LINCOLN — The pitcher who started Nebraska's final four Big 12 series openers as a true freshman last season has decided to transfer.
Left-hander Logan Ehlers joined the Huskers in 2010 after choosing not to sign a potentially lucrative pro baseball contract, but he's leaving the team after one tumultuous year.
Ehlers told The World-Herald Wednesday that he's identified “a few” possible destinations, though he's not yet decided where to transfer. The presumption is that Ehlers will opt for a junior college to become eligible for the MLB draft next summer.
Ehlers declined to discuss the situation in detail Wednesday. He's apparently been considering a change for a few weeks, NU baseball coach Darin Erstad said.
The sophomore from Nebraska City is still enrolled at Nebraska and is on track to fully recover from offseason shoulder surgery, but Erstad said Ehlers has “had some issues on his mind” since the semester started last month.
“He just felt he needed to (take) a different path in life,” the first-year Husker coach said Wednesday. “I wanted him here and tried to talk him through it, but in the end he made a decision and I'm going to support what he did and try and help him anyway I can.”
Erstad was hired in June to replace Mike Anderson, who played a vital role in luring Ehlers to Nebraska but was fired after the Huskers missed the postseason for the third straight year.
Ehlers, a two-time All-Nebraska selection at Nebraska City, could have gone pro last year after he was drafted in the eighth round by the Toronto Blue Jays. The 6-foot-2, 220-pounder reportedly turned down an $800,000 signing bonus.
He picked NU, but the NCAA accused Ehlers of using an adviser to help negotiate a deal with the Blue Jays and suspended him for 60 percent of his freshman season. Ehlers served a separate three-game suspension issued by Anderson after he was ticketed for minor in possession in April.
Ehlers finished the season — but not before developing discomfort in his throwing shoulder, an injury that ultimately forced him to leave summer ball early.
“I had some good talks with him this summer, but I think he got back to school, had a lot on his plate and felt the need to take a different direction,” Erstad said.
Ehlers had been working out with the team, which began fall practice Sept. 8. He was expected to be an important contributor.
In seven appearances for the Huskers last year, Ehlers went 1-3 with a 4.30 ERA, recording 20 strikeouts in 29 1⁄3 innings. His most memorable highlight came against Creighton on April 19, when he hurled 5 1⁄3 scoreless innings in relief to earn his lone collegiate win.
Without him, Erstad has yet another key spot to fill as he prepares the Huskers for their first season in the Big Ten.
The team's top hitter, Cody Asche, got drafted in the fourth round and signed a contract with the Philadelphia Phillies. The Huskers' closer, Casey Hauptman, graduated and is pitching for the Brooklyn Cyclones, a short-season Single A affiliate of the New York Mets.
But Erstad likes what he's seen from the Huskers a week into fall practice.
“It's a situation where we'll move forward with what we have,” Erstad said. “We're going to have people that want to be in. … Right now we're basically just instilling our culture, and how we're going to play the game of baseball.”
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