Big 12 Baseball Quotes & Notes

Texas Tech

■ Spencer, Raiders vying to get back into postseason (RedRaiders.com)

“I think this club is hungry,” Spencer said. “They had a little taste of success last year and they also had their feelings hurt in the last game of the tournament. All those things are good.

“When regionals begin being talked about my feeling is they’ll be talking about the Texas Tech. We have enough starting pitching, we’re going to play good defense and we should be an offensive bunch as far as guys who can hit and guys who can run. For people nationally to overlook the Red Raiders and not talk about the Red Raiders as being a contender and going to a regional, I think that’s foolishness.”

■ Also check out Get to know your Raiders

Baylor

■ Weather not slowing baseball practice schedule (WacoTrib.com)

“The weather hasn’t kept us yet from getting what we need to get done,” said Baylor coach Steve Smith, whose team will open its season Feb. 19 with a home doubleheader against Duke and Georgia. “We’ve had enough time to get in about six intrasquad (scrimmages). We still will get that done, provided we don’t have any extended bad weather.”

During one chilly afternoon earlier this week, the Bears sported some new hats adorned with cloth flaps to keep their ears warm — kind of the Elmer Fudd look, so to speak.

Kansas

■ Father-son duo makes Division 1 history (ESPN.com)

And then there are Kansas head coach Ritch Price and his son Ritchie of South Dakota State, Division I's youngest head coach at age 25, a father and son who have a unique connection amidst the baseball landscape. There have been other father-son pairs to both enter the college coaching ranks, but, according to Baseball America's research, the Prices are the first such combo to be leading D-I programs at the same time.

Kansas State

■ Cats face high expectations (CJOnline.com)

Coming off arguably the best season in school history along with the departure of last year's senior class and Big 12 pitcher of the year A.J. Morris, the Kansas State baseball team now must deal with heightened expectations.

Oklahoma

■ Q&A with Sunny Gollaway (SoonerSports.com)

What are some of the club's strengths? No question about it ... depth. We have a chance to manage this club better than ever before. This team has interchangeable parts across the board. We have four middle infielders, three players at first base and designated hitter, eight or more outfielders and depth behind the plate despite losing J.T. Wise. This team has speed and power off the bench and left-handed arms in the rotation and out of the bullpen. That gives us the ability to use multiple arms on both sides of the mound, different base runners, defensive specialists and designated hitters or bunters throughout nine innings and across a 56-game schedule.

Also check out Sooners' Depth Chart

■ SoonerSports.com has a great collection of 2010 Newcomer Video Spotlights. Great promotional feature to get the fans excited about the team.

Nebraska

■ NU 'poster boy' Belfonte refreshed after break (Omaha.com)

Belfonte returned this season with an invigorated approach. We'll soon see about the Huskers.

“I never gave up on baseball,” he said. “The time off made me appreciate how much I enjoy playing the game. I think it gave me a little grasp of reality. I lost sight of the most important thing about it — just enjoying being out there, playing the game and winning.”

■ Husker baseball players suffer from cabin fever (HuskerExtra.com)

“The kids, some of them have worked out indoors, some of them haven’t. The ones that haven’t, it’s that time of year that you should be outside doing things because that’s what they’ve done all their life,” Anderson said. “I won’t say that I forgot, but Dave and Eric came and said, ‘Hey, you need to say it again, because you can see the little bit of cabin fever that they’re feeling. Tell them we’re fine.’ And we are.

“There’s nothing we can’t get done except playing a live game.”