Monday, March 6, 2000 The University Daily Kansan Section B · Page 3 Baseball goes 2-1 in series against Cyclones Offense inconsistent but claims victories By Amanda Kaschubis sports@kansan.com Kansan sportswriter The 'Hawks weathered the Cyclones at home last weekend, winning two games in a three-game series that was defined by Kansas' inconsistent offense. Kansas, 11-5 overall and 2-1 in the Big 12, struck first on Friday in the Big 12 conference opener, attacking Iowa State, 4-12 overall and 1-5 in the Big 12. Senior Shane Wedd had a strong showing and went two for four. Junior Jesse Gremminger also turned in a strong performance with three hits in the 7-3 win. But Saturday's doubleheader was a different story. Kansas didn't find its offensive footing and scored only one run on five hits in the 4-1 loss. Adding to the poor Kansas at-bats was Iowa State hurler Charly Bigwood, who went the distance and fanned 10 'Hawks along the way. "We didn't have any offense in the first game," coach Bobby Randall said. "They had a great pitcher. There was no potency in the lineup from one to nine. We need the guys in the middle to hit, too." "You have to take one bat at a time," Wedd said. "It was tough." The core of the lineup struggled — the No. 3, 4 and 5 hitters were just one for 11 for Kansas, and Gremminger and Wedd each went zero for four. Bigwood's pitching performance outshined the efforts of Kansas junior Pete Smart, 23, who went eight innings and allowed only two runs. "How can you pitch better than Pete?" Randall said. "He kept us real close, but we had a hard time of scoring runs. I took him out because he was throwing too many pitches. We didn't make it a competitive game for him." After a poor showing in game one, Randall said he was worried that the Jayhawks wouldn't recover for the second game of the twin bill. But they did, scoring 11 runs on 11 hits behind sophomore pitcher Jeff Davis, who gave his team six solid innings. "You have to go out there and win the next game," Davis said. "You have to put it behind you, whether you were blown out or you won. You just correct and go at it." The three, four and five batters found their rhythms in game two. Gremminger tied his career high three-hit game, Wedd hit two singles and stole his first base of the year and Ryan Klocksen chipped in with two hits and a career-high four RBI. "We came back with fire and played much more spirited baseball," Randall said. "We were out-hit in the second game, but we had the runs without a million base hits. We've been playing the momentum game, but it worked." Following the 11-6 win, Randall said his team plumed more alert baseball. Iowa State never found its tempo. The Cyclones left 10 men on base and had a three-error fifth inning, in which Kansas score twice and a scuffle in the Cyclone dugout broke out. "I told them that I may be the dumbest man, but I know when to steal, I know when to squeeze bait, and it does work sometimes if they listen to me," he said. "I thought we did a good job of coming back. We made things happen in the second game." lowa State senior Aaron Runk smashes into Kansas first baseman Shane Wedd and knocks the ball loose from Wedd's glove in Kansas' 4-1 loss Saturday. Runk was called for interference on the play. Photo by Aaron Lindberg/KANSAN BOX SCORE Friday's game Team R H E Akron 120 112 102 12 - 7 10 Iowa State 210 000 12000 - BB 10 IP H R ER BB So WP - Philbrick 4.0 3 3 2 1 Olson 4.0 1 0 4 4 Saturday's game Kansas 000100000 R H E Iowa State 100001002 1 12 W L | | IP | H | R | ER | BB | So | | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | | LP. Smart | 8.1 | 10 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 4 | | Gish | 0.2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | **Game 2** | | R | H | E | | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | | Kansas | 103520 00 | 11 | 11 | 3 | | Iowa State | 002000 400 | 6 | 12 | 4 | | IP | R | ER | B | So | |WP. Davis | 6.1 | 10 | 5 | 4 | 0 | | Schmidt | 2.0 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | | Nelson, J. | 0.2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | Texas swimmers prevail; Kansas takes fifth in Big 12 By Brandon Krisztal By brandon Krszian sports@kansan.com sports@kansan.com sports@kansan.com Kansan sportswriter All eyes were on the Longhorns at the Men's Big 12 Swimming and Diving Conference Championships as they shattered their previous meet record, scoring 1.007 points — almost three times as many points as fifth place Kansas 336. Nebraska finished second but was well behind the Longhorns with 649 points. All but two of the 21 events were won by top-ranked Texas. Although the Jayhawks only finished ahead of rival Maimo, coach Gary Kempf was pleased with his team's performance at the championships in College Station, Texas. "We came in here picked to finish last, and we came out fifth," he said. "I was real pleased with Jon Reyes, Brandon Chestnut. Matt Hanson and Brian Klapper swam great fly races. Skip Reynolds and Drew Dischinger had outstanding senior meets. It was just a great way to end the season." Junior Chad Sunderland took advantage of his first appearance at the championships by taking sixth in the 200 breaststroke. His final time of 2:30:29 was the fifth fastest in school history. Several Jayhawks have provisionally qualified for the NCAA Championships, which will be March 23-25 in Minneapolis, based on times they posted either at the Big 12 meet or earlier. As expected, the Kansas seniors contributed in key spots. Chestnut qualified for the finals in the 100 breaststroke for the fourth consecutive year and finished sixth. His preliminary time of 55.84 was better than his finals time and placed him in consideration for the NCAA competition. Reynolds, who was competing in his last meet, took sixth in the 400 individual medley, posting a 3:58.11. Friday, Dischinger swam a 48.67 before putting up a 48.27, which was good enough to earn sixth place. Dischinger set the school record in the 100 butterfly twice in one day. In the preliminaries on "It was about as good as I could imagine it," Dischinger said. BOX SCORE Men's Big 12 Swimming and Diving Championships Place Team Points Fourth Texas 1077 Second: Nebraska 649 Third: Iowa State 564 Fourth: Texas A&M 563 Fifth: Kansas 388 Sixth: Mississippi 301 Women's tennis rolls over Texas Tech Single Jayhawk loss comes in final match By Zac Hunter sports@kansan.com Kansas sportwriter 1. 