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The University Daily Kansan
Life in the fast lane Larry Woydziak, Lawrence firefighter, plans to bowl at least one game in all 105 Kansas counties. He'll document his experience in a journal called "Larry's Gutter Life."
Life in the fast lane
Sports
Inside: The Kansas lacrosse club split a pair of games last weekend in Iowa City, Iowa.
TUESDAY, APRIL 4, 2000
SEE PAGE 2B
Inside: Scores and highlights from Major League Baseball's opening day.
SEE PAGE 3B
WWW.KANSAN.COM/SPORTS
Top-seeded Spartans win it all
Cleaves leads team to championship
The Associated Press
INDIANAPOLIS — This time there was no Magic, just Mateen.
Michigan State, with Magic Johnson cheering in the stands, won its second national championship as Mateen Cleaves led the Spartans to an 89-76 victory against Florida last night.
It was 21 years ago that the championship game between Michigan State and Indiana State — Magic vs. Bird — changed the landscape of college basketball. The 1979 final still is the highest-rated telecast of an NCAA basketball game — the one that hooked the nation on the NCAA tournament.
This one may not have the magnitude, but it had the drama — thanks to Cleaves, the Spartans' limping leader.
After helping the Spartans build a 43-32 halftime lead by scoring 13 points, including going 3-for-3 from three-point range, and negating Florida's vaunted full-court pressure with his ball handling and passing. Cleaves rolled his right ankle early in the second half and had to go to the locker room.
When he left with 16:18 to play, the Spartans led 50-44. His teammates got the lead to 58-50 by the time he returned 4:29 later. But the senior guard who missed the first 13 games of the season while recovering from a stress fracture in his right foot, again was the team's emotional leader.
His long pass to Morris Peterson for a layup made the score 60-50. He was leveled while setting a screen a few minutes later, but it was enough to spring A.J. Granger for a three-pointer that started a 16-6 run that made it 84-66 and put the game away.
Cleaves certainly didn't do it by himself.
Peterson finished with 21 points on 7-for-14 shooting, and Granger had 19 and was 7-for-11 from the field.
Cleaves was 7-for-11 from the field — all the shots coming before he was injured — and had 18 points and four assists.
The Spartans (32-7), the only top-seeded team to reach the Final Four,
finished 33-for-59 from the field (56 percent), the best against Florida's frantic pace by far in the tournament. The previous best was 43 percent by top-ranked Duke in the regional semifinals.
Michigan State never seemed fazed by the pressure, beating it early with long passes. The Spartans were their usual efficient selves when they ran their halfcourt game, getting good
looks and crashing the boards when they missed.
The Michigan State bench was considered a key to any chance the Spartans had. Florida's
reserves had outscored it 175-45 in the tournament, but Jason Richardson had nine points as the Spartans' back-ups came up big.
Udonis Haslem had a season-high 27 points for the fifth-seeded Gators (29-9), while Brent Wright added 13.
Michigan State, which beat Wisconsin in 53-41 in an ugly all-Big Ten national semifinal, won all six games on its title run by at least 11 points.
The Spartans closed the season with 11 straight wins and are the first Big Ten team to win it all since Michigan in 1989.
Florida, looking to become the fourth straight Southeastern Conference team to win the national championship in an even-numbered year, was making its first appearance in a championship game.
The Gators had seven freshmen and sophomores in their 10-man rotation, and this was the first game in the tournament that showed their lack of experience.
Cleaves had two three-pointers in the 14-3 run that gave the Spartans a 33-20 lead with 6:51 to play, but a three-point play by Haslem and a basket by Donnell Harvey got the Gators within 35-29 with 4:05 left.
Charlie Bell and Cleaves sandwiched threees around a layup by Haslem, and the Spartans had a 43-32 halftime lead.
Michigan State's Morris Peerson celebrates the Spartans victory against Florida in the NCAA Championship last game, at the RCA Dome in Indianapolis. The Spartans beat the Gators 89-76. KRT photo
Softball team looks to seek revenge on field
Rebecca Barlow
Rebecca Barlow
sports@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
The Kansas softball team wants some revenge for a hit one of its members took earlier this season.
Centerfelder Shelly Musser suffered a concussion trying to steal second base after a Creighton Bluejay infielder accidentally kicked her in the head Feb. 25. The Jayhawks were not able to regain composure — they had five errors, and the Bluejays took advantage of that to win 7-1.
The 'Hawks are looking forward to playing Creighton again, because they say the outcome of the previous game could have been different had Musser not been injured.
ready to go. We'll wait.
The Jayhawks, 19-18 overall and 1-3 in the Big 12 Conference, will need to get a few hits offensively if they want a win against Creighton. The Bluejays, 19-11 overall, finished first in the Missouri Valley Conference last season.
"This is going to be a big game for us for sure," said outfielder Erin Garvey. "Everybody is going to be pumped up and ready to go. We all want revenge."
The Jayhawks' offence, which has been inconsistent since the beginning of the season, has made winning games difficult.
Kansas was shut out Sunday against Texas A&M and couldn't get a runner in scoring position as it was out-hit by the Aggies 6-2. It was a role reversal from Saturday's 2-1 win, when Kansas out-hit Texas A&M 7-5.
If not, they will rely on the well-used arms of Sarah Clopton and Melanie DeWinter. Clopton, who lowered her ERA to under 2.00 for the first time this year, was solid during Sunday's game, after relieving DeWinter in Saturday's game.
