After a two-year absence from intercollegiate competition, Iowa State will once again see action on a baseball diamond this weekend.

The ISU Baseball Club will begin play as a member of the National Club Baseball Association Saturday in the first game of a four-game series with Nebraska.

Iowa State is scheduled for a 19-game season this spring. The Cyclones will play the series in Waverly, Neb., with double-headers on Saturday and Sunday.

The Cyclones are a new member of the NCBA’s Central Plains Conference. Besides the Cornhuskers, the third and final conference member is John Brown University, located in Siloam Springs, Ark.

According to its Web site, www.clubbaseball.org, the NCBA has existed since July 2000. It has seen membership grow from 34 teams in 2001 to 68 for the 2003 season, and it expects to grow to more than 80 schools by next season. Baylor, Colorado, Texas Tech and Texas all have club baseball teams in the NCBA.

Senior Justin Cue, who has been a member of the club since its inception, said this weekend will be a chance for his team to predict what the season may hold.

“They’ve already played a bunch of games, and I think they’ve only lost [a few], so they’re pretty good,” Cue said. “We haven’t played any games, so it’s going to be a good test to see how good we are.”

The Cornhuskers, who are 7-3 overall and 3-0 in the conference, are led by Josh Mazur. He is hitting .500 with a team-high three home runs and 13 RBI.

The Baseball Club was formed two years ago as a way for ISU students to continue to play the sport after the athletic department dropped the school’s team because of necessary budget cuts

The team’s faculty adviser, Tom Emmerson, said the baseball club is a good way to keep the sport around, and it may even give Iowa State hope of once again fielding an official NCAA team.

“It is a great effort to keep baseball alive, at some level, at Iowa State,” said Emmerson, professor in the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication. “Maybe one day we can have it back as a varsity sport.”

Home games for the baseball club will be played at Cap Timm Field in the Southwest Athletic Complex. The team will open their home season against John Brown University on April 5.