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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2003
SPORTS COMMENTARY
Ryan Wood
rwood@kansan.com
Sports fans ignoring Baty's skill
Kirk Hinrich, senior guard, gets off a shot despite blocking efforts by Kansas State players Marques Hayden, freshman forward, and Tim Ellis, junior guard.
Soon, the tape recorders will be humming. The flashbulbs will be popping. His locker will be swarmed, video cameras, annoying reporters, microphones all shoved in his face.
All is quiet surrounding Kansas baseball's Ryan Batn now.
Courtney Kuhlen/Kansan
Women will faint every time he smiles. Children will weep when their lucky baseball is autographed. Groupies will swarm him at bars and leave feeling a "special connection" that is really just in their shallow heads.
If he keeps hitting the crap out of the baseball like he is now, Ryan Baty could be a superstar down the road-but no one at Kansas would care.
If Baty's in it for the glory, he's at the wrong school – or in the wrong sport.
The fair-weathered Kansas fans don't pay much attention to anything but men's basketball around here. The sad thing is, they're missing out on some good athletes. They're all talented, and they're all Jayhawks. Ryan Baty is just one of them.
Two weeks ago, Baty, a junior outfielder, was beyond sensational. In a six-game series at Hawaii-Hilo, Baty hit .619, had 13 hits, crushed two homers, three doubles and had nine RBIs. He reached base in the17 of the 25 times he came to the plate.
The achievements go on. He made zero errors. He never struck out. He walked four times. At one point, he had hits in seven straight at-bats. He scored seven runs.
All those stats were team-bests.
"In my 25 years of coaching, that's as good a weekend as I've seen a player play," coach Ritch Price said. "He was special."
Price has spent most of his coaching years in California, a state stocked with the most talented amateur athletes in the United States. His comment comes with a lot of merit.
The nation took notice of Baty last week. The National Collegiate Baseball Writer's Association gave him one of the most prestigious honors. Baty was named the NCAA National Hitter of the Week for the week ending Feb. 2. No one at KU seemed to care.
Baty could put up some monster numbers this year. It's early, but he is on pace to hit .536, blast 16 homers and drive in 72 runs. In the rigors of a 63-game schedule, he likely won't, but the projections do show how remarkably he's started this season.
Ryan Baty was better than all of them. But since he doesn't play basketball, nobody at Kansas cared.
His size, speed and talent are sure to land him a nice spot in this summer's Major League Baseball draft. The Kansas baseball team is talented, and with a fiery new coach at the helm, it could be on its way to its best season in years.
But will anyone care?
Courtney Kuhlen/Kansan
Batwin anyone on
Last week, Ryan Baty should've been the biggest story in Kansas athletics. He wasn't. Instead, it was Keith Langford's mysterious Band-Aid on his forehead, Wayne Simien's screwed-up shoulder, coach Roy Williams bashing the Internet and a bunch of idiots believing it's guilty until proven innocent regarding Missouri guard Ricky Clemons.
The talent pool in college baseball is loaded. There are potential Major League All-Stars and, possibly, future Major League Hall-of-Famers in the college game today.
What a shame.
Wood is a Lee's Summit, Mo., senior in journalism.
Kansas cruises again adds to 'amazing' run
Aaron Miles, sophomore guard, watches the ball and guards his man during second half of the game against Kansas State. The Jayhawks beat the Wildcats Saturday in Manhatten 82-64.
By Doyle Murphy
dmurphy@kansan.com
Kansas sportswriter
MANHATTAN — Kansas State was ready to make a statement.
No longer would the Wildcats be reminded that they had never beaten the Kansas men's basketball team in Bramalea Coliseum. Finally the 19-game home losing streak to the invaders from Lawrence would end. This was their opportunity to tell everyone they deserve respect.
For the first 20 minutes of their 82-64 loss, the Wildcats (11-10 overall, 2-7 Big 12 Conference) were heard loud and clear. They sank three-pointers seemingly at will, played stifling defense and looked like a team ready to beat Kansas (17-5, 7-1) for the first time since January of 1983.
Kansas State freshman forward Marques Hayden's rebound and putback at the buzzer sent his team to the locker room with smiles and a 36-35 edge. The Wildcats had the 12th-ranked team in the nation right where they wanted
After the break, it looked like it would be more of the same from K-State. In the first 14 minutes, it battled Kansas basket-for-basket and led by as many as 4 points. But K-State's opportunity was about to slip from its grasp.
The Jayhawks surged ahead with a 15-0 run that didn't end until K-State senior forward Quentin Buchanan nailed a two pointer with just under two minutes to play.
"You've got to respond with something," Wildcat senior forward Matt Siebrandt said. "We didn't respond with anything."
During the stretch, Kansas held KState scoreless for four and a half minutes, turning a close game into an 18-point blowout.
"We had them on their heels," sophomore guard Keith Langford said of the Wildcats. "They never made a run back at us. They never showed any heart, so we just stomped on them."
Langford must have decided he needed different shoes to leave a proper footprint on the Wildcats. His habit of switching kicks after a sub-par first half paid off. Langford scored 11 points in the second half to finish with 18 for the game.
Sophomore guard Aaron Miles and senior guard Kirk Hinrich got in a little stomping action as well.
Miles bounced back from a twopoint, five-turnover performance against Missouri to score 13 points and dish six assists.
scored 24 or more points in three of his last four outings.
