Nebraska @ Simmons Field: Crunch time in the Big 12

■ Survival of the fittest: MU-NU by the numbers

• NU: 23-24 (7-14; 10th Big 12); MU: 24-22 (7-13; 9th Big 12)

• NCAA RPI: NU: 63rd, MU 98th

• RPI (Boyd's World): NU 63rd, MU 96th

• ISR (Boyd's World): NU 66th, MU 87th

■ Big 12 teams currently guaranteed a top 8 conference finish and a slot in the Big 12 Tournament: Only Texas, at 21-3 in the conference. Just 5 wins separate #2 Texas Tech from #10 Nebraska, with 6 conference games left in the season for most of the teams (OU and UT play non-conference series this weekend). Big 12 Standings

■ Big 12 stock report (NewsOK.com)

It’s been rough, too, on Tigers coach Tim Jamieson, who has used 45 different lineups in 46 games.

■ Crunch time for OSU Cowboys baseball team (stwnewspress.com)

But with only two weeks and six conference games remaining in the regular season, the Cowboys — and the rest of the teams fighting for a spot in the Big 12 Championship — know the days of losing series are over.

At least if you still want to be playing in three weeks.

“We know these next two weekends will make or break us,” OSU second baseman Davis Duren said. “There’s no speeches needed. We know what we have to do.”

■ Okay, here's the deal for Nebraska baseball coach Mike Anderson and his boys of summer (York New-Times). . .

and it's fairly simple for the last place Huskers. Win or sweep the three-game set at Missouri, there is still life and a chance to obtain a berth at the Big 12 Conference tourney at the Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City.. Lose two or more this weekend, there is virtually no tomorrow-

■ Huskers keep up hope for turnaround (HuskerExtra.com)

A win Friday night at Missouri, along with wins by Texas A&M (at Oklahoma State) and second-place Texas Tech (against Baylor), would leave NU in seventh place.

Granted, seldom have things fallen in place so neatly for Mike Anderson’s eighth squad. But at least the Huskers carry the longest active winning streak in the Big 12 at four games.

“There’s good spirit,” Anderson said of the mood that’s come from last weekend’s sweep of Southeast Missouri State that followed a 1-0, series-finale win against A&M. “You revisit goals and you reset them.

“In a strange way, we kind of hold our own destiny for the Big 12 Tournament still, so, bottom line, let’s talk about Oklahoma City. We’ve got some kids that need to experience that.”

■ Fans losing patience with NU (HuskerExtra.com)

What they’ve seen this year is a team hitting .270 in Big 12 play, with a 5.86 ERA.

It’s the latter number — compiled by a 16-member staff that has 10 first-year Huskers — that’s accounted for the brunt of the criticism. But is it fair to say that area of the game is primarily responsible for the team’s pitfalls?

It is to third-year pitching coach Eric Newman.

“Baseball is about pitching — always has been, always will be. I’ll never change my feeling on that,” Newman said after watching four of the five pitchers he sent out Saturday get tagged for runs. “As a head coach, as a pitching coach, I’ve always believed a team feeds off the courage that he shows.

“It shouldn’t be hard. We need to have some pride in this program. Some days we come out here and show courage to do it. Some days we don’t act like we want to be out here. ... I thought this pitching staff would be better than this, based on what I saw in the fall and preseason. I’ve got to keep trying to find ways to get more out of them.”

■ 2-sport athlete Khiry Cooper learning as he goes (HuskerExtra.com)

Mostly, the patience concerns his offense, because the 6-foot-3 and 197-pound sophomore tracks down balls in the outfield with ease. His arm strength’s also improved.

Cooper, though, is 0-for-12 with seven strikeouts against Big 12 Conference pitching. Last year in the league, he was 5-for-24 (.208) with two walks and eight strikeouts.

■ Kiser has given NU a big lift this year (HuskerExtra.com, April 23)

Usually playing designated hitter and batting in the No. 2 spot, Kiser has a .373 average that is 11th in the Big 12 Conference. He’s seventh in runs (39), but most impressive is his on-base percentage of .507 — third-best in the league and tops at Nebraska since Alex Gordon’s .518 mark in 2005.

To put that in better perspective, Gordon was only the third Husker since 2000 to have an on-base percentage of .500 or better. So for Kiser to be in that territory, well, consider that last season he had to get whatever at-bats he could while playing behind senior second baseman Jeff Tezak.

■ Bailey has become a force at the plate (HuskerExtra.com, April 16)

No wonder Bailey chuckles when asked it he’s always been a home-run hitter.

“I just started taking lifting serious and I was told I have pretty quick hands, so I’m trying to use those,” he said, shrugging his shoulders.

Last season, Bailey led the Huskers with 12 homers. But after hitting his ninth in a win at Arkansas on March 18, he went 27 games until hitting his 10th and 11th.

Admittedly, Bailey started thinking how cool it was to be a power hitter and “sometimes I wasn’t thinking the right things,” he said. “The thing I think of most (now) is ‘Don’t hit home runs,’ because home runs get into your head.”