They know each other like brothers.

Serving together for eight years on Nebraska’s coaching staff, Mike Anderson and Rob Childress helped the Cornhuskers make three College World Series appearances. They also developed a strong bond off the field.

“We still talk once or twice a week,” said Childress, who has been Texas A&M’s head coach for three years after eight seasons as Nebraska’s pitching coach. “Sometimes we talk about baseball, but mostly it’s about how our families are doing. Mike is a close friend and will always be.”

This weekend, the eyes of the Big 12 will be on Childress and Anderson.

Childress will bring his No. 9 Aggies to Lincoln to play the No. 5 Cornhuskers in the biggest Big 12 baseball series of the season. Riding a 15-game conference winning streak, the Aggies are 18-3 and stand 2 1/2 games ahead of the second-place Cornhuskers.

Nebraska needs a sweep to overtake the Aggies, and will have about 8,500 fans dressed in scarlet and cream behind them at Haymarket Park.

“People have been charged up in anticipation for this series for weeks,” said Anderson, who has been Nebraska’s head coach for six years after eight years as an assistant. “We’ve tried to stay focused on the teams we were playing the last few weeks and not look too far ahead. But now it’s here.”

With veteran starters like Johnny Dorn and Thad Weber, Nebraska’s pitching staff has been the best in the league with a 3.46 ERA. But Anderson knows the Cornhuskers will have their hands full with an Aggies offense that leads the Big 12 with a .330 team batting average and 396 runs. No team in the league can match A&M’s blend of power and speed.

More than 1 way to score

“They can score runs in bunches,” Anderson said. “We’ve got more of a systematic offense that gets a run here and there. We’re probably going to need some big innings.”

While A&M has blasted 61 homers, Nebraska has hit a league-low 25. Though the Cornhuskers haven’t produced anything close to A&M’s offensive numbers, they have delivered key hits all season.

The most pressure will be on A&M freshman starting pitchers Brooks Raley and Barret Loux, who will face the biggest crowds of their careers.

“We’re just going to have to take care of business and not worry about the external factors,” Childress said. “We need to do what we’ve been doing all year and see how the cards fall at the end. Our guys won’t bow down. They’ll compete and play hard.”

Omaha or bust for Aggies

While Anderson has kept the Cornhuskers playing at a high level since taking over the program from Dave Van Horn six years ago, Childress has quickly rebuilt A&M’s program. The Aggies finished last in the Big 12 during Childress’ first season in 2006, but rebounded with a Super Regional appearance last year.

With a 41-8 record this season, the Aggies won’t be satisfied with anything short of a trip to Omaha.

“We’ve done the same thing at A&M that we did at Nebraska,” Childress said. “We recruited the right players and developed them and asked them to play with a chip on their shoulder.”

Baylor coach Steve Smith, whose team played Nebraska and A&M in recent series, gives the edge this weekend to the Cornhuskers.

“A&M is real good offensively, but it will be a real test for their two freshman starters to go to Lincoln for a series of this magnitude,” Smith said. “Nebraska is extremely tough mentally and has two seniors on the mound. I’d give the nod to the home team.”

If his team didn’t have a weekend date at Kansas, Missouri coach Tim Jamieson would love to be in Lincoln this weekend.

“It’s going to be a great series between two top 10 teams,” Jamieson said. “I can see them both playing in Omaha in a month.”

jwerner@wacotrib.com

757-5716