THURSDAY,OCT.11,2001
SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 7A
Comeback: Rogers had career-best game
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perfect lateral to sophomore Derick Mills. Kansas had practiced the hook and ladder play late last week. Kinsey made the pass. Mills made the run. But it was Fulton, the middle man, who made the difference.
"We ran it four or five times in practice," Fulton said. "I ran it when I played Pee Wee football, but that was like six or seven years ago. It was a great time to run that play."
But Fulton was not finished. With time running out, Kinsey flung a low spiral toward the left side of the end zone. Right when the football looked like it was going to skid across the artificial turf, Fulton contorted his body to grab it before it bounced. Minutes after helping Kansas cross midfield, Fulton helped his team get within two points of a tie game.
"Coaches called an in-and-out route," Fulton said. "The ball was coming hard, and Mario threw it low. But I just stopped and dropped to my knees and cradled it."
came without any help from his teammates.
For the game, the 5-foot-10, 190-pounder from Topeka had a season-high seven catches for 60 yards and that one touchdown.
While Fulton fueled the Jayhawks' comeback, Rogers manhandled the Red Raider offense. The 6-foot-2, 235-pounder from Dallas wreaked havoc at Jones SBC Stadium. He busted wide receivers and feasted on Texas Tech running backs for a career-high 22 tackles, 10 of which
Allen was not astounded with the play of his middle linebacker. Rather, he was more surprised that his co-captain could even play. Rogers was hobbled with a sore left foot before the game.
"I was surprised that he played, but play and play he did."
"On Thursday, he got stepped on out there by all 300 and whatever pounds of Nate (Dwyer)," Allen said. "And he said, 'Coach, I really stepped on him with the cleats on the top of his foot.'"
Marcus Rogers will be 23 in December. He shook off the pain to punish Texas Tech in his home state Saturday. His career-best day in tackles was nice, Rogers said, but it was only a prelude to his play in overtime.
He played the first four quarters of the game relying on instincts and his body. He helped seal the game by relying on instincts and his hands.
As Texas Tech threatened to go ahead in the second overtime, Rogers stepped up and picked off a B.J. Symons pass. It was Rogers' first interception of the season, and it secured Kansas' 34-31 victory.
"I just saw the receivers crossing, and I backed up right into them," Rogers said. "There was a little pain in the foot during the game, but I just sat that aside. I had to play through it. There was no doubt we were going to win coming into that second overtime."
Contact Denton at 864-4858
Confidence: Team got boost, Allen said
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own problems. Rather than field questions about the Texas Tech game, Allen answered questions about the team's struggling running game, the Jayhawks' inability to win a game on the road and the team's confidence in its new quarterback, Mario Kinsey.
Yesterday, Allen talked more about the matchup with Oklahoma than his own squad. Allen spoke about Sooner safety Roy Williams, how he hoped to deal with running back Quentin Griffin, and why Oklahoma seems to come up with big plays every week.
"We start looking around and see that we played a tight game against a Colorado team that beat Kansas State," Allen said.
He said that his team coming
"All of a sudden we see that this can be done and maybe we're not as bad as everybody tells us," Allen said.
Lineman Justin Hartwig said the biggest difference was that the team no longer questioned its strategy.
back from 11 down in the fourth quarter and winning last week is a real confidence boost.
"Nothing had worked in the
running game," Hartwig said. "We needed to see that the things we were doing could work. Now we know."
The confidence wasn't doused by a cold rain on Tuesday, but how it holds up against the No. 3 team in the nation remains to be seen.
Contact Briggeman at 864-4858
NLPLAYOFFS
Cardinals beat Johnson to even series
Braves win puts team one game closer to NLCS
The Associated Press
PHOENIX—Randy Johnson goes from fearsome to failure in the postseason. He just can't seem to win.
Rookie Albert Pujols hit his first postseason homer, a two-run opposite-field shot in the first inning.