Simply put, the Hawks have to get the bats swinging today to avoid a continuation of Sunday's loss.
"We get a chance to bounce back (from the loss to Texas A&M) and maybe get back on track offensively," said coach Tracy Bunge.
The Jayhawks will play a doubleheader today at Jayhawk Field. The first game begins at 3 p.m. and the second begins at 5 p.m.
She pitched eight innings during the weekend series, allowing seven hits and two runs. But it wasn't enough.
Kansas catcher Leah Tabb scores a run at a recent home game. The Jayhawks will play a doubleheader today, with games at 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. at Jayhawk Field. Photo by Aaron Lindbender/KANSAN
Royals fall 5-4 against Blue Jays in opener
Associated Press
TORONTO — Tony Batista started paying back the Toronto Blue Jays for the big contract they gave him during the off season.
"I know I'm going to have more opportunities here." Batista said yesterday after his second home run of the game, a drive with two outs in the ninth, which gave the Blue Jays a 5-4 opening-day win against the Kansas City Royals.
Batista, who had 31 homers and 100 RBIs last season, hit a two-run home off Jeff Suppan in the fourth and connected again in the ninth off Jerry Spradil. During the off season, Toronto gave Batista a $16 million, four-year deal.
"I have more security," Batista said. "But this is another year. I'm not thinking about last year. I need to keep working hard."
Shannon Stewart also homered twice for the Blue Jays, who drew 40,898, 10,000 under capacity, to SkyDome. The crowd included 10,000 school kids who got in for free.
"We have a very ternal team here," Stewart said. "We have power, we have speed, we can play defense, we have good pitching. Hopefully, this is the
start of good things for us this year."
"It's not a sign," said Royals manager Tony Muser. "It's just the first game. We've got a lot of games left."
It was a rocky start for the Royals' bullpen. Last year, Kansas City blew 39 of 59 save chances.
Toronto closer Billy Koch got his first career win after wasting a 4-2 lead in the ninth when Gregg Zaun hit a two-run single.
Stewart hit opposite-field homers to right-center in the first and fifth innings as the Blue Jays took a 4-0 lead.
David Wells, who hadn't pitched since March 26 because of back spasms, took a shutout into the seventh, when Jermaine Dye hit an RBI double. Joe Randa then had an RBI infield single off Paul Quantrill.
Wells struck out five, allowing five hits in six-plus innings. Royals starter Jeff Suppan, who was sick with the flu Sunday, gave up four runs and five hits in five innings.
"I've been around a while," Wells said. "I know what it takes to go out and pitch. Even though I haven't been pitching a lot lately, I kept my arm in shape."
Game notes:
Friday's home opener in Kansas City is sold out.
Former Blue Jay manager Cito Gaston is back with the club as Toronto's hitting coach. He received a loud ovation upon being introduced.
Toronto's Chris Carpenter, who sustained a bruised elbow after being hit by a line drive Friday, was pushed back a day. Carpenter will start tomorrow. Roy Halladay will start today.
Stewart had his first multi-homer game of his career. The Blue Jays have sold about 11,000 season tickets, 15,000 under their goal.
Sky Dome's roof was closed, but two igneous got in anyway.
'Hawks shrug off underdog role, ready for showdown with Shockers
Av Amanda Kaschube
sports@kansanmeet
Kansan sportswriter
Call them underdogs. Kansas baseball球 Coach Bobby Randy does.
but coach Bobo,
"We've been the underdogs in almost every game this season," he said. "I don't put that much stock in it. We just need to go out there and play."
Kansas, 18-15 overall, 6-9 in the Big 12 Conference, will have its hands full again at 7 tonight when perennial powerhouse Wichita State (15-8) comes to Hoglund Ballpark for a showdown. The Shockers have been ranked as high as No. 8, but
dropped out of the rankings after three losses to Creighton.
But Randall isn't worried about pairing up with the Shockers — a team that has beaten the 'Hawks the last three meetings.
"I have no doubt that we'll be ready to play," he said. "We're excited to play them. Three teams have special significance for the players — Kansas State, Missouri and Wichita State. We'll have to execute and increase our quality of play to win."
Kansas seems to step up its game against higher-ranked and more talented opponents this season — just look at past Big 12 Conference games.
Last month, the 'Hawks won against then No. 4 Texas, a highly touted Oklahoma State squad, and kept the three-game series against Texas A&M last weekend competitive.
"I like that we've already matched up
But that doesn't slow down the players' drive to beat the in-state rival.
with Texas and Oklahoma State." Randall said. "We're not going to play ranked schools every time, but Wichita State isn't a bunny. We have our cut out work for us."
The nonconference match-up will be the first since 1998 — a scheduled game was rained out last spring — when the Shockers won both games, 4-1 and 7-6. The last time Kansas was victorious against the Shockers was in 1993, when the 'Hawks won two en route to the College World Series.
"We want to prove that we're the best team in the state of Kansas," said third
baseman Ryan Klocksheim. "We have to at least give ourselves a chance to win every game. We can beat any team on any given day."
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To do that, tonight's starting pitcher Pete Smart (5-5) will need to throw well.
He kept Kansas in Friday's game against the Aggies, going 7 2-3 innings and allowing three runs. But the offense failed to cash in with runners on base in the closing innings and Kansas lost.
"We need to play excellent from the first pitch to the last pitch," Randall said. "It's a big difference in keeping in close games. If the offense matches the defense, then they aren't close games any more."