Huskers picked to finish fifth in preseason Big Ten poll

With the start of the college baseball season just two days away, the Big Ten announced the favorite to win the conference on Wednesday in its annual coaches preseason poll.

After a 2023 campaign where it finished 44-16 overall and 15-8 against conference competition, the No. 20-ranked Iowa Hawkeyes are favorite to win the Big Ten. Will Bolt‘s Nebraska, which went 33-23-1 and 15-9 in 2023, was picked to finish fifth.

Iowa, Indiana and Maryland, three teams that made the NCAA Tournament last season, take the 1-3 spots in the poll. The selection process was done by the conference’s 13 head coaches.

Here’s the preseason poll:
1. Iowa
2. Indiana
3. Maryland
4. Rutgers
5. Nebraska
6. Michigan

Along with the preseason team poll, the coaches also selected three players from their respective clubs to make a 39-member Players-to-Watch List.

Nebraska is represented by sophomore shortstop Dylan Carey, junior outfielder Gabe Swansen (a 2023 All-Big Ten second-team pick) and left-handed pitcher/infielder Will Walsh.

The 6-foot-3, 210-pound Carey, who played for the Traverse City Pit Spitters of the Northwoods League last summer, started 53 games in 2023 and owned a .275 batting average. He was third on the team in hits with 57 and had four home runs and 30 RBIs.

Swansen played in 52 games and started 49 of them in 2023. The Iowa native batted .291 with 52 hits and was third on the team in home runs (18) and RBIs (57). His .654 slugging percentage was also third on the team behind the now-departed Max Anderson and Brice Matthews. Swansen played in the Northwoods League for the Willmar Stingers.

Walsh gets the start for the Huskers this Saturday against No. 21 Texas Tech. The 6-4, 220-pounder is entering his fourth season in Lincoln. The redshirt junior started eight games as a pitcher last season and made an appearance on the mound in 15. He went 5-3 and had an ERA of 4.24. Last summer Walsh played for the Morehead City Marlins of the Coastal Plain League.

You can see the full player watch list here.

Nebraska opens the season with a three-game set at Globe Life Stadium in Arlington, Texas, as part of the Shriners Children’s College Showdown. Here’s the weekend rotation:

Friday at 11 a.m. vs. Baylor: RHP Brett Sears
Saturday at 3 p.m. vs. No. 21 Texas Tech: LHP Will Walsh
Sunday at 10:30 a.m. vs. Oklahoma: LHP Caleb Clark

After the three games in Texas are finished, Nebraska travels to Phoenix for a four-game series against Grand Canyon from Feb. 22-25.

Grand Canyon, which went 37-21 overall and 22-7 in conference play last season, was voted the top team in the preseason 2024 Western Athletic Conference (WAC) poll.