6B SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
BASEBALL
FRIDAY, APRIL 10,2009
Heere breathes new life into third spot in the lineup
BY JOSH BOWE
jbowe@kansan.com
Before the season even started, coach Ritch Pelt felt confident about a couple of players. One of them was sophomore outfielder Brian Heere.
Heere, Lawrence native, was going to play a big part in how the season would progress, Price said. With an outfield full of question marks just two months ago, Price knew he would have to rely on the young sophomore being ready to perform at the plate.
"He's had a tremendous fall, I'm really pleased with his development," Price said back in February at media day. "He's a good runner and we're going to move him into the two hole."
Well, Price was right about Heere's running abilities, and now Heere is doing it from the third spot in the order instead of the second. He has used his speed and his abilities to bunt and hit to all sides of the field to raise his batting average to .371, second highest on the team.
"He's really had a nice run. There's peaks and valleys to every hitter and he went through a little bit of a lull a couple of weeks ago," Price said. "He's on balance, swinging at strikes and using the whole field."
KANSAS VS. NO.17 OKLAHOMA STATE
For most of the season it looked
Three-game series Hoglund Ballpark
Game 1:
6 p.m., Tonight
Game 2:
2 p.m., Saturday
Game 3:
1 p.m., Sunday
as if Heere wasn't going to be able to keep his batting average above .250, let alone .370. But with the third spot in the order in flux and junior second baseman Roby Price struggling early in the season, Heere's emergence as a reliable hitter in the three hole has not only been a relief for Ritch Price, but allowed Roby and junior shortstop David Narodowski to move up in the order and see better pitches to hit.
"It's put guys in position where with Narodowski and Robby at the top of the lineup are seeing more fastballs to hit." Ritch said. "They're swinging the bat a lot
better because of that."
Heere's main goal heading into this season was to keep up his work from the fall. He said he wanted to carry over everything he learned and accomplished last fall before the season started.
Sophomore outfielder Brian Heere is greeted by other Jayhawks after scoring a run during the team's April 4 game against Baylor at Hoglund Ballpark. With .375, Heere now has the second highest batting average on the team and now occupies the position in the lineup usually reserved for teams' best overall hitter.
"My biggest thing was trying to carry over my fall, I had a pretty good fall," Heere said. "Tried to carry over my approaches and remember what I was seeing and how I felt in the fall and putting that into game situations on the spring."
Since Heere's move to third in the lineup, the Jayhawks have averaged 7.9 runs a game, a significant improvement. Heere is tied for fourth in runs scored with 23 and leads the team with a .483 on-base percentage. Kansas (20-12, 4-5) will need all the offense it can get this weekend against No. 18 Oklahoma State (21-11, 4-5).
But freshman first baseman Zac Elgie definitely appreciates what Heere's batting has brought the Javahws since the lineup change.
"He's one of those special guys that can hit a ball to all fields and drop a bunt down and beat it out." Elgie said. "He's got a pretty good skill set."
Typically in baseball the third spot in the order is reserved for the team's best overall hitter. Heere doesn't have the power that some
typical third-spot hitters have, but his batting average speaks for itself. The pressures of hitting in that spot have had no affect on Heere due to his down-to-earth personality, Price said.
"He's such a low-key guy, and he doesn't get excited about anything." Price said. "His demeanor is probably one of the reasons he's done so well so far."
plenty excited with Heere's play. Perhaps it will take a series victory over a ranked team for Heere to join in the excitement of his teammates.
The rest of the Jayhawks are
— Edited by Justin Leverett
TRACK & FIELD
Team hopes for another warm weekend in Norman
the Oklahoma track will also play host to championship races
BY JASON BAKER
jbaker@kansan.com
For his second outdoor meet, freshman hurdler Keyen Porter has one request. "I hope it's going to be warm like Arizona, because that was nice," Porter said.
It may not be Arizona, but the Kansas track and field team will perhaps find good weather to the south in Norman Okla., where they will compete this weekend in the John Jacobs Invitational.
The Jayhawks are coming off of a successful outdoor debut at the Jim Click Shootout in Tucson,
Ariz. , where
seven of them
qualified for the
NCAA Midwest
Regional, also in
Norman, Okla.
next month.
