SPORTS UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Tuesday, March 29, 1994
11
Big Eight baseball race could be tight
Kansas, Oklahoma Oklahoma State all ranked in Top 25
By Andrew Gilman Kansan sportswriter
A 45-18 record culminating in a World Series appearance capped off a 1993 season that brought the Kansas baseball team national recognition.
Now the Jayhawks, 19-6 and 5-2 in the Big Eight Conference, have the difficult job of proving last year's postseason success was no fluke.
Well into their conference schedule, the Jayhawks already have taken four of five from Oklahoma and split a pair of games with Kansas State.
Kansas junior outfielder Josh Igoh follows through on his swing. The Jayhawks enter the heart of the Big Eight Conference season this week, including tonight's game against Iowa State
That 5-2 record puts Kansas in second place, but the road to the College World Series will be a difficult one. The conference has two other teams ranked in the top 25 in all of the major college baseball polls, Oklahoma State and Oklahoma. Kansas is ranked No. 17 in the nation by Baseball America.
If Coach Dave Bingham is correct, the Jayhawks will need to win between 38 and 40 games to qualify for post-season play. They're halfway there, thanks mostly to strong pitching.
Sophomore Jamie Splittorff is 7-0 this season and senior Chris Corn is 4-0, including a complete game victory Friday against the Sooners. Senior David Meyer, at 4-1, makes for a solid third starter, and junior shortstop/releiver Dan Rude has three saves. Sophomore Scott Titrington also has three saves.
'Bingham said he had been pleased with his team's effort so far this season.
**Kansas Jayhawks:** Overall 19-6, Conference 5-2, last year 45-18, 17-9 (second)
"I thought this first stretch of games would be difficult," Bingham said. "We played five of seven on the road, but I thought we pulled through it well."
Senior Darryl Monroe has hit nine home runs and already has 38 RBI to complement his .386 batting average.
The Jayhawks could challenge Oklahoma State for the top spot in the conference.
Junior third baseman Brent Wilhelm is bating. 387 with 24 RBI and senior outfielder Ron Oelschlager has 26 RBI.
"I like OSU now, but I think we're on pace," Bingham said.
Oklahoma State Cowboys: Overall 19-7.
Conference 6-0, last year 45-17, 16-8 (first)
Oklahoma State is coming off its 13th consecutive conference championship and a College World Series appearance. Bingham said that the Cowboys were strong again this season — as usual.
The Kansas Jayhawk baseball team (18-6, 5-2) will bring their No. 17 ranking to bat when it plays host to Iowa State (6-13, 0-4) at 8 p.m. tonight at Hoglund-Maupin Stadium.
Kansas plays tonight
Kansas is 12-1 at home this season.
Big Eight standings
league overall
Oklahoma St. 6 0 19 7
Kansas 5 2 19 6
Missouri 3 2 18 7
Oklahoma 18 8 3 4
Kansas St. 1 3 10 17
Nebraska 0 3 12 12
Iowa St. 0 4 6 13
Missouri Tigers: Overall 18-7, Conference 3-2, last year 30-19, 15-10 (third)
"We've got a good nucleus of returning players from the experience standpoint," Missouri coach Gene McArtor said. "On paper we've got our number one, two and three starters back, as well as our closer. We should be pretty solid on the mound."
Missouri's pitching also impressed Bingham.
"Missouri is a sound pitching team with lots of depth," he said. "We won every series last year in the Big Eight except for Missouri. They could definitely contend for the title."
Nebraska finished last season winning 23 of their last 30 games, and may have been the hottest team in the league by the end of the season.
Nebraska Cornhuskers: Overall 12-12,
Conference 0-3, last year 35-23, 16-12 (four)
The team returns All-Big Eight starting pitcher and designated hitter, junior Troy Brohawn. Brohawn went 13-0 with a 3.16 ERA. He also hit .329 last year and was named to the College Baseball preseason All-America team. He suffered a broken foot earlier in the season and will be out nearly eight weeks. Regardless, Nebraska coach John Sanders likes his team's chances this season.
"We have some real difference-makers on our team this season," Sanders said. "And this year's recruiting class is one of the best we've ever had."
Oklahoma Sooners: Over 18-8, Conference 3-4, last year 31-24. 13-14 (fifth)
Although the Sooners lost four of five to Kansas, Bingham thinks Oklahoma has the make-up of a team that can perform well in the NCAA tournament.
"They'll be a strong contender," Bingham
said. "Once they start playing some more of their conference games they'll get better. They'll fit well nationally."
Oklahoma coach Larry Cochell said, "Pitching was our Achilles' heel last season. I think it will be better and stronger this season."
