BASEBALL: A chat with Michael Guerrero

Junior college transfer Michael Guerrero, a center fielder and designated hitter, has been an important component in the Rebels’ 14-6 start. Here’s what he had to say about the team’s offensive inconsistency.

(What is your take on what’s going on with the offensive consistency?)

If I had to say right now it would be the aggressiveness of the team. It depends on … it’s hitting. Hitting is contagious. If the first of the lineup gets on, it’s pretty much going to move down to the end of the lineup. That’s the way our lineup works. When we hit we all hit.

We’re just not swinging. We’re feeling a little unconfident about ourselves. It happens every year to every baseball player.

I’d rather go through it and have a little skid early now than late. We’re not getting the timely hitting like we need to get when we have a runner on second with less than two outs. We’re not getting that done, but we’ve done it, so we know we can do it.

(Hitting with runners in scoring position has been a problem. How does the approach at the plate change with men in scoring position?)

You just have to focus up, barrel the ball up and know how coach wants you to get it done. We work on it a lot in practice when we do situational hitting. We work on hitting the fastball instead of hitting the pitcher’s pitch, which will be something off-speed. We go up there looking for fastballs.

(How has coach Reinstetle worked with you guys during this time?)

He just says swing. There’s not much you can say when a pitcher’s doing his thing. You just have to swing and get good bat on it, and eventually it’s going to drop.

We’re a little bit concerned. We just had a meeting with coach, and he let us have it a little. He let us know we have to start producing like we know we should. But it happens. It happens every year. Every team goes through it. We’re not really worried about it. We know what we’re capable of, and the lineup is deadly.

— PA

FYI: March Madness

I’m doing some work at home this morning, and I have March Madness on in the background. I keep looking for the Bryce Drew shot that lifted Valparaiso past the Rebels in 1998. That seemed for a while to be the school’s basketball equivalent to the Billy Cannon run. If you’ve seen the clip this season post a message. I haven’t seen it today. Maybe after 10 years it’s been replaced.

– PA

HOOPS: Second round time, TV

Tipoff against Nebraska will be 8 p.m., and the game will again be an ESPNU telecast which means it will be seen by hundreds across the nation.

– PA

HOOPS: About last night

Notes and observations from Ole Miss’ 83-68 first-round NIT win over Cal-Santa Barbara:

Along came Jones: It speaks well of the Rebels’ depth that sophomore Rodney Jones, who had appeared in only seven games, could provide 22 quality minutes and give the type of defensive effort that he gave.

Jones wasn’t the first option to replace Eniel Polynice. That was freshman Zach Graham, who has better offensive skills and has played much more this year. Graham isn’t a top-notch defender, however. I didn’t realize at first that Graham was out of the game for tweaking an ankle but thought instead that it was a lineup decision made by Ole Miss coach Andy Kennedy.

No word yet on the availability of Polynice and Graham for Monday’s second-round game against Nebraska, which defeated Charlotte 67-48 in Lincoln last night. The game will be in Oxford.

Polynice hurt his knee against Alabama but had not missed a game because of it. Soreness increased on Tuesday when he was held out of practice, and he was having trouble running on it Wednesday.

Jones did a good job of chasing around a very athletic player in UCSB’s Alex Harris.

One of the biggest keys in holding the Gauchos to 37.7 percent shooting, however, was the help Jones received after he was beaten off the dribble by Harris, which happened a few times.

This is an area in which the Rebels have improved over the course of the year. Whether because of better communication or what have you, the bigs in the paint are helping better when someone is beaten up top.

 Consistent Huertas: Sophomore guard David Huertas got off to a slow start but came around to shoot 5-for-9 from 3-point range. Huertas is averaging 18.1 points over his last five games and has hit 12 of his last 20 3-point attempts.

While he attempted only two shots inside the arc last night, missing them both, he has been and remains a basketball player and not only a long-range shooter. He had four assists last night and was one of the first guards to really get center Dwayne Curtis involved.

Huertas lacks the quickness of many guards but is very good with the ball. He also had two steals.

When Curtis got rolling the Rebels were able to force the issue in the paint, which was exactly what the smaller Gauchos didn’t want. They weren’t exactly the Oompa-loompahs on the side, but they had no bulk.

Curtis and Kenny Williams gave good effort defending outside the lane when necessary, but the USCB bigs also missed some open looks. That’s a good thing, because guard James Powell did not, going 6-for-9 behind the arc, including a big 3 over a solid screen to make it a one-point game at the half.

Warren’s half: He can vanish or he can light it up, and Chris Warren found his stroke in the second half when he was 3-for-4 from 3-point range. He scored all of his 16 points after the intermission. Warren is an explosive player who scores in bunches. That’s why he’ll always get his minutes, even after a first half of struggle like he endured last night. Warren got his bigs involved in the second half, but it was his shooting that helped the Rebels pull away.

What’s next: The Huskers are coming to Oxford for a Monday night game in the second round. Nebraska is 20-12. It was 2-8 on the road, 2-6 in Big 12 road games. The Huskers will arrive averaging 66.8 points and holding opponents to under 60 at 59.9. Center Aleks Maric averages 15.1 points and 10 rebounds. No other player averages double figure points.

Nebraska has a lot of players capable of hitting a 3 but shoots from the arc at just 34.4 percent.

– PA