By CONOR NICHOLL

cnicholl@dailynews.net

Trevor Longe, the high school baseball coach at Millard South (Neb.) High School, had a simple tenant for Casey Hautpman.

"My coach always said just throw strikes and make them hit the ball," Hauptman said. "It turns out good and bad.

"Good because you get people out, but bad because you give up a lot of hits and homers, whatever it might be," he added.

Hauptman took that approach into his freshman year at the University of Nebraska this spring and for the Larks this summer.

After he posted a 4.34 earned run average for the Cornhuskers and seeing time in the NCAA tournament, Hauptman, a control artist, has emerged as the Larks No. 2 starter.

He will take the ball tonight in Game 2 for the Larks in the National Baseball Congress World Series at Wichita's Lawrence-Dumont Stadium. Hauptman (5-1, 2.78 ERA) will face the Southern California Fire at 5 p.m. (KAYS 1400 AM).

"It's all about that one game," Hauptman said. "I just have to go out and make my pitches and take it inning by inning."

Hays, the runner-ups in 2007, won its first round game Tuesday night when they run-ruled the San Diego Waves, 10-0, in six innings, a game that outfielder Joe Huwer called "the complete package," a sentiment echoed by second baseman and three-year Lark Rich Michalek.

"Now everyone is comfortable," Michalek said Tuesday. "We know that we can play in this environment. I think it is really going to carry over for us. If we play like we did today, I don't know how we are going to lose."

Hays, the No. 2 overall seed, is the highest seed left in the winners' bracket. Defending champion Havasu (Ariz.) Heat and the top seed, lost to Liberal, 6-3, on Wednesday night to fall into the losers' bracket.

Hauptman has a chance to move the Larks one step closer to a national title - and possibly match ace Patrick Cooper's one-hit shutout against San Diego.

Hauptman, more so than any other starter, has matched Cooper's season this summer.

Success has simply come by throwing strikes.

In the spring, he walked six batters in 18Ôªø2âÑ3 innings, a rate he has bettered this summer.

Hauptman has walked just 13 batters in 55 innings (2.13 walks per nine innings), the lowest rate of any Hays pitcher, starter or reliever.

The low walk rate has yielded 55 innings pitched, second only to Cooper's 69. At least six innings tonight would give Hauptman the third most innings of any Lark in the past three years.

After relieving all spring for the Huskers, Hauptman has made the transition into the rotation, his spot all through high school.

"I started all my life until Nebraska, and that was a big change, and then coming back to starting, I think it is a lot easier actually because you have a schedule and if you are going to start this day, you can plan your workouts, your long toss and your bullpens," he said.

Hauptman mainly throws a four-seam fastball, slider and changeup and occasionally will throw from a three-quarters delivery arm slot.

The control has yielded several long outings, but it's also yielded a lot of hits, the "bad" for Hauptman.

His .265 opponents' batting average is second-highest among all Larks' pitchers, while he has permitted a team-high eight homers.

Hauptman, though, does have one complete game (Cooper is the only other starter to go the distance) when he covered 67 pitches in seven innings against Derby.

The control has allowed Hauptman to still allow plenty of hits, but keep runners off base.

"Giving people free walks is not a good thing to do, not a good habit to have," he said.

He went eight innings, a season-high for any Hays pitcher, in a July 22 win against Dodge City.

In his last three starts, Hauptman is 3-0 with a 2.00 ERA in 18 innings pitched with 17 strikeouts.

He has walked just three batters in those outings, the customary control that Hauptman looks to exhibit again tonight.