THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY, APRIL 3, 2012
PAGE 3B
BASEBALL
Kansas takes on Blue Jays in World Series stadium
MAX LUSH
mlush@kansan.com
It's Omaha, Neb. It's the TD Ameritrade Park. It's where college baseball lives, the home of the College Baseball World Series.
The Kansas Jayhawks will get to play in one of the most spectacular college baseball venues in the country tonight when they face the Creighton Blue jays.
Coach Ritch Price said the stadium blew him away the first time he saw it. They will have to settle for playing in April for now.
"We were there last year in the second game played in it, and it's absolutely gorgeous." Price said. "It's a game that our guys look forward to every year."
The Jayhawks are coming off their first Big 12 series victory since April of last year. They won two of three games against Texas Tech over the weekend — including Sunday's 9-3 victory.
Kansas will send freshman startling pitcher Drew Morovick (2-1, 6.75) to the mound. Morovick has
struggled at times with command this season.
“Last year,” Morowick said, “watching the College World Series, it kind of became a goal to go and play there. It's not the College World Series, but it's gonna be nice to actually get to play there.”
Morovick will look to build off his relief outing Sunday against Texas Tech. He came on in the eighth inning and then two perfect innings while striking out one
Kansas comes into tonight's game with a 12-15 record and a two-game winning streak. The team has struggled on the road, though, posting just an 8-13 record on the road or at a neutral site.
Creighton is also below .500, but barely, with a 12-13 record. The Blue lays are better at home, where they are 5-4 this season.
Kansas boasts a slightly better offense. Its hitters are averaging .260 and have scored 126 runs on the season. Creighton's hitters are averaging .238 at the plate and have scored 114 runs.
Senior third baseman Chris
Manship said he thinks the Kansas lineup may have turned a corner against Texas Tech. The Jayhawks have struggled all season with leaving runners on base, but on Sunday they scored five runs on two-out base hits.
"After last weekend, we kind of were a little bit in a slump there," Manship said. "I think this really helped us get up and out of it and get us rolling a little bit."
Creighton swept Kansas in two games last season. The first game was played in Lawrence, and the Blue Lays won in 10 innings, 4-3. In the second meeting in Omaha, Creighton took care of Kansas 5-3.
No matter the result, Kansas's players will enjoy the chance to play in the epicenter of college baseball.
"It's just a beautiful venue," Manship said. "We played there last year, and really, there's not a nicer park, it's awesome."
- Edited by Jeff Karr
First baseman Jake Marasco slides into home during the game against Texas Tech on Saturday. The Jahways won the game 5-2. The team heads to Nahla, Oba$, today to take on the Creighton Blue Jay's at the ColleBaseball World Series stadium.
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
Storm-torn yacht returns after around-the-world voyage
BOATING
I ASSOCIATED PRESS
A battered yacht and its bruised crew limped into port Monday after a giant wave smashed over the stern with such force that it carried away the boat's steering wheel and knocked the crew about like bowling pins.
A Coast Guard cutter reached the Geraldton Western Australia, which was damaged about 400 miles off the San Francisco coast Sunday, and removed two injured crew members while the rest of the sailors decided to press on to finish the longest leg of an around-the-world race.
boats to complete a 5,680-mile trek across the Pacific.
The 68-foot yacht was expected to dock in the wee hours Tuesday morning and become the last of 10
"The sea was alive with rage," the boat's captain Juan Coetzer told race organizers, who posted his comments online. "Then at our watch change, just before the sun came up (Saturday), a monstrous foaming swell broke over our stern."
The wave pushed the helmsman Mark Burkes into the steering wheel and its pedestal in gale-force winds of more than 50 knots.
Coetzer said the crew managed
to quickly replace the steering wheel with a tiller and got the yacht under control by pulling down "the remains of our main sail" and raising a much smaller "storm jib," slowing the boat's progress considerably.
"We were making good, good speed." Coetzer said of conditions before the accident, "surfing at 15 - 20 knots." The yacht is now traveling at about half that speed.
Assistant race director Justin Taylor, a two-time skipper in the contest, said that crews "drill" for such an event as losing a steering wheel in heavy seas and that the repair took a matter of minutes.
"Their training kicked in," Taylor said.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
U. S. Air National Guard parapjumpers from the 129th Rescue Wing prepare medical supplies to be dropped from a Coast Guard aircraft to a 67-foot sailing yacht. There were three injured persons aboard.
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