FRIDAY, MARCH 15, 2002 SPORTS THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 7A Baseball team faces Baylor, tries to end streak By Ryan Wood Kansan sportswriter For senior third baseman Ryan Klocksien, this weekend's three-game set at No. 10 Baylor will be his last chance for redemption. "I think the four years I've been here, we haven't beaten Baylor," he said. "That would be kind of nice to get off our back." The streak goes back even farther than Klocksien's tenure. Kansas last beat the Bears on April 5, 1997, and since then, Baylor has prevailed in the last 13 meetings. Still, the co-captain claims that in the end, the past losses don't mean all that much. "Once the game starts," he said, "you kind of throw that out the window." The Jayhawks (10-3 overall, 1 Rvan Klocksein 2 Big 12 Conference) are looking to get back on track following a 15-7 loss to Southwest Missouri State on Wednesday. And if anybody has Baylor figured out, it's Klocksien. Klocksien was 7-for11 with two homers in three games against the Bears last season. The Jayhawks as a team scored six runs in the series, and Klocksien drove in five of them. This season, Klocksien has been a quiet source of production. His 340 average and 15 RBI have been key weapons in the jayhawks' offensive arsenal that averages near nine runs a game "I feel like I could be doing better," Klocksien said. "I feel pretty comfortable in the field, but I'm still trying to work things out with my swing." Kansas will once go again with what has worked on the mound. Senior Dan Olson (3-0, 3.16 ERA) will start today against Baylor's Steven White (3-0, 2.41). Seniors Jake Wright (2-0, 2.25) and Jeff Davis (3-1, 2.25) will start the final two games. Baylor (14-6, 4-2), has won its last four games. They last played to a 9-6 victory on Wednesday over Texas-Arlington, and last weekend, they took two of three from defending Big 12 champion Nebraska. Jayhawks coach Bobby Randall said he felt his team had the confidence this season to take on anybody in the Big 12. Randall said he wouldn't be complaining as long as the team played hard. Notes: Sophomore second baseman Ryan Baty has hit .355 (11-for-31) with nine RBI during a seven-game hitting streak, and sophomore outfielder Matt Trible has hit .481 (13-for-27) with 11 runs in the same span. "We have a lot of guys hitting good," Randall said, "but overall, day in and day out, it's been Ryan Baty and Matt Tribble." Overall, Baylor is 18-2 all-time against Kansas, including a perfect 10- mark in Waco, Texas. Following this weekend's series, the Jayhawks will stay in Texas and play a two-game series Kansas vs. No. 10 Baylor in Waco, Texas Today — 5:30 p.m. Tomorrow — 3 p.m. Sunday — 1 p.m. against Texas-Pan American starting Tuesday. Kansas plays its next home game March 22 against Michigan. - Tonight's game has been moved up from its original starting time of 7 to 5:30 to accommodate the NCAA women's basketball tournament. Baylor plays host to two first-round games starting tonight. Contact Wood at rwood@kansan. com. This story was edited by Jenna Goepfert. Missouri surprises Miami in upset win The Associated Press ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Missouri woke up just after dawn and regained its early season form at just the right time. Looking once more like a team that opened 9-0 and climbed to No.2 in the rankings, the Tigers scored the first 12 points Thursday and upset No.5-seeded Miami 93-80 in the West Regional. "I think this team is playing its best basketball now," said Missouri coach Quin Snyder, who described the Tigers' early winning streak as "ignorance and bliss." After that run, Missouri lost four of its next six games and steadily dropped in the polls. But Snyder said he could tell the Tigers went into the tournament in good shape. "There been a higher level of commitment." he said. "We got up at 6:45," Gilbert said, noting that's the earliest he has ever been up for a game. Missouri (22-11), seeded 12th in the West, seemed to relish the 10:40 a.m. tipoff. It got a 3-pointer from Ricky Paulding and five straight points from Clarence Gilbert in the game-starting run. Gilbert finished with 20 points. The Hurricanes (24-8) slumbered their way out of the tournament. Miami threw the ball away three times in the first three minutes, lost most of the battles for loose balls and got its first score on a three-point play by John Salmons with 16:51 remaining in the first half. Miami coach Perry Clark discounted the idea the early start affected the Hurricanes. "I thought Missouri came out and played with more confidence and more energy," he said. "They came out and took control of the game." Clark added that Missouri's defense took his team out of its offense. "They really set us up," Clark said. "We only had 10 assists for the whole game, and they forced us into taking some quick shots and shots we really didn't want to take." Missouri's starters all scored in double figures, with Paulding getting 16 points. Travon Bryant had 10 points and 11 rebounds. "Coach wanted us to go out and be together, play together and play hard. That's what we did," Gilbert said. The Hurricanes, who shot 33.8 percent and took some awkward shots in the second half while trying to rally, never got closer than 23-18. That came with 9:50 left in the first half on a dunk by Darius Rice. Missouri's biggest lead was 81-64 with 4:47 left, on Paulding's 3-pointer. Missouri, which didn't get a single vote in the final Associated Press poll of the season, beat Miami without much help from leading scorer Kareem Rush. Rush, averaging 20 points, scored just two in the first half, although he did finish with 15. He bit his lip with 1:45 left in the game and needed stitches. Darius Rice and Elton Tyler led Miami with 17 points each. Salmons finished with 16. "It's disappointing," Salmons said. "We had the talent to go further. They were just the better team today." Kansas