There’s a sports adage that says, “if you’re not cheating, you’re not trying.” My SEC friends attribute it to Alabama having said that but images of Deflategate and Lance Armstrong immediately come to my mind. NASCAR driver Richard Petty was quoted in a 1972 article, “if you ain’t trying to cheat a little, you ain’t likely to win much.”
Well Huskers don’t cheat and baseball isn’t one of the places where that adage would normally apply, but apparently there may have been some “sign stealing” going on during the Husker v LSU game. At least that’s what the LSU pitcher thought….
Husker baseball in Houston against LSU Tigers (photo Kelli Anne)
In an article by Ross Dellenger for The Advocate, he quotes LSU Coach Paul Mainieri, “Somehow our pitcher knew that they were doing it, and it really made him angry.”
I’m never going to say that any Husker coach would cheat. I’m sure Bill Callahan did plenty of it. But not playing fair is simply NOT a part of the culture for Nebraska. That being said, if he was –and I’m not say he was — is it just part of the game or is it cheating? Hey, if you’re going to telegraph what you’re doing, I guess you will have to expect people to pick up on it.
Having attended the game, I would think part of Godfrey’s ire would have been directed at the umpire. There was some shabby officiating during the entire tournament. There was an interesting strike zone at times and some flat out blown calls on the bases. And not just in the Husker games. LSU pitcher Jake Godfrey is known for his emotions on the mound. Unfortunately the Husker bats couldn’t get it to translate into a W.
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Huskers had their chance to break open the game with bases loaded in the 7th off hits from Headley, Lubach, a walk to Darby and a hit by Christensen. Reveles hit into a tailor made double play to end the threat by the Cornhuskers. (Placzek had created the first out with a fielder’s choice).
Sophomore Derek Burkamper kept the game within reach through six innings after starting off a little rocky. At most he saw only 4 batters come to the plane in each of the next 5 innings. Jake Meyers and Austin Chestnut finished up the game on the hill for the Huskers.
Husker baseball team in the dugout (Photo Kelli Anne)
Huskers are in action on Tuesday at 1:35 against Northern Colorado in their first home game this season. catch it at HuskersNSide. and GO BIG RED!!