University Daily Kansan / Thursday, October 1, 1987
11
Sports
KU baseball players to play ex-teammates
By DARRIN STINEMAN
Staff writer
Three members of the Kansas baseball team will have a little more at stake than the final score when the Jayhawks play Allen County Community College on Thursday at Hogland-Maupin Stadium.
As alumni of Allen County, senior Mike McLead and juniors Troy Menterz and Bam Denginhof will also put on their ex-teammates as they take on their ex-teammates.
"I just want to kill 'em," said Mentzer, the Jayhawk catcher. "There's extra incentive because I want to show these guys up that I used to play with. There's definitely added incentive."
Bemingholz, Kansas’ right fielder, said, “I’ve got a lot of friends that are still there. All the other jucos we have played have been just another mean, that much more to beat them, since they're my old teammates.”
Pitcher Mike McLeod has a little less at stake, because he knows fewer of the players. He played at Allen County two years ago, but Mentzer and Benninghoff played there last year.
"I guess since it's your old junior college you want to beat them more than the others," McLeod said. "I think you're the team but nobody I played with."
McLeod isn't scheduled to pitch until Sunday, so he probably won't face his old school. But Mentzer, who is batting .464 with four home runs and 12 runs batted in, and Benninghoff, who is batting .286 with two home runs and 11 RBIs, will be starters.
Mentzer and Benninghoff have dif
Benningham off said, "I approach them all the same. Basically, you've got to respect every opponent you play."
ferent attitudes about playing junior college opponents.
"I just expect to beat them because we've got almost all juniors and seniors." Mentzer said. "We shouldn't just not lose to (Allen County), we shouldn't lose to any junior colleges."
After playing 39 innings of baseball between last Thursday and last Sunday, the Jayhawks experienced a letdown at Tuesday's practice, coach Dave Bingham said. Kansas played 15-inning games with juices on Thursday and played the KC alumni on Friday. The team had the day off Monday.
"Tuesday was one of our down days," Bingham said. "We had a good week last week; we practiced hard and played hard, and we probably had a letdown from all that. Our intensity wasn't really good yesterday, but it's a little better today (Wednesday)."
"We need to create opportunities to see who's going to get the job done." he said. "We've had some guys do super and got the job done, and we've got others than haven't."
Bingham said he was using the fall games to try to get a better idea of which players he would play in the spring.
Sophomore Steve Renko and freshmen Darin Harris and Steve McGinness are scheduled to pitch for Kansas today. The Jayhawks will again start their game in which a starting pitcher starts the first, sixth, and 11th inning.
Game time is set for 3:30 p.m.
Kansas State defeats KU in volleyball match
Kansas State defeated the KU volleyball team last night 11-15, 15-9, 15-7, 15-17, 15-11 in Manhattan, the eighth straight defeat for the Jayhawks.
Kansas, 4-10 overall and 0-3 in Big Eight Conference matches, had to rally to win the fourth game and be a fifth game and deciding game.
KU coach Frankie Albizt said the two teams played the best match she could.
By a Kansan reporter
"In the fourth game, we were down
11-13 and came back and won."
Albitz said. "We would have never
done that last year."
"We fought hard to win the match. At the end, we wanted to win so badly that I think it hurt us a little bit. We were told we served and aangle of balls fell in."
Albizt had praise for the play of seniors Michelle Klone and Monica Spencer.
"Michelle Klone played the best I've seen her play. It was also the best setting job I've seen Monica do." The subs went in and played well.
The Jayhawks' next match is at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow at Wichita State. On Saturday, they play Oklahoma at 7:30 p.m. in Norman, Okla.
Joe Wilkins III/Special to the KANSAN
KU coach Balesente is re-evaluating his quarterback situation after the team's performance in its first three games this season.
Freshmen compete at quarterback spot
By CRAIG ANDERSON Staff writer
Staff writer
The Kansas offensive team scrimmaged yesterday against members of the non-traveling squad in an attempt to find out how their quarterbacks would react in game situations. Kansas plays Southern Illinois on Saturday at Memorial Stadium.