forward Nick Collision goes for two points. The junior helped the Hawks win its first round game against Holy Cross last night. CHRISTINA NEFF/KANSAN HOLY CROSS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10A "The thing I was worried about was if we were going to respond," Langford said. "Kirk went down, we're down by five points. Is everybody going to put their head down or is everybody going to respond?" Crusader defenders in his face with 8:36 left to play gave the Jayhawks the lead for good. The Jayhaws admitted that they panicked during the game and made some of the same mistakes they made in Sunday's loss to Oklahoma. They wouldn't say last night's outing was a failure. "You win a close game, that's just going to build our momentum into the tournament," Langford said. "That would be stupidity on our part if our confidence wasn't up right now. This game is over, we can look forward to the next opponent." Kansas will play No. 8 seed Stanford at approximately 7 p.m. tomorrow. dpacey@kensan.com. This story was edited by Brooke Hesler. SAMUELSON CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10A Contact Pacey at And that's what Kansas you win, not how. Take UCLA in 1995, you remember Tyus Edney driving the court to beat Missouri in the second round with a last second shot? Yeah, he went on to cut down the nets in Seattle. And April is one mighty fine month to do such an activity. There's too many similar moments to name. So Kansas fans take this win as it came and be angry. Cuss if you have to. But remember, March is the time to survive and stay alive. did. HINRICH Kansas coach Roy Williams did not comment on whether Hinrich would Yet, I know for a fact, that Kansas gained one more fan yesterday. The Kansas governor told me so as he watched the Jayhawks play for the first time this season. examined on the training table in the locker room. McGee said Hinrich's x-rays came back negative and that he was suffering from a high-ankle sprain. Hinrich as he was being examined on the The Jayhawks will have another challenge tomorrow against Stanford. Another story to spill. "I've had a few other things to handle," said a smiling Bill Graves. And for the Jayhawks, right now is the time to pass one bill at a time. Samuelson is a Wichita senior in journalism. Junior forward Drew Gooden said the injury was unfortunate, but that the Jayne ready to play in the Jayhawks' second-round game against the No. 8 seed Stanford on Saturday night. A decision about Hinrich's availability would be made at game-time. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10A Williams did say,however that Langford would start if Hinrich was unable to perform. “Keith Langford is a great basketball player,” Gooden said. “To me he's a future pro and this is a time for him to step out. He has to have a coming-out party and this is the perfect time for him to do it.” hawks would be in good hands with Langford in the starting lineup. Langford said it would take more than a great performance from him for Kansas to advance past Stanford. "The weight will be shifted on everybody's shoulders with Hinrich gone," Langford said. "Drew might not have to score 20 points and get 10 rebounds but instead get 25 and 15." Contact Wasko at bwasko@ kansan.com. This story was edited by Brandon Stinnett. Gators want to look beyond team's scuffle The Associated Press Looking more like a fighter than a basketball player, Nelson insisted a practice skirmish with Florida teammate LaDarius Halton would not affect the Gators mentally or physically in today's NCAA tournament opener against Creighton. CHICAGO — Brett Nelson walked into the United Center yesterday holding an ice bag to his swollen cheekbone, a Band-Aid covering his temple near a puffy and discolored right eye. Nelson, the Gators' third-leading scorer, practiced yesterday and won't need a protective face guard when Florida plays the Bluejays, the Missouri Valley Conference tournament champions. "Practice got a little physical and that kind of stuff happens when you play basketball long enough," said Nelson, who needed surgery to repair a fractured cheekbone after Tuesday's run-in. "It's all over and done with. Everything is fine with the team and we're just ready to play." "Sometimes you get caught up in the heat of the moment," he said. "Obviously, you shouldn't go and punch someone. That was wrong but they made up and that's behind us." No one would say just what happened, although Gators forward Nat Bonner said a punch was thrown. a little bit of swelling but other than that, I'm fine," said Nelson, who averaged 14.7 points during Florida's 22-8 season. "I'm going to go out and play fearless and play as hard as I can. My game is not going to change at all." Center Udonis Haslem said the scuff was not the result of coach Billy Donovan's criticism after an SEC tournament quarterfinal loss to Mississippi State, when he challenged his own team's heart and toughness. "It's the same thing Brett says. Practice got physical preparing for Creighton," he said. Halton, a backup guard, came to a team news conference but had little to say. ticular that LaDarius just wanted to haul off and hit Brett." Haslem said. "I think everybody feels that the incident happened because we got more physical in practice because coach was questioning our heart, and that's not the case. We practice physically every day. The last practice where the incident occurred was no different than any practice." But this time, Donovan said, "emotions got the best of them." "It had nothing to do in par- "Darius and Brett are perfectly fine. Our team is perfectly fine," Donovan said. "I'm not condoning what happened or saying I'm happy with what happened. You see games where guys lose their composure. Sometimes it happens in practice. AMERICANA MUSIC ACADEMY AMERICAN MUSEUM LOCATION 830-9640 745 New Hampshire ENROLLING NOW!!! 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