Inside Sports
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Sports
Friday
March 19, 1999
Section:
B
Page 1
The only Big 12 team still playing, Oklahoma, prepares for tonight's NCAA tournament game.
Pro Baseball
SEE PAGE 5B
Atlanta Braves first baseman Andres Galarraga is upbeat that he will win his battle with cancer.
SEE PAGE 3B
Pro Basketball
The Los Angeles Lakers have decided to begin fining Dennis Rodman for continued absences during games.
SEE PAGE 3B
Contact the Kansan
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Sports e-mail: sports@kansan.com
Kansas freshman pitcher Corey Harrington launches a pitch toward home plate in the Jayhawks' 10-3 win against Ottawa University. Photo by Matt J. Daugherty/KANSAN
Kansas baseball on a streak, ready for Cornhuskers
By Matt Tait
mattt@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
The Kansas baseball team is on a streak. Both as a team and as individuals, the Jayhawks' performance has improved dramatically in the past week, and the team has won its last four games.
"We've been playing much better baseball," coach Bobby Randall said. "And that is because of two things that have improved a ton: pitching and defense."
The Jayhawks, 7-12 overall and 3-6 in the Big 12, have improved defensively as of late, but the four-game winning streak has also seen the resurgence of the Jayhawks' offense.
Sophomore shortstop John Nelson has logged a streak of his own, with hits in 10 straight games. Nelson said the success of the team had relaxed him and fed his streak.
"Hitting is contagious," Nelson said. "When everybody else is doing good it takes pressure off of your performance."
The team is delivering runs, 31 in its last three games, and hits, 36 in its last three games. It is getting strong pitching from its starters and more depth from its bullpen. The team also is avoiding errors.
"In baseball you feed off of success," Randall said. "Depth is starting to come out of our bullpen, and if you get a couple of guys hitting, it makes it look easier for everyone."
This weekend with Nebraska is a big series for Kansas, Randall said.
"This is big, big," Randall said.
"This weekend is big, last weekend was big, and next weekend is big. But if you don't take care of business this weekend, next weekend isn't quite as big."
As far as the team is concerned, Randall is exactly right.
Nelson said, "We're going to take every game seriously and keep the same approach. These next three games are big conference games for us."
Scheduled game-one starter Chris Williams said he realized the importance of this weekend's games and expected to provide a strong performance.
"It makes me feel comfortable knowing that we're going to go out and score some runs and play defense, and I expect to go out and throw a great game," Williams said.
Nebraska comes to Lawrence with a 13-6 record and a 2-1 mark in Big 12 play. The Cornhuskers are led by Ken Harvey, who has belted 11 home runs on the year and is hitting. 526. Early this week, the Cornhuskers enjoyed a record-setting 50-3 trouncing of Chicago State.
On the mound, Nebraska's Scott Fries leads the team with a 3-1 record and a 3.34 earned run average.
Williams will face off against Fries on the mound in today's game at 3 p.m.
- Edited by Kelli Raybern
Men's tournament to cut into spring break
By Melinda Weaver
Kansan sportswriter
The Kansas men's tennis team will spend most of its spring break in California as it compete against Yale, San Diego and San Diego State.
The Jayhawks will try to extend a six-match winning streak that began after the season-opening loss to Louisville on Jan. 16.
Coach Mark Riley said he hoped this trip would help the team get used to playing outdoors and prepare them for the tough Big 12 Conference competition that they have to face the rest of the season.
"We have to get used to playing outdoors because the rest of our conference games are outdoors, and we don't have very much practice," Riley said. "The Texas schools have been playing outdoors all year. Now it's time to get prepared for the long haul of the conference schedule."
Eight of the next 10 teams on the Kansas schedule are ranked, and
KANSAS TENNIS
six are ranked higher than Kansas. On the trip to California, only No. 73 San Diego is ranked.
No. 37 Kansas defeated No. 70 Nebraska in its conference opener 4-3. Freshman Quentin Blakeen clinched the victory with a three-seed win over Kai Rieke in No. 5 singles.
"We need to be more consistent." Riley said. "Sometimes the top of the lineup carries us and sometimes the bottom of the lineup has to carry us. If everyone could play well at the same time, we would be a very good team. I think if we are all clicking, we can beat anyone."
Though the team is led by two seniors, Luis Uribe and Kenny Powell, the lower half of the lineup consists of three freshman, Blakeney, Alex Barragan and Rodrigo Echagara, who each carry a fourgame winning streak into their match with Yale.
Uribe said the challenge now is learning to compete outdoors.
"We haven't played outdoors in months," he said. "It's important to practice and get used to the conditions as fast as we can."
The team will finish its spring break in Tulsa competing against its Region V rival.
Tulsa is ranked No. 32 and has two players in the singles rankings. Kansas has lost its last two meetings with Tulsa, including a shutout last season, but leads the series 10-4.
"We hope to come back undefeated over the spring break," Uribe said. "As the coach has said, we haven't played a complete match where everyone is playing their best at the same time. I hope we can have that soon, but it isn't easy."
