PAGE 6
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 2012
BASEBALL
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
ASHI FIGH LFF/KANSAN
Junior infielder Kevin Kuntz quickly catches the ball to throw it back to first base to get his opponent out during Tuesday night's game against Baker University. The Jayhawks won 7-3.
Kansas defeats NAIA Baker
MAX LUSH
mlush@kansan.com
Coming off of its best victory of the season — Sunday's 5-3 decision against No. 2 Texas A&M
the Kansas baseball team knew that it needed to avoid a letdown against the Baker Wildcats at Hogland Ballpark Tuesday night.
The Jayhawks, despite a paltry 14-23 record, are far superior to the Wildcats (23-21), an NAIA team. As a Division 1 team, the Jayhawks feature more talent across the diamond.
Kansas' freshman starter Robert Kahana appeared to be going through the motions early, allowing a leadoff double and a run in the first inning.
"After I gave up that first double, I was like, 'What? How did that happen?' " Kahana said. "I just
picked it up and started throwing strikes. I just let the defense work."
Kahana pitched 5 innings, allowing one run on four hits and a walk. He also achieved a careerhigh with six strikeouts on the evening.
The Jayhawks regained their focus in the bottom half of the first inning when senior third baseman Zac Elgie hit a towering two-run home run to left field. Kansas never looked back, going on to win the game, 7-3.
"He's done it all season," Kahana said of Elgie. "He's either going to hit a bomb or hit a base hit up the middle. That kid is unbelievable right now. He's swinging the bat well."
As a senior, Elgie has played in enough midweek games to know that if not approached correctly,
they can be closer than expected. For teams like Baker, a chance to play in a Division 1 stadium means the world to its players.
Elgie said the upperclassman talked to the younger Jayhawks about approaching Tuesday's game like any other.
"We addressed it early on," Elgie said. "These guys are here to beat us. We told the younger guys that Baker will give it their all because they wanted to beat us. I think they responded."
With a looming weekend series in Austin against No. 23 Texas, coach Ritch Price didn't want to risk approaching the game any differently than a Big 12 game.
"I think it was important that we got back on the field and have a chance to do all of our pregame routine and prepare properly," Price said.
Freshman outfielder Dakota Smith heeded Price and Elgie's advice and had a big game. Smith went 2-for-3 with an RBI. His one out was a deep drive to the warning track in center field, which Baker's center fielder caught just before running into the wall.
"Sometimes you play down to the level of a team that is not as good as you," Smith said. "Today, we didn't do that. We stayed competitive, and we did what we needed to do."
Kahana said that Tuesday's victory was key for keeping the momentum from Sunday's victory in the Javhawks' dugout.
"It was a big momentum feeder," Kahana said. "We just got to keep it going and get ready for Austin."
- Edited by Taylor Lewis
would not be happy if they played in the WNIT again and would only be satisfied with an NCAA appearance. Henrickson and her team delivered and silenced the critics with their first bid since 2000.
FROM BONNIE PAGE 10
"It was her chance to overcome so much of that and we saw it on a big stage," Athletics Director Sheahon Zenger said.
PLAYING FOR EACH OTHER
Kim Mulkey, coach of the national champion Baylor Bears, watched Kansas' second-round victory against Delaware from the team plane before joining Kansas in Des Moines, Iowa, for the third and fourth rounds. She and Henrickson have coached against each other in the Big 12, but have a tremendous amount of mutual respect and communicate throughout the season by text.
Mulkey was one of the first people to text Henrickson and offer support after seeing Davis fall, and when Baylor guard Shanae Washington was injured a couple weeks later, Henrickson returned the gesture. Mulkey said the struggle made the success a little sweeter in the end.
"I am just happy for Bonnie," Mulkey said. "For that team to just respond and not feel sorry for themselves and to get here, I was cheering for them as I watched them play Delaware."
She even admitted to a quick fist pump on the plane in support of her friend and in celebration for a team she had lobbied for throughout the season. Mulkey said she had thought all season the Jayhawks would be in the tournament.
It is that struggle that gave them the strength to persevere and, ultimately, have the success they did. Zenger compared the season to a story book with a happy ending.
"The beauty of athletics is to struggle through adversity and they are kind of the poster child of that right now." Zenger said. "They struggled through that adversity and got to a pretty special place."
They went to the tournament to prove themselves and when they focused and played with a purpose, they proved to the nation that Kansas women's basketball can contend.
"It's one thing to get them to play with each other unselfishly, but it is another thing when you get them and watch them play for each other."
Henrickson said. "That is a threshold that not everyone can cross, but we clearly crossed that."
CREATING A TOURNAMENT TRADITION
As Davis rehabilitates after surgery and the other players return to individual practices, the focus returns to the court as well. Henrickson said the tournament experience will help validate the work they did last season and the work they will start shortly.
And though the accomplishments this year were ground-breaking for Kansas women's basketball, Hendrickson won't rest on one seasons success.
"To me, there is pressure every year because I want to do that every year and go farther," Henrickson said. "I want to go to an Elite Eight, a Final Four and win a National Championship here; that's why I came here. I am not going to sit back here, have it cushy and on vacation because we did that; there is a lot of work to be done."
Sutherland is the only senior Kansas loses this season and the program has two recruits coming in who are excited to join the team. With Davis back and junior guard Angel Goodrich ready to lead the Jayhawks, they have their eyes set on a future of consistent tournament appearances.
In her eight years with Kansas, Henrickson has put together an experienced staff that spent time at Nebraska, West Virginia and Central Michigan. She did all that with the goal of giving her team the best chance at making the tournament, and now that it made it, she couldn't be happier.
"No one wants these kids to be successful and for this program to be successful more than I do," Henrickson said. "It doesn't mean I am more important than anyone else, but no one wants it more than I do."
Henrickson speaks of each young lady with pride. She has worked hard to make sure she creates a family atmosphere here at Kansas. With the net hanging symbolically over her shoulder, the team has tied knots unbreakable by the stress of injury and disappointment. They are united by their success this season, but most of all by their devotion to each other.
Edited by Katie James
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