WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4, 2003
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 19
Jayhawks unsuccessful in Big 12 tourney
By Kevin Flaherty
kflaherty@kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
It took 11 innings to eliminate the Kansas baseball team from its first-ever Big 12 Tournament experience.
The game against the rival Missouri Tigers came down to the last batter in the bottom of the 11th inning. The Jayhawks (35-28) trailed by a run with men on second and third and two outs to their credit. Senior catcher Sean Flynn sailed a fly to center field, ending the potential upset with a 4-3 Tiger victory.
Missouri 4, Kansas 3
The May 22 game against Missouri in the loser's bracket was close through the gamut. Missouri's 1-0 lead lasted two innings before Kansas put up two runs in the fifth and one in the sixth, taking a 3-1 lead.
The Tigers clawed back with one run in the seventh inning and one in the eighth, tying the game and forcing extra innings.
In the top of the 11th, Missouri shortstop Ian Kinsler reached base on a fielding error by Metcalf. Kinsler moved to second on a balk. Johnson doubled into right field, scoring Kinsler and giving Missouri a 4-3 lead going into the bottom of the 11th. The error that put Kinsler on base was the only error during the game.
Starting off the inning, Wheeler singled and Tribble bunted him to second.
Spanish walked and Brandon Shepherd then came in to pinch run for Wheeler. Travis Metcalf struck out swinging with just one out left. A wild pitch advanced both runners, and with runners on second and third, Flynn flied out.
Missouri pitcher Andy Shipman (9-2) claimed the victory, while Knippschild (8-5) was credited with the loss. Ryan Baty set the Kansas single-season record for hits with his 97th of the year, a single to center field in the bottom of the eighth.
Nebraska 9, Kansas 4
Freshman second baseman Matt Baty singled with one out, and freshman shortstop Ritchie Price struck out swinging. Junior first baseman Ryan Baty walked with two outs, bringing senior pitcher Kevin Wheeler to bat. Wheeler singled, scoring Matt Baty and advancing Ryan Baty to second base.
huskers, the No.1 seed in the Big 12 Tournament. Nebraska sprung for five runs in the first three innings, scoring three times in the second inning.
The Jayhawks were off to a grim start in their first-round game against the Corn-
Senior left fielder Casey Spanish homered down the right field line in the top of the fourth, bumping the score to 5-1 into the fifth inning.
Junior right fielder Matt Tribble stepped up and singled to center field, scoring Ryan Baty. Nebraska ace Aaron Marsden then threw a wild pitch, moving Wheeler to third and Tribble to second. Spanish then walked to load the bases for Travis Metcalf. The sophomore third baseman grounded to Nebraska shortstop Joe Simokaitis, who threw out Spanish at second to end the inning.
Nebraska led 5-3.
Nebraska exploded with three runs in the sixth inning, going on to win the game 9-4. Wheeler was shelled for 14 hits and eight earned runs in five innings.
He was replaced by junior Ryan Knippschild after failing to tally any outs in the sixth inning. Knippschild allowed one run in the remaining three innings. Wheeler's record moved to 6-6 on the season.
For Nebraska, Marsden struck out six and allowed four earned runs in eight innings. His record is now 8-2.
Though the team probably won't be making history in the NCAA Tournament this year, Kansas accomplished its preseason goal of 35 victories.
This year marked Kansas' first appearance in the Big 12 Tournament, which accepts the top eight teams of the ten-team baseball league for the tournament. Neither Colorado nor Iowa State have baseball teams.
— Edited by Lindsay Hanson
Brown introduced as Pistons coach
The Associated Press
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — Detroit hired Hall of Famer Larry Brown to make a good team better.
Brown was introduced as the Pistons' coach Monday, two days after Rick Carlisle was fired and one year after Carlisle was the NBA's Coach of the Year.
Brown, 62, inherits a 50-win team that has a talented, young nucleus and holds the No.2 pick in the June 26 draft.
"He is the pre-eminent coach in the league to me," said Joe Dumars, team president of basketball operations.
Brown, who resigned as 76ers coach on May 26 after six seasons, will be paid $25 million over five years, according to a source within the NBA who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Brown was released from a contractual clause that prohibited him from coaching another NBA team if he left Philadelphia prematurely.
"This is a team I admired from afar," Brown said Monday.
"I promise you this: Every time we step out on the court, we'll represent this franchise the way it's supposed to be represented," he said. "You won't be embarrassed by the effort."
Dumars first contacted Brown's agent Joe Glass on Friday night, and the deal was done by Saturday around 6 p.m.
Carlisle was fired Saturday after leading Detroit to the Eastern Conference finals for the first time since 1991. He was fired with one year and $2 million left on his contract despite winning two straight division titles and 100 regular-season games.
He said Monday that he plans to pursue coaching jobs this week during the NBA's predraft camp.
"I'm going to talk to two teams in Chicago about potential opportunities, and I'm excited about that," Carlisle said less than an hour before Brown was announced as his successor.
Brown also coached Denver (five years) Indiana (four years), San Antonio (3 1/2 years), New Jersey (two years), Carolina of the ABA (two years) and the Los Angeles Clippers (18 months).
Brown had two years left in his contract that paid him $6 million per season in Philadelphia.
"We want to be successful for every year for a long, long time," Brown said. "Every year, come playoff time, we want to have an honest chance to win a championship."
Brown's tenure with the Sixers was the longest in his 31-year coaching career. He led the Sixers to the playoffs for five straight seasons, including the 2001 NBA Finals, and will coach the U.S. men's team this summer at an Olympic qualifying tournament in Puerto Rico.
He has an 879-685 record in the NBA, and is 1,285-853 overall, including ABA and college. Brown won an NCAA championship with Kansas in 1988, and became the first coach to take six NBA teams to the playoffs when the Sixers made it in 1999.
Detroit, with the second pick in the draft, likely will select a scorer — Darko Milicic of Serbia and Montenegro or Syracuse's Carmelo Anthony — to complement a young nucleus of Richard Hamilton, Chauncey Billups, Ben Wallace, Mehmet Okur and Tayshaun Prince.
Carlisle, in his first head coaching job, helped turn Detroit from a lottery team into one of the top teams in the East. He was voted the top coach for the 2001-02 season.
He led the Pistons to a 100-64 regularseason record and a 12-15 postseason mark over two years. Their season ended May 24 when they were swept by New Jersey in the conference finals.
Texas A&M sued by parents of dead football player
The lawsuit, filed May 19 in Brazos County, seeks unspecified damages for Charles and Valerie Fails and states that Fails' physicians and trainers were negligent in identifying the clot that formed after the surgery and eventually lead to his death.
By Justin Smith The Battalion via U-Wire Texas A&M University
University spokeswoman Cynthia Lawson said A&M did not comment on pending lawsuits.
Fails, an 18-year-old 6-foot-3-inch, 275-pound lineman from Euless, Texas, injured his right knee in football practice on Oct. 15, and later underwent arthroscopic surgery to repair his knee.
COLLEGE STATION, Texas — A lawsuit has been filed against Texas A&M by the family of Brandon Fails, the A&M football player who died last November from complications of a blood clot after a knee surgery.
On the morning of Nov. 25, Fails said he was having difficulty breathing and collapsed in his Cain Hall dorm room.
He was pronounced dead at St. Joseph Regional Health Center later that day.