Because sophomore quarterback Kelly Donohoe and senior Mike Orth have combined to complete only 35 percent of their passes during the first three games, freshmen Kevin Verdugo and Lance Flachsbarth are also being looked at as possible starting quarterbacks.
"Do you think I want to have to make this decision?" he said. "I wish I had somebody who could complete 60 percent of his passes and throw for five touchdowns a game, but we haven't found him yet."
During yesterday's practice Verdugo was interchanging with Orth and Donohoe when running the first team offense. Flaschbairn quarterbacked the second team against the first- and second team defenses.
Coach Bob Valesente said he had not yet made a decision on who would start at quarterback this Saturday.
Before the season, Valesente said he had hoped to redshirt Verdugo and Flachsbarth. Now it appears that one
of them, most likely Verdugo, might get playing time Saturday.
Though the plan to redshirt the freshman signal-callers might fall through, other things on the offense will stay the same, Valesente said.
'Do you think I want to have to make this decision?'
Bob Valesente KU football coach
Senior defensive tackle Von Lacey will miss Saturday's game because of a cut on his forehead that required stitches, Valesente said. Lacey spent yesterday's practice on the sidelines running, throwing a medicine ball and doing pushups.
"We're not going to change our offense one bit," he said. "We're too far into the season to make major changes like that. We want to get people established at some starting positions, and quarterback happens to be one of those positions."
Senior defensive end Teddy Newman also spent yesterday's practice on the sidelines because of a concussion suffered in last Saturday's game against Louisiana Tech.
Wilson leads Royals to defeat of Mariners
The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Willie Wilson drove in two runs, including the go- ahead run with a sixth-inning sacrifice fly, as the Kansas City Royals owned the Seattle Mariners 7-3 Wednesday night. Danny Johnson, 9-18 allowed six hits, struck out
Danny Jackson, 918, allowed six hits, struck out six and walked five in pitching his 11th complete game.
Bill Pecota led off the sixth with a single off Mike
Morgan, 12,17, and went to third on Gary Thurman's second single of the game. One out later, Dennis Powell relieved Morgan and allowed Wilson's sacrifice fly to right field.
sports stature of eight high
The Royals put the game away in the eighth when Wilson had an RBI single and George Brett added a two-run single.
wilson also had three stolen bases, tying him with Seattle's Harold Reynolds for the American
League lead with 57.
the Mariners took a 1-1 lead in the first inning when Phil Bradley walked, took third on a single and scored on a throwing error by Bo Jackson
The Royals scored twice in the bottom of the inning. Wilson led off with a single, stole second, went to third on an infield out and scored on Brett's groundout. Danny Tartabull then walked and came home on Jackson's double.
Cardinals lose to Montreal but clinch tie for division
The Associated Press
The Cardinals were assured at least a share of the division championship earlier in the evening when second-place New York lost 4-3 to Philadelphia in 10 innings. St. Louis can win the game over Montreal or by winning any of the three games against the Mets that end the regular season.
The Expos also remain mathematically alive, moving within four
ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis Cardinals clinched a tie for the National League East title Wednesday night despite losing 6-1 to the Montreal Expos and undefeated Pascual Perez.
Perez, 7-0, checked St. Louis on four hits over seven innings, only one after giving up an unearned run in the fourth.
games of St. Louis. They would have to win their final four, three against Chicago, and have the Cardinals lose four straight to achieve a tie.
Andy McGaffigan relieved Perez and got one out in the eighth. Tim Burke relieved with runners on first and second and got Vince Coleman to hit into a force play. Coleman stole third, but Burke struck out Ozzie Smith and then retired the side in the ninth for his 17 save.