6-0. The Kansas women's tennis team sailed to an 8-1 victory yesterday in its Big 12 Conference opener against the Texas Tech Lady Raiders. It took only two and a half hours for the 'Hawks to beat the Lady Raiders after sweeping the six singles matches and going 2-1 in the doubles matches. The win improved the Jayhawks overall record to 7-2, while the loss dropped the Lady Raiders to 2-8 overall and 1-3 in the conference. In the first match of the day, freshman Tiffany Chang set the pace for the 'Hawks by dismantling Tech's Michelle Colaniniin in 45 minutes, 6 Then sophomore Christi Wagenaar gained the second point of the meet by beating Noel Ruiz 6-1, 6-2. Wagenaar remains undefeated in the spring season with five wins. Contrasting the ease of Chang's and Wagenaar's victories were the difficulties senior Brooke Chiller and sophomore Cheryl Malliah faced in their matches at the No.1 and 2 flights. Both matches went into three sets, and Kansas coach Jenny Garrity said she was pleased at the way both players battled back from losing their first sets. The Lady Raiders avoided the shutout by winning the final doubles match of the afternoon. Chang and Chiller couldn't overcome several unforced errors and mental mistakes in the 5-8 loss. Lady Raiders Amanda Earhart and Ayako Suzuki played solidly through a series of advantage and deuce points, but Chang said that she and Chiller should have won the match. "They didn't do anything special," she said. "It was just a matter of whether we were on or off." Kansas' No. 2 and 3 doubles teams had more success. Senior Julia Sidorova and siphomore Cheryl Malliaiah breezed to an 8-1 victory against Renee Pereira and Noel Ruiz, while junior Monica Sekulov and sophomore Lisa Malliaiah battled to an 8-4 victory against Sonnia Orellano and Colanini. Despite only losing one of the doubles matches, Garrity said she was not happy with the way her team let down its guard after beating Texas Tech handily in singles competition. Next up for the 'Hawks is a meet against Missouri on Wednesday at the Alvamar Racquet Club, 4120 Clinton Parkway. Freshman tiffany Chang smashes a return during her match. Kansas defeated the Texas Tech Lady Raiders B-1 at Alvamar Racquet Club. Photo by J.M.Dailey/KANSAN Track team waits for fates to be decided for NCAAs By Sarah Warren sports@kansan.com Kansas sportswriter Jayhawks will be in Arkansas for this week's NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships. The number of 'Hawks hanging out in Fayetteville, however, is yet to be determined. After this weekend's last chance meets, one is in for sure, while four unofficially are making the trip. Junior All-American Andrea Branson has been guaranteed a spot in the NCAA pole vault competition since Jan.21 when she cleared 13-feet-1. Meanwhile, sophomore Ryan Speers and juniors Jabari Wamble, Charlie Gruber and Ashley Feinberg each provisionally are qualified, which means their trips are based on everybody else. Only 270 athletes make it to the NCAA championships, so for Kansas provisional athletes to be in Fayetteville come Friday, the athletes have to be in the top 16 or so of their events. This weekend all but Feinberg, who is nursing a knee injury, attended the last chance meets attempting to better their qualifying marks. In Ames, Iowa, at the Cyclones' Last Chance meet, Gruber and Speers each made strong showings. Gruber won the mile, recording a 4:01.81, barely missing the automatic qualifying time of 4:00 and recording the third-best time in school history. Speers placed third in the shot put, recording his second-best performance of the year with a mark of 60'03". "I think that I'm in," Speers said. "As far as we know no one below me got a better mark this weekend." Meanwhile, at the University of Oklahoma Last Chance meet, Branson improved her qualifying mark and broke the school record for the indoor pole vault when she jumped 132". "I accomplished what I wanted for the warm-up for NCAAs," said Branson, who placed first. Also in the pole vault pit, freshman Vadim Gvozdetskiy came close in his bid to obtain a provisional mark. Gvozdetskiy recorded a personal best vault, 16'6", just short of the provisional mark of 17'2". On the track, Wamble recorded third place with a time of 48.48. "We've got Andrea for sure, Ashley if she's healthy, Gruber will have his choice of the 800 or the mile, and Ryan and Jabari are really on the bubble, right on the edge," coach Gary Schwartz said. TRACK RESULTS Aberron Branson, pole vault, first, 132 Charlie Guber, mile, first, 40, 81.88 Charlie Guber, mile, second, 40, 81.88 Ryan Speers, shut, fourth, 603 Vadim Geskezdely, pole vault, seventh, 166 Do You Love Your Roommate, But Hate Sharing a Room With Them? ROCK CHALK REVUE "Out of Focus Out Support your fellow students & the United Way of Douglas County. Call SUA for tickets now! 864-3477