In No. 1 singles, Uribe has defeated eight ranked opponents this season, and in No. 2 singles Powell defeated No. 81 Tyson Parry in the Ice Volleys in Minnesota.
Uribe said the team goal is simple: win.
Kansas senior Luis Uribe hits a backhand during a match against Nebraska. Uribe and the Jayhawks will play Yale today in San Diego. Photo by Augustus Anthony Piazza/KANSAN
Track ready to go the distance in upcoming meets
Kansan sportswriter
By Mike Miller
At least that is how most of the team has perceived this weekend, as the men's and women's track teams begin their outdoor season with two meets in three days.
Now the real season begins.
The teams competed yesterday at Emporia and will compete again tomorrow at Waco, Texas.
The reason for the two meets is to allow most of the team an opportunity to compete at Emporia, while fewer athletes will make the trip to Waco.
"It just feels like track," said junior pole vaulter Garrett Attett. "Being outdoors is how
These competitions will be the first in over three weeks for a majority of the team since competing in the Big 12 Championships March 5 and 6.
you picture it."
The outdoor season marks the return of key athletes for both teams, with All-American senior heptathlete Candy Mason for the
Mason, who competed at last weekend's College Station relay, won the heptathlon and broke the school record for the fourth time in her career with 5,674 points. The score automatically qualified her for the NCAA Outdoor Championships in June.
women and senior pole vaulter Marc Romito for the men.
Romito finished second in the pole vault with a mark of 15 feet, 11 inches.
The time off was beneficial for the team, as most athletes spent time rehabilitating injuries, working on technique or resting.
Sophomore Charlie Gruber, who won the 1,000 meters at the Big 12 and then provisionally qualified for nationals, spent the last
three weeks doing longer workouts, inter faced with some interval training.
In short, he took it easy.
Sophomore All-American Scott Russell injured his back a week before the Big 12 Championships, but spent the last three weeks in rehabilitation and enjoying the outdoors.
"I've been busting to get outside for about a month now," he said. "I love the events that outdoors brings; the javelin, hammer throw. It's lots of fun."
"I was resting up, trying to build some base.
I feel ready to run through," he said.
After this weekend, the teams will have time to rest until they compete in the Texas Relays April 1st.
Commentary
Feedback gives editor something to think on
Every now and then as the sports editor, I get some interesting feedback. Some of it's worthwhile — "You need to cover rowing more."
But sometimes on rare days when the sun
Some of it's worthless — "Ryan Robertson Rocks!" This e-mail came from some Kansas fans with entirely too much time on their hands.
and just right midterms are finally finished, the feedback is thought provoking. Yesterday was one of those days.
After "suffering" through golf class, I reluctantly returned to the newsroom. As I ran around trying to get the paper together I fielded a phone call.
The caller, who was not comfortable enough in his opinions
Erin Thompson sports@kansan.com
to give his name, brought up several complaints about the Kansas athletic program.
What is Kansas athletic director Bob Frederick hoping to accomplish by considering playing a football game against Notre Dame?
There are two sides to the coin. The down sides — Kansas is putting its bowl considerations in serious jeopardy. If the extra game is added to the schedule, Kansas will need seven wins to be bowl eligible. The Big 12 conference is steadily improving and is considered one of the toughest conferences in the nation. It will be tough for Kansas to garner six wins playing the likes of Kansas State, Colorado, Nebraska and Texas A&M, but to expect seven wins could be a lot to ask.
But there is an upside to that coin that the caller had not considered. Kansas will pick up a much needed $600,000 for the athletics department. For a department that competes in one of the top conferences, it is sorely out of shape. Compared to the Nebraska indoor football practice field, Anschutz looks like a junior high complex.
Notre Dame guarantees national coverage. NBC (or Notre Dame Broadcasting Company as its known around the sports world) covers every Notre Dame game nationally. It's not often Kansas football gets national coverage.
Freshmen have not been able to play in varsity games throughout most of college athletics' history. Now that they can, 18-year olds are expected to step into a position that they may not be comfortable with. Not only are these young men and women away from home for the first time, they are sometimes called upon to be the saviors of programs.
If Terry Allen truly wants to take the Kansas football program to the next level, the only way to do it is by playing teams who are already at the next echelon. Notre Dame is routinely ranked in the top 25. Kansas can take a lot away from this opportunity.
Jeff Boschee was expected to lead the Jayhawks as a point guard when he probably was still missing his mom's cooking. He did a fine job stepping into the role, but what was another year of adjustment been able to give him? Probably more confidence and less turnovers early in the season.
Another interesting topic this elusive caller brought up was freshman eligibility. The NCAA should not allow freshman to be elibible, he said.
I nope you take time to chew on these thoughts while sitting on the beach during spring break and send some feedback this way.
Banning freshman eligibility would reduce players who use their freshman year as a one-year training ground for the NBA. But at the same time more players would probably side step college all together if they knew they would be required to sit out a year.
Thompson is a Wichita senior in journalism and the Kansan sports editor.