During Saturday's Nebraska baseball season preview stop in Grand Island, Cornhuskers' coach Mike Anderson said he's looking forward to seeing the program somewhat return to its roots.

"We want to get back to being hard-nosed, team-oriented -- that type of stuff," said Anderson, whose team finished 32-27 last year and uncharacteristically had several off-the-field problems. "We had several guys that signed professional contracts and that's a good thing, but you also have different dynamics and with those different dynamics, there was a lot of individual stuff.
"I'm not saying selfish, but there were different dynamics."

Other notables from Anderson:

--Kash Kalkowski, a Nebraska recruit who still has his senior year of high school baseball and a summer of American Legion baseball ahead of him, has impressed Anderson. "We're absolutely thrilled with him and I think the high level of competitiveness that he has is going to be great," Anderson said. "From seeing him play basketball and everything else, we know what we're getting. He's going to do everything he can to figure out a way to win."

--Anderson said Joe Broekemeier, a redshirt freshman pitcher from Aurora, is still bothered by a shoulder injury. "We know the type of athlete he is, but when you have an arm injury, it takes time," Anderson said. "I wouldn't anticipate seeing him the first half of the year and, unless things go very well, it still may be a year that we don’t see much of Joe."

--Like most Husker fans, Anderson said he enjoyed watching former Huskers Alex Gordon (Kansas City Royals) and Joba Chamberlain (New York Yankees) make it to the major-league level. "It was exciting for Alex to see what he was able to do after his slow start," Anderson. "Watching Alex and Joba both this year was great."

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