Tell us your news: Contact Jessica Tims, jtims@kansan.com, or Matt Gehrke, mgehrke@kansan.com, or call 864-4858. SPORTS WWW.KANSAN.COM/SPORTS THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN 1B WEDNESDAY, MARCH 26, 2003 Heard on the Hill By Shane Mettlen smtftlen@kansan.com kansas sportswriter What was your reaction to MTV's March Madness Uncensored? "I was stunned to see Nick Collison and KU cheerleaders on there. I thought it was a good program. I got a lot of information from it." Nicole Harris Raytown, Mo., sophomore "It gives a lot of exposure to the University. We're a really good basketball team, and it shows that on a national program." Brian Waymaster Luray senior "I was in and out of the room,but I stopped to watch. It was exciting to see all the Jayhawk stuff on there." Ashley Diener Sacramento, Calif., freshman "I liked Roy's superstitions and how he's the most superstitious coach supposedly Christopher Poskey Chase freshman "It was really exciting to see the University portrayed on MTV because that is something that doesn't nappen very often." Bryn Anderson Tulsa,Okla.,freshman Kansas faces stiff competition The atmosphere in Anaheim, Calif., tomorrow will closely resemble that of Final Four games. Indeed, there are four teams left ... in the West region of the NCAA tournament. Regardless of who analyzes the tournament seedings, they all agree on one thing — the west side of the bracket is loaded. Arizona was the number one team in the nation for most of the year. Notre Dame rained 13 three-pointers in its victory against a strong Illinois team that won its conference tournament. Duke won its conference tournament, and Kansas won the Big 12 Conference title. Looking for the reason there are fewer upsets in the tournament this year? Several of the talented midmajor or minor conference teams were also sent to the West. Creighton, Gonzaga, Central Michigan and Wisconsin-Milwaukee all had no scheduling favors, with Creighton and Central Michigan playing each other in the first round. Kevin Weiberg, NCAA tournament selection committee member, said the committee tried to create equality. "Naturally, every year there are going to be some fans who think their region is harder." Weiberg said. "But we work to make sure that the top four teams in every region are balanced across the lines." "I think that the general sense was that we had three very good teams here," Weiberg said. "Everyone knew that there would probably be two number ones." Weiberg's other job is commissioner of the Big 12. For fairness, he must leave the room when his conference teams are discussed and is not allowed to vote on Big 12 teams. This can become tricky when three teams are ranked as closely as Texas, Oklahoma and Kansas. Oklahoma and Texas did get the two SEE FINALFOUR ON PAGE 7B Softball team comes back strong after weekend loss By Steve Schmidt sschmidt@kansan.com Kansan sportswinter After a less than flattering performance against the No. 4 team over the weekend, the No. 24 Kansas softball team got right back into the swing of things — literally — in a doubleheader against Oklahoma City University yesterday. More precisely, they got back into swinging for the fences. The Jayhawks walloped six home runs on the day, three of them courtesy of freshman second baseman Jessica Moppin. The blasts, coupled with an assortment of other base hits, allowed Kansas to topple the Stars, winning both games, 9-3 and 6-1. Kansas coach Tracy Bunge called her team's play "solid," after a not-so-solid series against the Sooners. "I look at Sunday's game as king of an aberration." Bunge said of the 10-0 loss to Oklahoma. "We were God-awful. We played ugly. After a game like that you can do two things: You can beat yourself up or say we had a bad game and move on, and we chose to do that." One place where Kansas moved on was at the plate. Kansas bats, which were silenced by precise Oklahoma pitching, came alive. Freshman third baseman Nettie Fierros led the hitting attack in the first game SEE SOFTBALL ON PAGE 7B GAME 1 KANSAS 9-OKLAHOMA CITY 3 Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E Kansas 1 0 3 3 1 1 X 9 14 1 Oklan City 1 0 1 0 0 1 0 3 6 3 Pitches: Kansas - Pierce Kansas - Oklan, Boily(1.1) Win - Pierce(12-6) Save - None Loss - Akin(3-2) Homerun: Moppin, Fierros GAME 2 KANSAS 6-OKLAHOMACITY1 Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E Kansas 1 0 0 1 2 0 K 9 Okla City 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 7 1 Pitchers: Kansas - Milhoan Oklahoma City - Stratton Win - Milhoan (8-2) Loss - None Honorer - Torras, Mopin, Smith Mix of pitchers helps victory Freshman Don Czyz fires the ball toward home plate. Czyz, who pitched two innings and struck out five batters, was one of six pitchers used by Kansas in last night's game against Baker University. By Daniel Berk dberk@kansan.com Kansan writers sport Courtnev Kuhlen/Kansai The Kansas baseball team gave new definition to the term, "pitching by committee" last night as it easily defeated Baker University 11-2, as six Kansas pitchers combined to strike out 17 batters. Senior Pat Holmes started for the Jayhawks (21-9) and pitched two innings, allowing no runs and no hits while striking out three batters. Freshman Don Czyz followed Holmes. He also pitched two innings and struck out five batters. Josh Duran was next on the mound. The junior struck out six batters in only two innings of work. "I love this pitching staff," senior Kevin Wheeler said. "We did this same thing against Southwest Missouri, and it worked out." Wheeler said pitching by committee worked better because it gave the other team a different look with every pitcher. The team also received a large contribution from freshman Matt Baty, who started the game in center field and finished at second base. Baty, who is not a normal starter for the team, went 4-5 with two runs batted in, three runs scored and three stolen bases. Wheeler also saw time on the mound. He pitched the ninth inning. As the team's designated hitter, Wheeler went 3-5 on the day with two runs batted in. "Matt Baty is a good player," coach Ritch Price said. "Before his career here is done, he will be a pretty solid player for us. This weekend, you will see him in the starting lineup for the first time against a quality opponent, and he will start playing one game over the weekend series." The Jayhawks managed to score in six of the eight innings they batted in, highlighted by a three-run second inning. The team followed that with a two-run hit in the third inning from the bat of junior catcher Jake Kauzlarich, who hit a two run home run, his second of the season. After scoring only one run in the fifth inning and not scoring in the sixth, the team responded with two more runs in the seventh. KANSAS 11 - BAKER 2 Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Kansas 1 3 2 2 1 0 2 0 X 11 14 3 Baker 1 3 2 1 0 2 0 2 5 2 Pitchers: Kansas- Holmes (2), Cazey (2), Duran (2), Falconer (1), Jakubov (1), Babel (1) Baker- Jahn (5), Collette (3) Win- Duran (B-2) Save- None Loss- Jahn Homerun: Kauzlarich Sophomore Dan Stucky started the Edited by Leah Shaffer inning with a double. Baty would follow with a single, to drive in Stucky. After getting to third, Baty scored on a sacrifice fly from his brother, junior Ryan Baty, his second run batted in of the game. After dropping its first three conference games, the team will look for their first victory in the Big 12 Conference this weekend at Hogland Ballpark as it faces the Oklahoma State Cowboys. Price is excited about the conference home opener this weekend and stressed the importance of taking advantage of playing at home. "We have been on the road six of the last eight weeks," Price said. "It is tough to travel as much as we are traveling. We need these two weeks at home, to sleep in our own beds, not have any of the guys miss class and get a chance to play in front of our fans." 4 89 ---