THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, APRIL 16, 2012
GOLF
PAGE 9
Team struggles to perform on difficult course
TREVOR GRAFF
fgraff@kansan.com
The Jayhawks finished day one in seventh place in the 14-team field, but slipped to 12th on day two. Junior Chris Gilbert finished tied for ninth with a two-over pat total of 212 strokes.
The Kansas men's golf team finished 12th in the 66th Western Intercollegiate at Pasatiempo Golf Club in Santa Cruz, Calif.
"He played absolutely rock solid," coach Kit Grove said. "He's been great from tee to green. Now he finally getting a little bit of confidence in the putter. It was a stacked field and he played shot-for-shot with them."
Gilbert finished the tournament with his third top ten in four weeks. His performance kept him in contention amongst a field that included the GCAA's top-ranked Texas Longhorns, third-ranked California and fourth ranked UCLA. Gilbert felt no pressure among the wealth of talent.
"I just worry about thinking how I think on the course, and focusing on the course." Gilbert said. "The rest will take care of itself, I just try to hit a solid shot every time I stand up there."
The course at Pasatiempo Golf Club was as tough as players expected entering the tournament. The Alister MacKenzie designed greens had difficult approaches leaving many hole locations nearly unplayable. With the degree of difficulty a bit higher than normal, players had to rely on stronger course management.
"It's like nothing you're ever going
to see." Grove said. "There's hole locations you just can't get it close. You hit some great shots and end up in bad positions, and it such a thinking golf course. That's where we got killed today as a team. Yesterday we were good at grinding out bogeys, today we were just awful at that."
The course fit Gilbert's style of play well.
"I think the key was being decisive on every shot and knowing, if you didn't hit your target, where you wanted to miss." Gilbert said. "I thought if I could limit my double bogies, I could limit my shots and everyone was going to make bogies on this course."
Senior Doug Quinones and junior Alex Gutesha finished tied for 48th and tied for 66th respectively. Both started off poorly after Quinones triple-boyeged the second hole and Gutesha double-boyeged the first.
Freshman Dylan McClure finished tied for 69th at 24 strokes over par. Sophomore Brice Brown finished for 74th at 27 strokes over par and freshman David Auer completed the lineup finishing tied for 80th at 30 strokes over par.
The Jayhawks move into the post season with the Big 12 tournament in Trinity, Texas April 27 to 29.
"You're not going to see anything harder in conference," Grove said. "That course is as mentally grueling as it's going to be. Hopefully they can learn from it, and hit the ground running in the Big 12."
Edited by Tanvi Nimkar
The men's team finished in 12th place at the 66th Western Intercollegiate at Pasatiempo Golf Club in Santa Cruz, Calif. Junior Chris Gilbert led the team, finishing ninth.
FILE PHOTO/KANSAN
BASEBALL
Royals' center fielder forced to pitch against the Indians
ASSOCIATED PRESS
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Mitch Maier didn't particularly want to be on the mound. Kansas City Royals manager Ned Yost didn't really want to see him there, either, but figured it was the best option.
In the ninth inning in a blowout loss to the Cleveland Indians, Yost moved Maier from center field and put him in to pitch to preserve an overworked bullpen.
"Let's hope it doesn't happen again," Maier said after the 13-7 defeat. "I don't like to be put in that situation, but we needed an inning."
It was the 11th time in Royals' history they've used a position player on the mound. It was Maier's second
time, joining Jerry Terrell and Joe Simpson as the only Royals position players to do it more than once
Maier threw a scoreless immin at Boston last year.
The Indians led 13-5 when Maier entered. He worked around a hit and was the only one of the four Royals pitchers not to allow a run.
"I was a lot less nervous this time," Maier said. "I wasn't trying to do anything fancy or throw curveballs or anything. I just wanted to throw strikes."
With the Royals' starting pitchers allowing 24 hits and 21 runs in 10 2-3 innings in the three losses, the bullpen was summoned often.
"Mitch saved us," Yost said. "Louis Coleman saved us. If we had to go
to one of the other guys that would have been two days in a row for them and they would be unavailable for us Monday."
Coleman, who was recalled Sunday from Triple-A Omaha, threw a career-high 57 pitches in three innings. He gave up home runs on back-to-back pitches to Casey Kotchman and Jason Kipnis in the eighth.
Travis Hafner hit one of the longest home runs in Kauffman Stadium history and Shelly Duncan homered and drove in three runs for Cleveland.
For the first time in the Indians' 111-year history, they scored at least eight runs in their first three road games of a season.
Hafner's home run in the fifth
inning off Luis Mendoza went an estimated 456 feet and was the first to land in a sports bar behind the right-field bleachers. It was the longest home run at Kauffman Stadium since David Ortiz, then with Minnesota, hit one 458 feet on April 8, 2001.
"I've seen a lot of games here and I haven't seen a ball hit that far," Indians manager Manny Acta said. "That was pretty impressive. He's hit two balls already that the people in Cleveland were used to seeing before he hurt his shoulder (in 2008)."
Hafner went 3 for 4 and drew an intentional walk. Duncan hit a three-run homer in the Indians' six-run third inning and walked in his next three plate-appearances.
Ubaldo Jimenez (0-1), who had not pitched since April 7 while serving a five-game suspension from a spring training incident against Colorado, gave up four runs on nine hits and three walks in five innings to pick up the victory.
Mendoza (0-2) was pulled after four-plus innings, permitting nine runs — five earned — on nine hits and four walks.
"It's not the way we wanted to open up at home," Royals first baseman Eric Hosmer said. "It would say a lot about this team if we could bounce back."
The Royals will try to snap a four-game losing streak Monday against Detroit and 2011 Cy Young Award winner Justin Verlander.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Royals fell to the Indians 13-7 on Sunday. The Indians swept the Royals in a three-game series.