One of those who qualified was freshman Corey Fuller, in the triple jump event.
so I'm proud about that," Fuller said.
Jumping 50 feet was a personal
"I hope it's going to be warm like Arizona, because that was nice."
KEYEN PORTER Freshman hurdler
Last weekend Fuller jumped 15.34 meters (50.4). Jumping more than 50 feet was something Fuller was happy to achieve.
"I mean I knew I was going to hit it, but my biggest accomplishment was to be jumping at 50 feet,
a feet was a personal best for Fuller, who said he wanted to continue getting personal records at every meet from now on.
Coach Stanley Redwine was optimistic about the team's potential for this weekend's meet.
"We're feeling pretty good, everyone's
healthy, we got our first meet out of the way. We're looking to do bigger and better things this weekend," he said.
Redwine said that this meet this weekend will serve an important purpose. It will provide Kansas
UP NEXT
WHAT: John Jacobs Invitational
WHERE: Norman, Okla.
WHEN: Saturday
runners with the opportunity to get used to the track, so that when the Midwest Regional Championships come around, they'll be prepared.
"We have seven people qualify for regionals. It's a meet of qualifying and to have seven people quality is a good start," Redwine said. "Hopefully we'll get some others qualified so when we go to regionals, we'll be ready to go to and qualify for the NCAAs"
One of the Jayhawks with the potential to qualifying this weekend in Oklahoma is senior
Charity Stowers.
Stowers, who will run the 800-meter,
said she was ready and motivated to qualify, after placing sixth for the team in Arizona with a time of 213.76.
"I'm starting off better than I did last year and I know I'm
on the right track. I just got to trust my training and get it done." Stowers said.
In the women's 4x100 relay, the squad of seniors Nickesha Anderson and Victoria Howard, junior Aubree Dorsey and sophomore Kendra Bradley will look to build on their potential after their victory last weekend with a time
"I'm starting off better than I did last year and I know I'm on the right track."
CHARITY STOWERS Senior runner
of 45.89 seconds.
They just missed the qualifying mark by .19 seconds.
Bradley said.
"We all have good chemistry with each other so we're going to improve on what we did," sophomore Kendra
The John Jacobs Invitational will kick off with field events at 10 a.m. and track events at 12:45 p.m.
Edited by Justin Leverett
MLB
ANAHEIM, Calif. — Los Angeles Angels pitcher Nick Adenhart and two others were killed by a suspected drunk driver Thursday, a shocking end to the life of a rookie who had overcome major elbow surgery to realize his big league dreams.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
"It is a tragedy that will never be forgotten," manager Mike Scioscia said at an Angel Stadium news conference.
The accident in neighboring Fullerton occurred hours after the 22-year-old pitcher made his season debut with his father in the stands, throwing six scoreless innings against the Oakland Athletics. The Angels ultimately lost the game, 6-4.
Following his first start, rookie killed in car crash
Adenhart was a passenger in a silver Mitsubishi Eclipse that was broadsided in an intersection about 12:30 a.m. by a minivan that apparently ran a red light, police said.
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The minivan driver fled the crash on foot and was captured about 30 minutes later. Police identified him as Andrew Thomas Gallo, 22, of Riverside, and said he had a suspended license because of a previous drunken driving conviction.
Adenhart had made a slow climb to reach the majors. He hurt his pitching elbow two weeks before the June 2004 major league draft, when he was projected as a top-five pick out of Williamsport High in Maryland.
But the setback dropped him to the 14th round, where the Angels selected him. Adenhart struggled with a 9.00 ERA in three starts for the Angels last season, but Scioscia said last month the right-hander had worked hard over the winter and arrived at spring training with a purpose.
"He lived his dream and was blessed to be part of an organization comprised of such warm, caring, and compassionate people," his family said in a statement issued through the team.
A small but steady stream of somber fans came to the stadium Thursday to add flowers to a makeshift memorial on the pitcher's mound on the brick "infield" outside the stadium entrance.
A poster among the bouquets read, "No. 34, You are one more Angel in heaven." Scribbled on a baseball was "Now you play for another Angels team."
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