For Hinrich, it was another game and another All-American caliber performance. While senior forward Nick Collision watched much of the second half from the bench with four fouls, Hinrich barely left the floor. He scored 28 points in 39 minutes to pass former Jayhawk Tony Guy for the 17th spot on Kansas' career scoring list. Hinrich has
The victory closed out Hinrich's final triumph in Bramlage. He and Collison will finish their college careers without losing a game in the Wildcats' arena.
Kansas' 20 consecutive victories in
Manhattan was impressive, Kansas coach Roy Williams said after the game.
"To me, it's the most amazing thing I've been involved with," he said. "It's just mind-boggling."
Edited by Ryan Wood
Lady Jayhawks work to fix first half
By Ryan Greene
rgreene@kansan.com
Kaneen sportswriter
By Ryan Greene
Eleventh-ranked Texas (15-5 overall, 8-1 Big 12) handed Kansas its third straight defeat. After winning two straight conference games against Texas A&M and Nebraska, the three conference losses for Kansas (9-12, 2-8) have come against three of the Big 12's top four teams. The three-game skid brings some relief to the Jayhawks, as they will not face another ranked opponent until Feb. 26 when they play Kansas State.
If there's a positive for the Kansas women's basketball team to take away from Saturday's 89-47 loss at Texas, it's that the worst is over.
A big concern for Kansas is its inability to score enough in the first half of their last two games. Against Colorado last
Wednesday, the team scored 14 points in the first half, and only 15 on Saturday against Texas.
"We'll play well for two or three minutes and then we'll just get lost," freshman guard Erica Hallman said.
Hallman was one of two Jayhawks to score in double figures. Sophomore guard Aquanita Burras led the way with 14 points, while Hallman added 11.
Hallman's second consecutive start was the result of Blair Waltz's recent back pain. Waltz was held to two minutes of play on Wednesday and had a rough time on Saturday in Austin, Texas. Waltz played 17 minutes but did not score, going 0-for-6 from the field.
Another problem the Jayhawks have faced aside from their offensive woes early in games is not cutting the deficit in the second half. Burras said that in order for that to start happening, everyone has
to be on the same page mentally.
"I think we can make comebacks, but we all have to believe it," Burras said.
For Texas, the offensive attack was well-balanced, with seven different players scoring at least eight points. The Longhorns were led by sophomore forward Heather Schreiber, who had 14 points. Senior guard Alisha Sare scored 11 points, while sophomore guard Kala Bowers and junior forward Annissa Hastings each had 10.
The Jayhawks now have a short break until they return to action. They will host Missouri Saturday as a part of the Border War series. The players' main focus this week will be recuperating physically before they next take the floor.
"It will help us a lot," Hallman said. "Our bodies are really tired right now."
- Edited by Ann Mantey
Reno recruit Padgett hurt, knee injury causes loss
It was the second straight year that he has left the Carson game with a knee injury. He suffered a season-ending knee sprain in last season's game.
Future Jayhawk David Padgett might be wearing a brace before he wears a Kansas jersey.
The Nevada Appeal reported yesterday that the 6-foot-11 center from Reno, Nev., injured his knee in a game between his Reno High School and Carson High School. Padgett had to be helped off the court and did not return. He was taken to the hospital, but the severity of the injury was not immediately known.
When he left Saturday's game in the third quarter, Padgett was leading all scorers with 16 points and the score was tied at 39. The game went into overtime where Reno eventually lost 59-57.
Doyle Murphy
Softball team starts season undefeated
By Steve Schmidt
sschmidt@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
After four games at the Triple Crown Invitational, four words can describe the performance of the 4-0 undefeated Kansas softball team: so far, so good.
The Jayhawks are off to their best start since 1998 — the third softball team in the University's history to start 4-0 — after four convincing wins in the season-opening St. Augustine, Fla., tournament.
After defeating Ole Miss 2-1 on Friday morning, Bethune-Cookman 6-1 about two hours later, and Purdue twice on Saturday (8-7 and 3-1), Kansas moved into the championship round — only to be shut out by Mother Nature. Sunday's action was canceled because of tropical rains. Because no championship game was held, Southern Illinois-Carbondale, which scored the most runs during the invitational, was crowned tournament champions. The Jayhawks finished second.
"You can't control the rain, and that was a little frustrating because we had a shot at winning the tournament," Kansas coach Tracy Bunge said.
In addition to the second place finish, four Kansas players were named to the all-tournament team: junior Kara Pierce, junior Sylvia Pfeiffer, junior Dani May and freshman Melaney Torres.
Pierce walked away from the mound with tournament defensive MVP honors, after posting a 3-0 record with 30 strikeouts in a little over 19 innings of work.
Pfeiffer took home tournament offensive MVP honors with a 5-8 showing at the plate, including two home runs and five RBIs. Torres went 5-9 at the plate with a triple and a double.
May provided the Hawks with stalwart defense as the defense played errorless ball throughout the tourney.
In the first game, Pierce emerged as the victor in pitching duel against star Ole Miss hurler Leslie Day in a 10-inning affair. She finished the game with a career-high 17 strikeouts.
On Saturday, the Boilermakers of Purdue (1-3) couldn't out do the Jayhawks in two consecutive games. It looked like Kansas was going to win the first game aftertaking a 7-2 lead, but Purdue clawed its way back by scoring five runs in the fifth inning.
In the second game against the Boilermakers, Pfeiffer showed why she would later be named the offensive MVP by going 2-2 at the plate and smacking three RBIs.
The Hawks will next head westward to compete in the Campbell/Cartier Tournament in San Diego from Feb. 14-16.
- Edited by Michelle Burhenn
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