP • 6-7 • 210 • Lincoln, Neb. (Southwest) vs Missouri State
Making his 14th career start as a Husker
Opponents
Texas State - 38-22 last season, winning the Southland Conference last season with a 23-10 conference record.
Air Force - 13-42 last season, including 3-20 in the Mountain West Conference. Has nine pitchers with starting experience, hoping to turn around a bad campaign from last season.
Washington - football team beat Nebraska in the Holiday Bowl and knocked the Husker volleyball team out of the NCAA tournament, so consider this game revenge until fall. Finished last season at 28-28, including 11-16 in the Pac-10 where they finished ninth.
Missouri State - 21-34 last season, 6-15 in the Missouri Valley where they finished eighth.
Overall, this is not a strong field against which to start the season. That's okay, as the Huskers have had only three outdoor practices