Friday, March 07, 2008
BASEBALL: Abeita starts season on power surge
LINCOLN -- While pleasantly surprised by Mitch Abeita's early season power surge, Nebraska coach Mike Anderson doesn't expect it to last.
That's not a knock on Abeita. It's just that hitting home runs isn't really the Cornhusker catcher's forte.
"It's short-term," Anderson said with a grin. "Mitch is a line-drive hitter. One (homer) he hit pretty good and actually I think two of the three had wind behind them, so I'm not going to give him too much credit yet.
"Love him -- think he's a great, but we want him to hit line drives. We want him to just stay in his groove."
Heading into Saturday's 2:05 p.m. opener of a four-game home series against Northern Colorado (5-4), Abeita is batting .409 with three home runs and eight RBIs, helping Nebraska to a 6-2 start. After hitting just one homer in 133 at-bats last year, Abeita has three in his first 22 at-bats in 2008.
Abeita said the credit for his early season success goes to the other players in Nebraska's lineup and their ability to work pitchers and build their pitch counts. The Huskers are batting .293 as a team and have drawn 29 bases on balls in their first eight games.
"I don't know the stats, but I believe every guy batting for us sees a bunch of pitches and wears the pitcher down," Abeita said. "The other day, we had a pitcher up to 27 or 29 pitches in the first inning alone. That will wear down a pitching staff when you see nine guys coming up to you like that."
That's not a knock on Abeita. It's just that hitting home runs isn't really the Cornhusker catcher's forte.
"It's short-term," Anderson said with a grin. "Mitch is a line-drive hitter. One (homer) he hit pretty good and actually I think two of the three had wind behind them, so I'm not going to give him too much credit yet.
"Love him -- think he's a great, but we want him to hit line drives. We want him to just stay in his groove."
Heading into Saturday's 2:05 p.m. opener of a four-game home series against Northern Colorado (5-4), Abeita is batting .409 with three home runs and eight RBIs, helping Nebraska to a 6-2 start. After hitting just one homer in 133 at-bats last year, Abeita has three in his first 22 at-bats in 2008.
Abeita said the credit for his early season success goes to the other players in Nebraska's lineup and their ability to work pitchers and build their pitch counts. The Huskers are batting .293 as a team and have drawn 29 bases on balls in their first eight games.
"I don't know the stats, but I believe every guy batting for us sees a bunch of pitches and wears the pitcher down," Abeita said. "The other day, we had a pitcher up to 27 or 29 pitches in the first inning alone. That will wear down a pitching staff when you see nine guys coming up to you like that."
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