Eagle Staff Writer
This time the focus on the Nebraska-Texas A&M series should be on the teams rather than the coaches.
First-place A&M (41-8, 18-3 Big 12) travels to second-place Nebraska (36-8-1, 15-5-1) for a three-game series that could either end the title race or make the final weekend of the regular season very intriguing.
"This is the second time for me taking a Texas A&M team to Lincoln, and I'm looking forward to it to being about the two teams having great years rather than me going back and it being a family reunion," A&M head coach Rob Childress said.
Childress was the pitching coach for Nebraska from 1998-2005. Mike Anderson was an assistant when Childress joined the staff, and he took over as head coach in 2002.
"The first year [facing Childress], that was exciting," Anderson said. "It's Nebraska and A&M right now.
"Rob and I are still close and we talk, probably more about families than baseball. This whole week has been A&M and Nebraska. That's exciting, and I'm happy for our kids and for his team."
With two victories this weekend, the No. 5 Aggies can clinch the Big 12 regular-season title for the first time since 1999. If No. 7 Nebraska can take at least two of three, the conference race would come down to A&M's series against Texas and Nebraska's series at Missouri in the regular season's final weekend.
For A&M to clinch the title, it will have to hand the Cornhuskers as many losses as they've suffered at Hawks Stadium this season. Nebraska is 26-2-1 at home, where they expect to play in front of at least 8,000 fans each game this weekend.
"It's been charged up in anticipation of this for a few weeks," Anderson said. "We had to try to stay focused on what we're doing each weekend [before this]. The kids, from a media standpont, couldn't look too far ahead."
The Aggies, who have swept five straight Big 12 series, know where they stand and what this series can mean for them now and down the road when the NCAA selection committee hands out national seeds.
"Our intention is to go up there and win every game," A&M first baseman/DH Darby Brown said. "That is obviously what we are thinking every time we go out on the field, but this one we are really excited about, getting to play in an exciting atmosphere and against a great team, too."
Nebraska leads the Big 12 and is ninth nationally with a team ERA of 3.46, while the Aggies, who are second in pitching, are atop the conference in hitting at .330.
"I think a lot of credit goes to [Nebraska's] coaching staff because when you lose seven pitchers to the draft and have the turnover they had, then to do what they've done on the mound has been incredible," Childress said. "The new pitching coach Eric Newman has done a fabulous job with their pitchers, and they are probably as deep as we'll face all year as far as starting rotation, depth and balance in the bullpen. That's what keeps them in every game."
With a strong staff, Nebraska has a knack for winning close games, coming out on top in 15 of 17 games decided by two runs or less.
"We love the challenge of facing good pitching and want to go into every game with that chip on our shoulder that we don't think anybody can beat us as a unit," said Brown, who is second in homers (9) and RBIs (53) and fourth in batting average (.353) for A&M.
Anderson is quick to point out that the Aggie "attack" is just that -- an attack.
"They can score runs in bunches," Anderson said. "We don't score runs in bunches like that. We are pretty systematic, one run here, two runs there. We have to make sure we maintain them and keep them from big, big innings."
A&M has to top two hitters in the Big 12 in Dane Carter (.411) and Jose Duran (.396).
Nebraska is led by senior catcher Nick Abeita, who is hitting .361 with seven home runs. Senior center fielder and leadoff hitter Bryce Nimmo (.323), junior left fielder Nick Sullivan (.328) and senior second baseman Jake Opitz (.313, 6 HRs) are among the Cornhuskers top hitters.
"Offensively, they have mature hitters that have been in their system for a long time, and they know what they are trying to do, create innings when they get the opportunity," Childress said. "Whether it's hit-and-run or stealing, they can create innings. They are just tough outs. They make a strong commitment with two strikes to move the baseball, and it's going to be a challenge to our pitching staff."
NOTES -- A&M senior Darby Brown and junior Brian Ruggiano were named to the ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-District Team on Thursday. Brown has a 3.6 GPA and earned first-team honors as a designated hitter while Ruggiano (3.3 GPA) was named as an outfielder on the second team. Both will graduate this weekend with a degree in agricultural leadership and development. ... Nebraska will be without starting first baseman Craig Corriston, who had arthoscopic knee surgery late last month. He was hitting .323 with four homers. ... NU has not made an error in its last six Big 12 games. ... A&M's 15 game Big 12 winning streak broke the conference mark of 13 set by Nebraska in 2000. ... Nebraska was picked sixth and A&M fourth in the Big 12 coaches preseason poll. ... The largest crowd at Hawks Field is 8,757 against A&M in 2006. The three-game series drew a regular-season record 24,490 fans. ... The Huskers' Dan Jennings, (5-0, 2.44 ERA, 4 saves) had a streak of 30 scoreless innings snapped April 23.
• Richard Croome's e-mail address is richard.croome@theeagle.com.
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