Casey Opitz did not grow up an Arkansas baseball fan. His memories of college baseball were tied to road trips to Lincoln, Neb., to watch older brother Jake star for Nebraska’s baseball team.
Jake was an All-Big 12 infielder for the Cornhuskers as a senior in 2008. Casey has great stories about the family loading into a Suburban in the Denver area for long trips to Lincoln and other Big 12 cities to watch Jake.
Dave Van Horn had already left Nebraska and had taken the Arkansas team to the College World Series, but the Opitz family heard the great stories of Van Horn’s time with the Cornhuskers.