SPORTS UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Monday, April 4, 1994
11
'Hawks dominate Tigers in doubleheader
Hot pitching pushes record to 23-7 overall
By Andrew Gilman
Kansan sportswriter
After giving up 28 runs in two games against Iowa State, the Kansas baseball team received some career-best pitching performances and took a doubleheader from the Missouri Tigers yesterday at Hoglund-Maupin Stadium.
Kansas won the first game behind senior left-handed David Meyer's complete game shutout, 11-0. And the Jayhawks received another complete game from sophomore lefty Clay Baird in the second game winning 8-3.
The Jayhawks swept the Tigers in the threegame series, in which Kansas had three consecutive, complete games.
Kansas improved its record to 23-7 and 9-3 in Big Eight Conference play. The Tigers fell to 20-10 and 3-5.
Sophomore Jamie Splittorff kept his perfect record alive in his victory Friday, 5-4. Splittorff improved to 8-0, but it was Meyer and Baird who impressed Kansas coach Dave Bingham yesterday.
"David's stuff was dominating," Bingham said. "This may have been his best-pitched game in his career."
Meyer gave up eights hits, walked only two players and struck out seven on his way to his fifth victory of the season against one loss.
"All you have to do is think about making good pitches," Meyer said. "They're going to get their hits. I was getting a lot of ground balls, and my defense helped me out a lot."
Actually, it was Kansas who was getting the hits.
Sophomore catcher Ted Meadows had two hits and drove in four runs, and junior left fielder Josh Igou, in the midst of having his best series all season, also had two hits and drove in five runs.
Igou, who was batting just below. 240 before this weekend, went seven for 12 with seven RBIs during the series. His average improved to .282.
"I took a lot of pressure off of myself this weekend," Igou said. "The hands felt quicker, and I tried some different things when I was preparing in the on-deck circle."
Bingham also was pleased with Igou's performance.
"I'm proud of Josh," he said. "He's had a difficult challenge all year. This weekend is a step in the right direction. Today his game may be back together."
In the finale, where the Jayhawks triumphed 8-3, it looked as though Baird would not match his teammates' accomplishments.
"Meyer's game was in the back of my mind before the game started." Baird admitted.
Tom Leininger / KANSAN
Baird gave up consecutive doubles to start the game and received a visit on the mound from Bingham.
"He just came out there and asked me what I was scared of," Baird said. "He said I was being timid."
After a wild pitch, Baird gave up a fielder's-choice RBI. He then settled down to get two quick outs to avoid further damage.
Missouri left fielder Dave Sanderson is caught in a squeeze by Kansas infielder Clint Hardesty and first baseman Alex King. Sanderson was licked out by King. The Jayhawks won the game 11-0 and the second game of the doubleheader 8-3.
Baird struck out four and walked three, while retiring nine of the last 10 batters he faced.
He gave up only three more the rest of the way and cruised to the victory. Baird improved to 3-1 on the season and pitched what he and Dave Bingham called his best performance as a Jayhawk.
"He got back into a rhythm and got a lot better after I talked to him," Bingham said. "I challenged him to step it up. I went back out in the fifth and challenged him again, and from then on he began to pick up the momentum."
The three-game sweep puts Kansas in position to take over the conference lead. At 9-3 Kansas is just a game behind leader Oklahoma State, which stands at 8-2. Oklahoma State
"Those last five innings were the best I've thrown," Baird said.
lost to Nebraska yesterday. The Jayhawks will have its first chance at the Cowboys when they travel to Stillwater, Oka, to play a three-game series April 8-10. Kansas will try to complete a season sweep of Missouri when they battle tomorrow and Wednesday in
Columbia, Mo.
Even with the Jayhawks gaining ground on the Cowboys, Iguau was not concerned.
"Oh, really," he said. "Only one game back? I guess that will put some heat on them."
Tom Leipinger / KANSAN
Sanders on fire during wet scrimmage
Kansas football coach Glen Mason watches junior running back L.T. Levine as he is taken down by junior outside linebacker Keith Rodgers at Memorial Stadium.
By Matt Slegel
Kansan sportswriter
A steady rain pounded down on the turf of Memorial Stadium while the Kansas football team played its first live scrimmage Saturday afternoon. Despite the poor weather the team enjoyed the scrimmage, Kansas coach Glen Mason said.
"It wasn't too cold," he said. "You need a couple of days like that. I thought the players had a good time out there."
Mason was impressed by Sanders' performance.
One player who had a good time was sophomore running back Mark Sanders. Sanders took a pitch and scampered 17 yards for his first touchdown in the scrimmage. Later, Sanders added another touchdown when he bowled over several Kansas defenders from the eight-yard line.
"This year I'm healthy," Sanders said, who rushed for 119 yards against Missouri in the last game. "Every time I started to come on last year I got hurt. It was a matter of having faith in myself and the coaches having faith in me. Now, I'm showing the coaches what they have been waiting for."