Johnson extended his major league record for consecutive playoff losses to seven yesterday as Woody Williams and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 4-1, tying their NL series at one game each.
The Cardinals' victory came less than 24 hours after Curt Schilling's three-hit, 1-0 masterpiece. Game 5 in the best-of-five series is Friday night in St. Louis.
"If someone is to blame, I guess I am. I gave up three runs," Johnson said. "It seems like I've been in this position behind a microphone in the postseason every year. ... I pitched the best I could. It wasn't good enough."
The 35-year-old Williams allowed one run on four hits in seven-plus innings in his playoff debut.
Williams was relieved by left-hander Steve Kline after Craig Counsell led off the eighth with a
pinch-hit single. Pinch-hitter Greg Colbrunn singled to make Counsell the first Diamondback to reach second in the game.
The runners advanced to second and third on Tony Womack's sacrifice bunt, and Counsell scored when Danny Bautista, pinch-hitting for Steve Finley, grounded out to third.
Luis Gonzalez, 0-for-8 in the series, ended the rally by grounding out.
Helped by Jim Edmonds' diving catch in the ninth, Kline finished for a save in his first postseason appearance.
Miguel Batista, who still will start on Friday, was one of three relievers used by Diamondbacks manager Bob Brenly in the ninth.
With one out and runners at first and third, pinch-hitter Kerry Robinson hit a one-bouncer to Batista.
But the confused pitcher, who could have caught the runner at third in a rundown or gone for a double play at second, hesitated, and finally threw to first, pulling Mark Grace off the base. Everyone was safe as the Cardinals' fourth run scored.
Williams, 7-1 with a 2.28 ERA after being acquired by St. Louis from San Diego on Aug.2, shut down an Arizona team that had beaten him twice in three decisions when he was with the Padres this season.
"I'll use a term that usually applies to position players. He's a gamer," Brenly said of Williams.
Atlanta 1, Houston 0
HOUSTON — Tom Glavine and the Atlanta Braves showed that they, too, know how to throw a shutout in the playoffs.
In a postseason that's begun with dominant pitching, the team that's been doing it longer than the rest joined the trend yesterday in a 1-0 victory over the Houston Astros in Game 2 of the NL first round series.
Glavine threw eight sharp innings and John Smoltz pitched the ninth to cap the third shutout in the first four playoff games.
"You hear over and over that the postseason is about pitching and defense. We've proven that the last couple of days," said Glavine, who improved to 10-0 in Houston since June 1991.
This one sends the Braves home needing only one more win to return to the NLCS after a one-year absence.
The Astros have gotten great pitching this series, too, but poor defense from shortstop Julio Lugo has put them on the brink of dropping to 0-7-all-time in playoff series.
After making the fielding error that turned Game 1 in Atlanta's favor, Lugo made throwing errors on the first two balls hit to him in Game 2.
Now the Astros, who were ousted by the Braves in 1997 and 1999, go to Atlanta facing elimination. They've never won such a game in six previous tries. Shane Reynolds will try changing that Friday afternoon when he starts Game 3 against Atlanta's John Burkett.
The change of scenery might be Houston's best hope for extending the series because the Astros had the NL's best road record, winning a franchise-record 49 games.
"I don't feel good about going on the road 0-2. I wouldn't feel good about staying here 0-2," Houston manager Larry Dierker said. "If we are able to win two games there, then I feel like we're due to win one here."
Braves manager Bobby Cox learned before the game that his sister, Joy Rogers, had a brain hemorrhage and was in intensive care. He did not speak with reporters and planned to drive to be with her in Birmingham, Ala., upon flying back to Atlanta late yesterday.
It was not known whether Cox would be with the Braves for Game 3.
Glavine, who said he didn't know about Cox's distraction, limited Houston to six hits, striking out three and walking two. His toughest jam came in the fifth, when the Astros got within six inches of taking the lead then had men on the corners with one out.
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