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Huskers Back Preseason Talk with 3-0 Start, 28 Runs (So Far) in Arizona

After a clubhouse that players openly described as fractured a year ago, Nebraska’s renewed culture and collective mindset are showing up immediately on opening weekend.
Spencer Schubert|
The Husker baseball team is off to a 3-0 start thanks to dominant pitching and plenty of early offense.
The Husker baseball team is off to a 3-0 start thanks to dominant pitching and plenty of early offense. | Nebraska Athletics

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Nebraska didn’t need long for its preseason talking points to face a real test.

In the weeks and months leading up to the season, the messaging around the program centered on chemistry, experience and a lineup built on role acceptance. Players talked openly about a tighter clubhouse, and coach Will Bolt described a group that had “meshed well together.”

Veterans emphasized knowledge and maturity, and just as candidly, players acknowledged the opposite had been true a year earlier, referencing a “cancer” within the team.

Now, NU’s opening weekend in Arizona is offering the first chance to see whether any of the preseason chatter translates to the field. The Huskers have shot out to a 3-0 start to the year, with a 12-2 run-rule win over UConn, a 7-4 victory over Northeastern and a 9-1 win over Grand Canyon University late Sunday.

The bats have been hot for Nebraska to start the year, with the Huskers plating 28 runs through just three games.
The bats have been hot for Nebraska to start the year, with the Huskers plating 28 runs through just three games. | Nebraska Athletics

It’s safe to say the early results are mirroring many of the themes the program had emphasized since the fall. This season isn’t simply about wins – it’s also about identity and finding the best guys to have out on the field game in and game out.

“Like any other year, you have maybe some guys that have started to kind of turn a corner that maybe didn’t have great falls or didn’t have a lot to show for that have kind of started making a move and getting in that conversation,” Bolt said before the season. “I think we have a pretty good feel for who our top nine or ten guys are, but there are some guys just on the outside maybe of the starters that have kind of played themselves into the conversation.”

That internal competition and collective buy-in were central themes entering the year, but the bigger storyline was the culture surrounding the roster. Bolt described a team that had grown closer long before the first pitch of February.

“They’ve really meshed well together,” Bolt said. “They’ve kind of been talking about that, just how close and how synergistic they’ve been since August. I think we saw it play through the fall. We saw offseason training where we got to have the pitchers and hitters be ingrained. I’m excited to see the chemistry of the entire group playing together.”

Players echoed the same sentiment, sometimes even more bluntly. Ace Ty Horn described his personal shift from the previous season to this one as part of a larger transformation.

“Beginning of last year, it was all about what can I do to help myself out,” Horn said. “What can I do instead of doing anything I can do for the team. I think I kind of figured that out towards the end of the year last year.”

He also pointed to a change inside the clubhouse that’s already evident this season.

“I’ve been on two completely different teams in two years here,” Horn said. “One being a 40-win team, and we were somewhat together. Last year, it was kind of a cancer. There were a couple guys that were just a cancer to the team, and one guy impacts another impacts another. It was almost contagious. This year, it almost happened instantly where everybody had that glue together, and it was pretty fun to see and pretty fun to be a part of.”

This opening weekend offered the first real measure of that difference. Nebraska’s 12-2 win over UConn in the season-opener was the type of performance that reflected a complete team effort, one that aligned with the internal message of balance and shared responsibility.

A day later, the Huskers followed it up with a 7-4 win over Northeastern, showing the ability to produce across nine innings and close out a game. Then add on Sunday night’s 9-1 win that was blown open with a 5-run 8th inning for the Huskers, and the results start resembling another preseason point of emphasis: experience.

Second baseman Jett Buck spoke repeatedly about the maturity of the roster and the influence of players who have spent time in the game, whether at Nebraska or elsewhere.

“Including myself, I feel like there’s a bunch of transfers, just people that have been around the game for a while,” Buck said. “Going around in the locker room and talking to everyone, just hearing their knowledge, just kind of tells you that they know the game really well. They’ve been around for a while.”

Buck said that familiarity with game situations becomes tangible once competition begins, and it’s evidenced by the team’s hot start to the year.

“We were in the batting cage the other day, and we’re going through how many at-bats we’ve had, and I saw I had like 650 and was like ‘wow, that’s a lot,’” Buck said. “Just being in situations once you’ve been in situations more than once, you’re more prepared. I think that’s huge because you know what you’re going to do. You have less on your shoulders because you’re more comfortable in that situation.”