The Sooners are ranked No. 25 in Baseball America.
Kansas State Wildcats: Overall 10-17, Conference 1-3, last year 15-34, 6-17 (sixth)
Kansas State may be in a rebuilding phase. The Wildcats were under.500 for the first time in six seasons, and this year they have 14 players who are freshman or sophomores.
"They're playing a lot of young guys," Bingham said. "But down the road they will be a serious contender. This year I see them batting for the sixth spot with Iowa State."
But K-State coach Mike Clark doesn't think the program has fallen.
"Even with the down year we had, I don't think the program has been set back," he said.
**Iowa State Cyclones:** Overall 6-13, Conference record 0-4, last year 17-28, 15-8 (seventh)
If Iowa State is going to get back to the Big Eight Tournament, it will probably do so with
pitching.
Bingham said that Iowa State had good pitching but that it would have to contend with Kansas State for sixth place in the conference.
The staff lost only one starter and will have plenty of experience returning, both starting and in the bullpen.
Coach Bobby Randall also cited pitching as an important factor.
"I feel that our key to success is to play consistent defense and pitch consistently," he said.
Players, fans big losers in NCAA Tournament
More than 15,000 well-to-do fans, mostly alumni who could afford the cost of NCAA Tournament tickets and cross-country trips, sat to cheer on their respective schools last weekend. The same ritual will take place in Charlotte, N.C., this weekend for the Final Four.
As student athletes run up and down the court, cash registers ring in $1,000 increments to benefit the NCAA and
Division 1 basketball conferences. The tournament's concessions, souvenirs, TV contracts and the tickets themselves are major revenue contributors, accounting for 70 percent of the NCAA's total annual revenue, according to information from the Black Coaches Association.
But who can afford to watch the tournament in person? Certainly not the students. I was one of very few Kansas students who watched the Jayhawks in Lexington, Ky., for the first round games.
Other students who had gotten tickets from the Kansas ticket office had to pay $29 for a groups of games, or a total of $60 for the three tournament games Kansas played this year. This figure doesn't even take into account the travel expense and the classes missed. And if a student didn't sign up for the lottery and tried to buy tickets
from scalpers outside the arena, the prices went as high as $500.
According to the Kansas ticket office, 77 students had a chance to buy tickets for the conference tournament, but only 28 bought them. I would not have seen the games if I wasn't covering them. Alumni can and do buy the tickets, but it doesn't seem fair to students who have followed the team throughout the season at Allen Field House to be relegated to the TV set for Kansas games.
But the biggest tournament travesty this year for students was the Big Eight Conference Tournament, held March 11-13. In order to see just one Kansas game, a person had to pay $110, covering all sessions of the tournament.
There should be a student rate for both Big Eight and NCAA Tournament tickets. This would help bring
the tournaments back to the students somewhat, where it belongs.
How about the other students—the student athletes? If there were no players on the court, I expect Big Eight officials would have trouble selling 16,000 tickets.
Jayhawk merchandise is another area where players help the University and athletic department. Paul Vander Tuig, an administrator in trademark licensing of Kansas products, said that athletic success might affect product sales but that it was not the sole reason for increased sales.
Some say the scholarships and benefits the players receive, such as tutors and free room and board, are more than enough compensation for their abilities, like other scholarship students. However, a normal scholarship student is not required to be both an excellent student and a college-level basketball player. Kansas players are regulated by the University to have at least average grades and are implicitly pushed to excel on the court.
"In the last three or four years, it has been in vogue to wear university goods," he said. "This has resulted in growth at many institutions."
While this may be true, there is no doubt that a good basketball team helps bring in money. Kansas ended the 1988-89 season with a dismal 19-12 record in Roy Williams' first season as coach, and the University received $119,000 in royalties. Kansas improved the next season to 30-5, and so did royalties, up to $185,000.
From July 1, 1992, to June 30, 1993, the royalties from licensed product sales amounted to $461,000. Vander Tuig said 40 percent went to the general scholarship fund of the Universi-
ty, 25 percent to the Kansas Union-fund administered by the KU Endowment Association and 35 percent to the Williams Fund, where most Kansas athletic scholarships are drawn.
The least the University and the NCAA could do is set aside a trust fund for each player, receivable after graduation. Kansas receives a huge amount of prestige and money from basketball, and somehow that should be repaid to the student athletes.
It is about time college basketball and the NCAA Tournament be given back to the students — all students.
Only 35 percent of merchandise royalties. That's it. What a joke.
Gerry Fey covered the Kansas men's basketball team this season.
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