With a few flashes of spring weather already this winter, it must be time for the ball and glove to come out of hibernation and America’s pastime to get underway.

For former all-Big Eight centerfielder and Iowa State senior Mike Bahun, the 1997 campaign will be his last in a Cyclone uniform. And Bahun plans to make it count.

Bahun played his high school ball at Omaha Bryan and continued his collegiate ball at Iowa Western Community College in Council Bluffs, where he was named third-team NJCAA All-American after hitting .419 and led the nation in stolen base percentage.

From there, Bahun transferred to Iowa State. He earned second- team all-Big Eight honors a year ago after hitting .327 as the Cyclones’ designated hitter.

The decision for Bahun to come to Iowa State wasn’t a difficult one, with his father living in Norwalk and a dream to play Big Eight ball, which has turned into the Big 12 conference. Besides earning all-Big Eight honors a year ago, Bahun sited a two-game stint with Oklahoma State and Kansas as one of the biggest highlights of his career. In that stint, Bahun went 11-15 and earned Big Eight player-of-the week. What made it even more special is that the current coach for Kansas is former Cyclone coach of 12 years, Bobby Randall.

“It seemed after that two-game series, the season started turning around. Things on the team started clicking after that,” Bahun said.

Although team goals come first for Bahun, he knows the importance of the lead-off hitter.

“I’d like to be the best lead-off hitter in the nation,” Bahun said. “If I can get my offense going that’s only going to help the team get the offense going. Besides, I like the responsibility.”

As for team goals, Bahun cited that many on the team would be happy just to compete well in the Big 12 tournament.

With six teams from the Big 12 ranked in the top twenty-five, that seems like a reasonable goal, but not for Bahun.

“I don’t like to set mediocre goals. I’d like to see us finish in the top two in the conference and get thirty-five wins. We should be able to handle the schools in the northern division and stay competitive with the southern schools.”

Bahun thinks Texas A&M is a clear favorite in the Big 12, with five players that should be high draft picks.

As for Bahun, he is on track to receive his degree in the fall in sports management.

Although he has aspirations to continue his career individually into professional baseball, Bahun wants team success first.

“If the team plays well everything else will fall into place,” Bahun said.

If pro ball doesn’t come through for Bahun, he’d like to become a pro scout. He’s all ready heard from several teams about scouting.

“There are a lot of politics involved,” Bahun said.