Bolt’s comments about the lineup echoed that same idea. The Huskers aren’t built around one star, but around a group that understands preparation and execution.

“They’re about the right stuff,” Bolt said. “Their conversations are about the right things, and how they prepare is the right way.”

That preparation also extended to the offensive approach. Buck described an offense rooted in accepting roles and executing rather than chasing individual moments.

“I think everyone’s willing to play their role and execute what they’re supposed to do, and I think that leads to a lot of runs,” Buck said. “I’m excited. We’ve played Omaha and Wichita State, and I feel like we just did a really good job executing the offense.”

Execution was the word that kept surfacing, and it’s showing up quickly to start this season. Through three games, the Huskers have already outscored their opponents 28-7. It may be unlikely to see that level of offense continue all season long, but averaging more than nine runs per game is a good start.

For Horn, the shift hasn’t just been cultural. It’s also about redefining his role within the team.

“I think just being a facilitator,” Horn said about who he hopes to be for NU this season. “I like to look at myself like that. I’m not doing all the crazy things, but I am trying to put people where they’re supposed to be and put the team in a good position to win. I’m not throwing 100, I’m not hitting home runs. I’m just doing anything I can to put the team in a good position to win.”

Nebraska's pitching staff is off to a great start, and is being monitored by efficiency more than a pitch count.
Nebraska's pitching staff is off to a great start, and is being monitored by efficiency more than a pitch count to start the year. | Nebraska Athletics

That mentality aligned closely with Bolt’s expectations for his entire roster, especially the pitching staff. Rather than focusing strictly on innings totals, Bolt said he’s emphasizing efficiency and minimizing stressful moments.

“It’s probably more of a pitch count and stressful pitches than it is innings,” Bolt said of his game plan with his pitchers to start the year. “I would hope that we can get all of our starters through five at least — maybe longer if they can keep their pitch count down. It’s how many 25-pitch innings do we have. We’ve tried to keep them in that less than 20 pitches per inning mode this spring.”

The weekend in Arizona, which still has one more game to it on Monday, has provided the first live test of that philosophy against outside competition, but the broader takeaway is cultural. Bolt had pointed to chemistry months earlier as one of the most encouraging signs within the program.

“I’m excited to see the chemistry of the entire group playing together,” he said. “We’re tired of playing each other, but I’m excited to see this group play off each other.”

Horn had framed the same idea in even simpler terms.

“Just getting comfortable and becoming more of a better teammate,” he said. “That’s kind of what we preach here. Once you know what your role is, what you’re going to do, I think just being a better teammate and being there for the guys — it’s the most important thing in this culture.”

The opening weekend certainly won’t define Nebraska’s season, but it’s offering the first evidence of whether the program’s internal messaging about chemistry, experience, shared responsibility and role acceptance will translate once the games began to matter.

Nebraska baseball may be off to a 3-0 start to the year, but they know the opening weekend certainly won't define their year.
Nebraska baseball may be off to a 3-0 start to the year, but they know the opening weekend certainly won't define their season. | Nebraska Athletics

Three wins, 28 runs scored and a roster that had spent months emphasizing unity provide an early answer. The Huskers entered the year talking about being a different kind of team than the one that struggled with cohesion just a year ago. They talked about veteran at-bats, collective preparation and conversations focused on winning rather than individual outcomes.

The first weekend of the season won’t prove everything – it rarely does. But it’s still showing something important. The identity Nebraska described all offseason isn’t just a talking point. Three teams have already fallen victim to it.

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Spencer Schubert
SPENCER SCHUBERT

Spencer Schubert is a born-and-raised Nebraskan who now calls Hastings home. He grew up in Kearney idolizing the Huskers as every kid in Nebraska did in the 1990s, and he turned that passion into a career of covering the Big Red. Schubert graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2009, and kickstarted what's now become a 17 year career in journalism. He's served in a variety of roles in broadcasting, including weekend sports anchor at KHGI-TV(NTV) in Kearney, Sports Director at WOAY-TV in West Virginia and Assistant News Director, Executive Producer and Evening News Anchor for KSNB-TV(Local4) in Hastings. Off the clock, you'll likely find Schubert with a golf club in his hand and spending time with his wife, 5-year-old daughter and dog Emmy.

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