Stillwater Notebook: Takeaways from Oklahoma State, Florida, Niagara press conferences

STILLWATER, Oklahoma – It’s almost time.

In less than 24 hours, at 2:00 p.m. CT on Friday afternoon, Nebraska baseball will face Florida in its first NCAA Regional appearance since 2021. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.

The Huskers preached sticking to their mentality and approach that got them to Stillwater during the team’s pre-regional media session. Here’s more about what Nebraska’s three potential opponents had to say during their press conferences with some other Husker notes thrown in.

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Florida to put rising freshman Liam Peterson on the hill tomorrow

Tomorrow’s pitching matchup will feature a true freshman with a MLB-Draft worthy arm and 24-year-old Big Ten Pitcher of the Year Brett Sears.

Florida head coach Kevin O’Sullivan knows scoring opportunities will be hard to come by. Ultimately, the challenge is for the Gators to come through with their best at-bats in those moments and cash in. Sears has allowed a run in the first inning in his last five starts, including home runs in two instances.

“He’s a winner, so we’re not going to be given anything,” O’Sullivan said. “It’s not like he’s going to walk four or five over a start. We’re gonna have to earn everything we get. He’s their No. 1 for a reason, they’re in this position for a reason and they just won their tournament for a reason.”

Make no mistake, Nebraska will have its hands full with Liam Peterson.

Opponents are hitting .211 against the right-hander in his last five appearances. He owns a 2.33 ERA in that stretch. It’s a turnaround that could easily be attributed to a spike in confidence. At one point this year, the former No. 34 prospect had an ERA above 8.30.

An endorsement from unanimous 2023 First-Team All-American Jac Caglianone goes a long way.

“He knows what’s expected out of him and everyone knows he has all of the talent in the world,” Caglianone said. “He’s going to go out there and compete whenever he’s out on the mound. Honestly, the biggest thing is how he goes about it. He’s a very hard-working kid and it’s going to be exciting to see what he does in the future.”

Oklahoma State ready to capitalize on third NCAA Regional hosting bid

Oklahoma State has hosted a regional in three straight years. The Cowboys haven’t advanced to a NCAA Super Regional since 2019. In 2022, OSU forced a seventh game against Arkansas before falling 7-3. Omaha bound No. 4 seed Oral Roberts and Dallas Baptist sent the hosts home 0-2 last year.

Head coach Josh Holliday isn’t focused on the past.

“We’ve been a in about a little bit of everything over the last couple of years,” Holliday said. “I think the biggest thing for us is, this is the regional we’re in and past experiences really don’t do anything in terms of the now. This is our ballclub. This is our special group of kids with individuals on it that know who they are and they’re playing very well inside of their game.”

The Cowboys are hot.

Holliday’s squad has won nine of the last 10 including a Big 12 Tournament Championship, the program’s 35th conference title. Oklahoma State has held a spot in the D1Baseball rankings for the last eight weeks. The team has also hit a home run in 10 straight games.

Junior outfielder Zach Ehrhard is a big piece of his team’s success. He’s tasted the heartbreak of the last two years, too. Ehrhard has hits in nine of his last 10 games and batted .405 in the month of March.

“I think we’re playing the best we have all year long,” Ehrhard said. “This is the right time to do it. Winning that tournament gives us another sense of momentum and helps us keep building toward this tournament and is going to give us the confidence we need to go out and play our best.”

Niagara prepares for new experience far from home

Niagara head coach Rob McCoy is in his 16th year with the Purple Eagles. His 261 wins are the most by a coach in program history. His program has produced six MLB Draft selections. Niagara’s 38 wins are the most in program history.

What impresses McCoy the most, is the variety of ways his team has logged those victories.

“Some years you have a great offensive team,” McCoy said. “It takes pressure off your pitching and defense, but also if you don’t pitch and play defense, it puts a lot of pressure on your offense. The one thing this team has been really good at is finding different ways to win.”

The crowd isn’t something he’s concerned with.

The Purple Eagles split a midweek series with NCAA Regional qualifier James Madison earlier this year. A year ago Niagara beat Oregon on the road in a midweek setting and took the series opener with then-No. 14 Florida State during the 2020 campaign.

“When you come from where we come from and you play small to mid-major Division-I baseball and you don’t have it, it’s not intimidating,” McCoy said. “It’s crazy, it’s remarkable but it’s not gonna affect us. When we step between the white lines, the bases are 90 feet, the mound is 60 feet-6 inches and this park is very similar to the dimensions of our park at home.”

Nebraska nuggets

***Josh Caron on Nebraska not getting to take batting practice at O’Brate Thursday due to weather:

“Yeah, it’s always nice to take BP out there the day before. But, I think we’re going to take BP out there tomorrow so we’re just excited to get out there and see it.”

***Brett Sears on the Huskers pitching staff’s hacky sack sessions during practice:

“We gotta stay busy I guess. While the hitters are hitting, we’ve gotta find something to do so we just stay loose and have fun.”

***Nebraska head coach Will Bolt said second baseman Cayden Brumbaugh, a Oklahoma native and OSU transfer, is probably not feeling 100% at this point in the year. But, he brought up Brumbaugh’s key stolen base against Penn State on Sunday as an example of how he’ll be ready to roll this week.

As far as ballpark insights, Bolt said Brumbaugh talked about the offensive nature of the park and how beautiful the grass is.

***Bolt on one of the key traits of the 2024 Huskers:

“The thing that was evident right away from them and their mindset was that they wanted to be in this position,” Bolt said. “They wanted to be sitting in these chairs right now, they wanted to be having this practice today, they wanted to be a part of a group that won and won championships. We have one. You get that feeling, you want more of it. You have to have that collectively in a group.”