Erik Bird is a sophomore relief pitcher for Nebraska who will contribute a weekly journal to CollegeBaseballInsider.com in 2007. Bird, a native of Omaha, Neb., went 0-2 with a 0.82 ERA as a freshman and becomes closer for the Cornhuskers this year. Opponents hit only .218 and only 2 of 23 inherited runners scored off of him in 2006. Bird's brother Brandon pitched for Creighton and helped the Bluejays to the NCAA tourney in 2005.

 

 

 

April 3, 2007

Home in the Big 12

 

We finally had a weekend home series against Missouri after being on the road every weekend so far.

 

It was good to be at home and playing in front of our crowd.

 

On Friday, Tony Watson was unbelievable. He pitched 10 innings and gave up three hits and no earned runs. It was 1-1 going into the 11th, Zach Herr loaded the bases, something that he almost never does, and I came out to pitch. I got the first two hitters out and left a 1-2 pitch over the plate about belt-high. It was supposed to be a high fastball, but he hit a line drive past Andrew Brown and scored two runs. Our offense couldn't get going against their pitchers, and we lost 5-1. It was pretty disappointing since: We felt like we wasted a great outing by Tony - one of the best outings he's ever had.

 

On Saturday, we went up 3-0, but we lost that one late, too, and it was pretty disappointing to lose a series at home.

 

We finally played well on Sunday and won 16-1, scoring 12 runs in the sixth inning. Jeff Tezak had six RBI in one inning with a grand slam. We hit a couple of homers that inning, and it was good to see them get going. Johnny Dorn pitched really well and had them off-balance all day.

 

We played Northern Colorado on Tuesday and Wednesday, and that is Coach A's alma mater, so he gets pretty intense those days. The first game was very sloppy. We started at 6:30 p.m. and didn’t' get finished until about 11 p.m. with a rain delay. We were struggling before Luke Wertz came in shut them down. We were a lot cleaner on Wednesday as Drew Bowman pitched six innings in a 4-1 win. Except for the two losses to Missouri, it was a good homestand, but you can't lose series at home.

 

This weekend, we go to Texas A&M which is a good rivalry, especially since Coach Childress went down there a couple of years ago. (Editor’s note: A&M won the series 2-1.)


Erik Bird

 

Previous Entries

Conference Play has Arrived (3/22/07)

Road Rage (3/11/07)

Feels Like the First Time (3/2/07)

Greetings from the Heartland (2/23/07)

 

(photo courtesy of Nebraska Media Relations Office)