It's warm inside. Baseballs skip off artificial turf. Net cages morph - if only for a moment - after each swing.
Uniforms stay spotless, and cleats hide in locker rooms.
All that, however, will end this afternoon.
No more fake surfaces or closed-in batting cages. No more Hawks Championship Center, the home of the Nebraska baseball team the past couple of months.
No more anything, except the fresh air and grimy dirt of a real game. The Cornhuskers open their 2008 season at Stanford today, beginning with a doubleheader at 4 p.m. followed by two more matchups on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
For Nebraska, it's a brand new start.
"I'll be honest with you," said NU junior infielder Jake Mort. "We can't look at the past. It's good that we got a bunch of new guys. They're not worried about last year, nor are the veterans. We don't look back at 2005, when we went to the (College World Series).
"It's 2008. It's the present."
Gone are those endless spring afternoons of last season, when NU put together an unsatisfactory 32-27 record. When suspensions were passed out like sunflower seeds, and two players were kicked off the team, including standout shortstop Ryan Wehrle.
Today, a host of newcomers will button up uniforms, including nine incoming freshmen. The large class has provided a new look for the Huskers, jarring some attention from whatever footprints they've left behind.
Now they have to brace for the outdoors, something they haven't experienced since fall workouts finished in October.
But that isn't worrying players right now. Not when the new season has finally arrived.
"It's great," said NU senior Jeff Tezak. "Once you get outside, it's like you haven't been gone. After like, say, half a game, half a practice, it's right back to normal."
Adapting is part of the routine on the Great Plains, where frigid air hangs around for months at a time. Instead of smacking home runs and sliding into bases, Nebraska has worked on hitting techniques.
Players have been taking rips in a net cage, honing their timing and consistency. Repeating identical swings pitch after pitch, no matter the count. That's what they'll have to do today against the Cardinals.
Making a transition from indoors to outdoors, though, won't be the hard part.
"Hopefully we can get out there and see their field and play on it for a little bit," Mort said. "It differs every time you go to a new place. It's just trying to get comfortable with their surroundings."
That's not to be overly anguished, though. Now's not a time for over analyzing a baseball stadium or chit-chatting about the weather, at least not according to the Huskers.
"That's not an excuse we're going to use," Mort said.
After all, the Huskers have been facing live pitching in their fair share of practices in recent weeks. Nebraska's staff has had plenty of time to toss its best stuff at teammates, giving hitters a chance to prepare for the real thing.
To them, it is the real thing.
"You expect to have good technique coming in (to the games)," Tezak said. "So you should be ready and fresh. You try to keep your swing sound, stable and balanced. You can work on that a lot when you're indoors."
Walls couldn't protect them anymore Thursday, when the Huskers were scheduled to board a bus at 6 a.m. and head to the airport. Warmth and turf and batting cages were already a thing of the past by then.
A four-month season lay waiting ahead. The same season NU has waited for since last summer.
"It is a nervous deal," Mort said. "Even the veterans, we even get nervous here and there. But we'll be fine. It's just baseball."
michaelmchale@dailynebraskan.com
is a member of the 
