Although the Cornhuskers are coming to town this weekend, the Cyclones are more worried about not losing to themselves.

Iowa State is going into this weekend’s series against Nebraska trying to rebound from a 16-error performance last weekend when they dropped three of four games to South Dakota.

“We had a lot of errors; they had a lot of errors too but they did a better job of capitalizing on them.  We killed ourselves in the last series, we just need to relax and play ball like I know we can because I still believe we’re the best team in the conference. We just haven’t been playing up to our potential yet,” said player-coach Andy Schmid.

The Huskers don’t present the Cyclones with any easier of a task as they are coming off a season in which they were ranked seventh in nation in the NCBA, and commonly get the players who are almost good enough to make their D-1 program.

“They are always a force to be reckoned with, but if we play our best ball there is no team in the conference that can beat us,” Schmid said.

Despite the talent of the Cornhuskers, that attitude has paid off for the Cyclones in the past.

“Over the past couple of years, we’ve split with Nebraska so we play them like any other team, just come out looking to win,” said junior second baseman Erik Klinsky.

Klinsky acknowledged that the team has struggled against slower pitchers, so the Huskers’ high-speed hurlers may play to their advantage.

“When we go up against a slower pitcher, a lot of us tend to have issues because we are used to faster speeds from the mound. I think we will have a better chance of putting the ball in play because the pitchers are more the speed we’re used to,” Klinsky said.

Schmid feels the team’s 3-5 record could improve if the pitching comes in line with the fielding and it is a matter of combining everything into one.

He went on to say that another key to success this weekend against the Huskers is not committing mental errors such as throwing the ball when it isn’t needed.

“We had a situation where the guy was clearly on the base and we try to throw him out and it goes over the guys head and gives him an extra base,” Schmid said.  “Those are the errors we don’t need.”

Schmid also talked about the Huskers’ talent level with their consistency of getting close to D-1 level players not having much affect on his guys’ confidence.