photo by: Sarah Buchanan/Special to the Journal-World

Free State junior Zane Shaw pitches against Derby on Thursday, May 22, 2025, in Lawrence.

A year ago, Zane Shaw wasn’t sure what his college baseball prospects would look like. Coming off an injury in his sophomore year, Shaw had something to prove to colleges.

Then, Shaw and the Free State baseball team went 28-2 and won the Sunflower League and 6A state championship, with Shaw being a top pitcher for the team. That got him phone calls and visits with Division I schools, one of which was Nebraska.

Shaw committed to Nebraska on July 13, less than a week after he toured the campus.

“I felt like I had to get some pretty big interest with the success I had in the spring season, and then I just started throwing real well in a couple summer outings with big tournaments with schools there,” Shaw said. “I got call after call just from bigger schools each time.”

Nebraska has one of the only dirt fields left in college baseball, with more teams opting to switch to turf fields. That’s one of the little things that Nebraska does right for Shaw, and it’s a reason why he wanted to play at a school with those facilities.

“The Big Ten is one of the big conferences, which is a big deal for me to obviously want to play the best competition,” Shaw said. “They have always had a pretty good football team, so their facilities for all sports were top of the line… super nice.”

Shaw visited Nebraska in early July after competing in several large tournaments against national competition. The visit “wowed” him, and soon after he left his visit, he was ready to commit.

“It was hard for me to decide, and once I finally talked about it enough with enough people and family and friends, I finally could make the call and make the decision,” Shaw said.”It was really nice once I could stop worrying about it and move on to worrying about just my team and moving on to the offseason instead of just worrying about recruiting all the time.”

The University of Nebraska campus in Lincoln, where Shaw will be, is only an hour from Omaha, the site of the College World Series and Schwab Field, the largest college baseball stadium in the country, which Nebraska plays at a couple of times each season. At Nebraska, Shaw will be just outside of the epicenter of the sport, and he’ll be competing daily against some of the best competition in the country.

The Cornhuskers went 33-29 in 2025 with a 15-15 record in the Big Ten Conference. Despite the .500 conference record in the regular season, the Cornhuskers went 4-0 in the Big Ten tournament, beating the top two teams in the conference: Oregon, which was No. 4 nationally at the time, and UCLA, which was No. 13 nationally at the time of the Big Ten championship.

The conference championship secured Nebraska’s spot in the Chapel Hill Regional, where the team went 1-2 with a win over Holy Cross. It was Nebraska’s second straight year with a regional appearance and a Big Ten championship.

Playing in the Big Ten is a draw for Shaw because of its locations. Most schools are in the Midwest, meaning it’s easy for his family to visit and watch games, but it also crosses the country. One weekend, Shaw and his team will be at Jackie Robinson Stadium in UCLA, and the next they could be on the East Coast playing Rutgers.

“(The Big Ten) spans from the Oregon, Washington area to Penn State and Maryland,” Shaw said. “That’s obviously going to be cool. Then also the fact that I’m not going to be super far away from home all the time is nice.”

Shaw still has another year with the Firebirds before graduating and enrolling at Nebraska. While he can spend the year working on some breaking-ball pitches and refining his technique, Shaw has the demeanor to compete right away. He does his best against the best opponents and wants to compete every time he’s on the mound.

Being on the wrestling team has also helped shape his competitive demeanor. He’s mentally prepared to do his best no matter what he’s facing.

“On a rough day, I might give up some hits, but I don’t feel like I’m ever going to go out there and walk everybody, because that’s just not how I’ve ever really been,” Shaw said. “I’ve always competed and wanted to throw strikes and make them hit it. You can always count on me to compete and do my best.”

Committing to Nebraska fulfills a lifelong dream and sets Shaw up for the next stage of his baseball career. His focus can go back to his team and simply playing the game he loves.

“It’s definitely cool getting to this point, but hopefully I can keep progressing and see how far I can take this,” Shaw said.