Huskers will try to cap off a big season at home

Nebraska coach Mike Anderson is a bit old school when it comes to wearing a baseball cap. His Cornhuskers players must wear theirs with the bills facing forward, with four exceptions--when kissing a girl, when taking a picture, on the Fourth of July (to watch fireworks) and when celebrating a championship.

After the Huskers beat Miami last weekend in the NCAA Super Regionals, shortstop Joe Simokaitis and pitchers Johnny Dorn and Ryan Bohanan joined Anderson at the postgame press conference--with their hats turned around.

"I'm having a pretty tough time sitting up here with these guys with their caps backwards," Anderson told reporters. Apparently, advancing to the College World Series wasn't quite the championship exception. "Usually, I get to take them. But not today. I'm happy they get to wear their hats backwards."

The hat issue will be secondary if Nebraska succeeds in Omaha. The Cornhuskers are making the 50-mile trip east from Lincoln for the third time in five years. This team should give Nebraskans more to cheer about than the 2001 and 2002 squads, which both went 0-2 in the double-elimination tournament.

Nebraska (56-13), which was awarded the No. 3 national seed in the regionals, has a 10-game winning streak. Junior third baseman Alex Gordon, who was selected second overall by the Royals in last week's draft, leads the offense. A favorite for national player of the year, Gordon is batting .380 with 19 home runs, 64 RBIs and 23 stolen bases. Freshman righthander Dorn (12-1) and sophomore righthander Joba Chamberlain (9-2) are the top starting pitchers. Junior closer Brett Jensen has a school-record 15 saves.

COPYRIGHT 2005 Sporting News Publishing Co.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning