8A THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
FRIDAY. JANUARY 27, 2006
TODAY
ATHLETICS CALENDAR
- Swimming vs. Drury, 5 p.m., Lawrence
- SATURDAY
- Men's basketball at Iowa State, 11 e.m., Ames, Iowa
Women's basketball at Bay-
+ Tennis vs. Drake, 11 a.m.
Topeka
Track, Jayhawk Invitational,
all day, Lawrence
Player to watch:
Senior Tiffany Cherry
She set a KU/KSU/
MU TRIangular meet record last
weekend on the 60-meter dash with a time of 7.55.
Cherry
MONDAY
Men's basketball vs. Texas Tech, 8 p.m., Lawrence
WEDNESDAY
- Baseball vs. Hawaii-Hilo, 12
a.m. Hilo, Hawaii
+ Women's basketball vs Colorado, 7 p m., Allen Fieldhouse
SWIMMING & DIVING
SWIMMING & DIVING Kansas to face Drury on senior night
The swimming and diving team will face Drury tonight for its last home meet of the season.
The Jayhawks take on the Panthers at 5 p.m. at Robinson Gymnasium. Admission is free.
Kansas (6-2, 2-0 Big 12 Conference) will face a Drury team that is No. 3 in Division II. Kansas is No. 23 in Division I.
"Drury is very good. They should win the Division I championship," Kansas coach Clark Campbell said. "They are as good as any Division I team we will face."
Tonight is senior night and the team's six seniors will be announced before the meet. Kansas' last meet was against Nebraska. The Jayhawks won 10 of the 14 events and beat the Cornhuskers 176-124.
-Betty Kaspar
BASEBALL
Eighth place no prize for Jayhawks
BY SHAWN SHROYER
sshroyer@kansan.com
KANSA SPORTWRITER
If the final standings were based on the preseason Big 12 Coaches poll, the Jayhawks would finish eighth this year. But Kansas plans to use the 2005 season to prove that prediction wrong.
Kansas coach Ritch Price said he did not intend for his team to finish in the Top 25. "In our conference we've got several baseball schools that are perennial Top 25 programs and have been for a long time," Price said. "We think we can
finish in the first five, but the bottom line is you got to get it done on the field."
Kansas will get that opportunity against 10 teams that made the 2005 NCAA tournament and a Texas A&M squad that is ranked No. 29 in the Preseason Rosenblatt Report's Top 35.
Despite having to face additional ranked opponents such as Southern California, Clemson, Baylor, Nebraska and defending national champion Texas on the road, players said they were up to the challenge.
Kansas is coming off its third straight 30-win season. The Jayhawks will also return seven position players who started last season and two starting pitchers.
The Cleveland Indians drafted starting outfielder Gus Milner in the amateur draft after last season, yet Milner decided to return to Kansas for his senior season instead to prove a point.
"Everybody looks down on KU," Milner said. "We've got a lot of returning people and last year, we were pretty experienced, so I think we could make a push for a lot better than eighth place this year."
to the team is senior pitcher Ricky Fairchild, who transferred from Tulane. Tulane reached the College World Series last season. He said the Jayhawks fate this season will rely on how far the pitching staff takes them.
"Our hitters are really swinging the bat well, both in the fall and now in the spring, and our pitchers are starting to come around. We have a lot of young guys that have a lot of promise. I think our season's going to be determined on how well they pitch," he said.
"There's no reason we can't
be top five in the Big 12 and Top 25 in the country," senior outfielder Matt Baty said.
Baty said he agreed with the preseason ranking of eighth, though, because Kansas had yet to prove itself. Baty has different aspirations for this season.
"Our goal is to make a regional," Baty said. "Our first year, our goal was to make it to the Big 12 tournament. Now we've reached that goal two times out of three years. Now it's time to make a regional and make a stand for KU baseball."
BASEBALL
Edited by John Jordan
'Horns lead the way in conference play
BY STEPHEN HAWKINS
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
DALLAS — As always, the expectations are high for the Texas Longhorns after they won their second national championship in four years. The preseason hype for Missouri is a new experience.
The Tigers are the only Big 12 team besides the unanimously top-ranked Longhorns listed in each of the three major preseason polls. The Tigers are coming off their third straight NCAA tournament appearance, but the 40 wins last season were their most since 1991.
Missouri has all of its position starters back except All-Big 12 outfielder James Boone (.340, 8 home runs and 7 RBIs). The Tigers return their top two starting pitches juniors Max Scherzer (9-4, 1.86 ERA) and Nathan Culp (9-2, 3.50), a left-hander.
Texas lost five position starters, including three senior infielders. While they return six pitchers, they have to find a replacement for closer J. Brent Cox (8-3, 19 saves, 1.73).
Baylor, which has to replace three top pitchers, was picked fourth by the Big 12 coaches, followed by Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, Kansas,
Texas Tech and Kansas State.
Nebraska won a school-record and NCAA-high 57 games last season. Among the Cornhuskers' 15 returning lettermen are pitchers Joba Chamberlain (10-2, 2.81), Johnny Dorn (12-2, 2.16) and Brett Jensen (3-5, 16 saves, 1.96).
Oklahoma, with eight position starters and three starting pitchers back from another NCAA regional team, and Texas A&M have new head coaches.
Sunny Galloway led the Sooners to a 12-6 record as interim coach at the end of last season after coach Larry Cochell resigned after making racially insensitive marks.
Kansas plays the earliest opener in the Big 12, Wednesday at Hawaii-Hilo. Senior first baseman Jared Schweitzer (.366, 7 HRs, 32 RBIs) is among six returning starters.
Larry Hays goes into his 20th season at Texas Tech, which has to replace six position starters. Hays has 730 of his 1,425 victories (fourth among active coaches) with the Red Raiders.
Kansas State third-year coach Brad Hill can depend on 20 returning lettermen from last year's 30-25 squad. That includes eight pitchers, with the weekend starting rotation intact.
Crash course
Calgary Flames' Chuck Kobasew, left, and Chicago Blackhawks' Kyle Calder, right, get tangled up near the boards during the first period of an NHL hockey game Thursday night in Chicago. The Blackhawks won 2-0.
Jeff Roberson/The Associated Press
TENNIS
Kansas looks to break even against Drake
The Kansas tennis team will compete in its first in-state match on Saturday at 11 a.m., when it faces Drake.
The match will be held in Topeka.
The Jayhawks enter the match with a 1-1 record. Kansas lost to Indiana, but defeated Ball State last weekend.
This will be the first match of the season for Drake.
Saturday will mark the third of 26 matches for the Jayhawks during the spring season.
— Antonio Mendoza
TRACK & FIELD Jayhawks looking for home field advantage
The Kansas men's and women's track teams will play host to 41 other area schools for this Saturday's Jayhawk Invitational.
The meet will kick off at 9 a.m. at the Anschutz Sports Pavilion in Lawrence. The women's weight throw will be the first event. The last scheduled event will be the men's 3200-meter relay at 7:15 p.m.
Kansas coach Stanley Red-
wine, who was happy with last
week's KUKSU/MU Triangular
meet, said he would enjoy see-
ing a crowd at home for the
Jayhawks since there will be
so many teams at the meet.
Evan Kafarakis
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