"I think the best way to describe him was one of the officials turned around and said, 'who was No. 34?' Mason said. "He is the most improved football player in our program. We need to make sure our running game is intact at the beginning of the year rather than in the middle of the year."
To help ensure that the running game is intact, Mason has altered spring practice. In past seasons, the team broke into two offenses and two defenses and scrummaged each other. This season, there was only one offensive squad and one defensive squad. The offense wore white and the defense was clad in blue. Mason said the switch enabled the team to work on situational plays better.
Mason also is having former Kansas standout running back Tony Sands work with the running backs.
"I love having him around," Mason said. "He's a self-starter and has a lot of enthusiasm. And one thing about Tony Sands: I can never remember his name on the list for
missing a class. He's a role model for the players."
Sands was a role model for Sanders when the former was playing at Kansas. Sanders that in his last high school game he had rushed for 365 yards against Seminole High School. On the same day, he had got a call from a Kansas coach who told him that Sands had rushed for 396 yards against Missouri. Sand's performance that day influenced Sanders to attend Kansas. Sanders said Sands had helped all the running backs by encouraging a healthy competition between them. And if that fails, Sanders gets motivation from another source.
"I have a highlight film of myself at home," Sanders said. "I would watch that last year and say, see, I can still do that. But my girlfriend would say, 'You haven't done anything here.'"
Mason said the team would practice today and then take two days off. Sophonore running back June Henley did not practice because of a shoulder injury. However, Mason said that it wasn't serious and that he expected him to return to practice today.
SPORTS BRIEFS
Men's and women's tennis teams defeat opponents in Boulder
The No. 28 Kansas men's tennis team showed defending Big Eight Champion Colorado that the Jayhawks would be a force in the conference title hunt. The Jayhawks defeated the Buffaloes 5-2 Saturday in Boulder.
The Jayhawks improved to 2-0 in the conference and 16-5, while Colorado dropped to 12-7.
The No. 5 women's team won twice this weekend, defeating both Colorado and Missouri 9-0. However, some matches were closer than the score indicated.
Senior Kim Rogers, playing at the No. 4 singles spot,
finally won a three-set match that saw each set go to a
Sophomore Reid Slattery, playing in the No. 1 singles spot for Kansas, defeated Frel Roth Andersch 7-6, 7-3. Junior Martin Eriksson also won at the No. 2 singles position, holding off Scott Davideff 6-4, 6-4.
tiebreaker. Rogers prevailed 6-7(5),7-6(4),7-6(4).
In doubles action, Kansas senior Abby Woods and Rogers, ranked No.11 in the nation, also were taken to a third set before winning 7-6 (5) in the third.
Kansas track wins triangular
Both the Kansas men's and women's track teams won the Arkansas State-Kansas-Missouri Triangular Saturday in Jonesboro. Ark. with 19 first-place finishes.
Senior Dan Waters led the men with victories in the 800- and 1500-meter runs.
Senior John Bazzoni, who won the Big Eight Conference championship in the pole vault, jumped 17-5 for the victory and earned a provisional qualification to the NCAA Championships.
A provisional qualification does not guarantee that Bazzoni will compete, but it does assure him that someone must beat his jump for him not to go.
The women set three stadium records in winning the meet.
Senior Teresa Reichert won the discus with a throw of
158-7. Junior Melissa Swartz won the 1500 and set a stadium record with a time of 4:37.01. Freshman Latanya Holloway also set a stadium record with her time of 24.21 in the 200-meter run.
Kansas travels to Austin to compete at the Texas Relays April 8-9.
Kansas softball wins series
Senior Stephani Williams recorded four wins as the Kansas softball team swept Nebraska this weekend in Lincoln, Neb. In the second game, Williams threw a 10-0 shutout and improved her record to 16-6. She also lowered her earned run average to 0.64, which is the lowest in the Big Eight Conference.
The Jayhawks improved to 21-11, and the Cornhuskers dropped to 11-19.
The final game of the series was the closest of the weekend, but the Javahaws won again 4-3.
Williams allowed nine hits and only three runs. Junior Lora Richardson, who plays first base, recorded 13 outs
and had a double. Richardson was knocked in by a single from junior Joy Herrera.
The Jayhawks will play Pittsburg State Friday and Oklahoma Saturday and Sunday in Lawrence.
Golfers see weekend action
The Kansas men's golf team finished 11th out of 18 teams yesterday at the Augusta College Invitational in Augusta, Ga. The Jayhawks finished with a score of 897, 28 strokes behind winner Augusta College.
Senior John Hess led the Jayhawks with a total score of 220, which tied him for 19th.
Kansas senior golfer Holly Reynolds led the Indiana Invitational at Bloomington, Ind., going into yesterday's final round after shooting a 73 and a 74.
Her 147 strokes put the Jayhawks in fifth place out of the 17 teams competing.
The Big Eight has put on a strong showing in women's competition. Oklahoma was in first place with 623 strokes, Iowa State was in third with 628 strokes, and Kansas checked in with 636 strokes.
Compiled from Kansan staff reports.
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