A crowd of 43,236, most of them
wearing Cardinals' red, gave a standing ovation in the sixth when the Mets' final score was posted. But Perez prevented St. Louis from clinching outright as he walked nine and struck out six. The Expos are 9-0 in the nine starts he has made since Aug. 19.
Andres Galarraga, who has feasted on the Cardinals this season, singled home the tie-breaking run during a two-run sixth that made it 3-1. A single by Tim Raines, a double by Hube Brooks and an intentional walk Wallah loaded the buses with one against starter Bob Forsch, 11-7.
Galarraga, 28-for-65 with 12 RBI
against St. Louis, followed with a chop that Terry Pendleton fielded behind third base, but he had no play. The infield hit chased Forsch, and pinch-hitter Dave Engle met reliever Rick Horton with an RBI forceout.
The Expos made it 6-1 in the ninth when Brooks hit a bases-loaded triple off reliever Ken Davley.
The Cardinals seemed to rattle Perez in the fourth, when Coleman opened with a single and linked followed with a hit-and-run single. Perez then tried to pick off Coleman at second but instead threw the ball into center field for an error, putting the runners in scoring position.
College presidents vote against NCAA football playoffs
KANSAS CITY, Mo — The NCAA President Commission, as expected, voted Wednesday to oppose a Division I-A football playoff because it would not be “in the best interests of intercollegiate athletics,” Maryland Collegiate John Slaughter said.
The Associated Press
An NCAA subcommittee chaired by Texas athletic director DeLoss Dodds has requested that the NCAA Council place a resolution before the
105 I.A members at the next convention in January asking whether they want to vote on a one-game playoff at the 1989 convention.
Slaughter, chairman of the Presidents Commission, said his group would not ask the Council to ignore the subcommittee's recommendation but would require a roll-call vote if the resolution was introduced.
director Dick Schultz, who thinks a playoff at some point is inevitable.
Slaughter also said he disagreed with incoming NCAA executive
"I don't think it's the feeling of the commission to tell them not to introduce it. But we're sending a very clear signal as to what our feelings are." Slaughter said. "We believe it's a matter that is likely to come up for consideration. We want everyone to be very clear where we stand."
Laughter said the 11 presidents of I-A schools on the 44 member commission, including the heads of Ohio State, Nebraska and Alabama, voted unanimously to oppose the playoff concent.
"There are enough games," Slaughter said. "There are enough post-season opportunities. We believe there is nothing to be gained other than satisfying the egos of a few people will be able to say, 'I won the game that identified me as the champion.'
Scoreboard
Baseball
American League
Kansas City 7, Seattle 3
Boston 7, New York 0
Baltimore 7, Detroit 3
Milwaukee 5, Toronto 2
Chicago 5, California 2
Texas 2, Minnesota 1
Oakland 4, Cleveland 3
National League
Montreal 6, SC Louis 1
Pittsburgh 5, Chicago 3, 1st game
Chicago 10, Pittsburgh 8, 2nd game
Philadelphia 4, New York 3, 10
Atlanta 3, Houston 1
Cincinnati 3, San Diego 1
San Francisco 3, Los Angeles 0
Coach helps football team build muscle, enthusiasm
James Larson/KANSAN
Brad Roll, KU strength coach, gets ready for another practice session. Among Roll's duties is working with injured football players.
By CRAIG ANDERSON Staff writer
The usual sounds of a football practice echoed throughout the fields behind Anschutz Sports Pavilion earlier this week. The pads popping and the shouts from coaches were to be expected.
But the unusual sound of a chorus of seven players singing "Old Dan Tucker" and "Swing Low Sweet Charit" could also be heard.
The players, all injured in some way, sang on the sidelines as they threw medicine balls, did push-ups or swung a sledge hammer into a large round of dirt. Leading the chorus was KU strength coach Brad Roll.
Hired a week before football practice began in August, Roll replaced former Jayhawk strength coach Ed Bielik. Bielik left the University to go into private business in the Kansas City area.
Roll had been the strength coach for the Southwestern Louisiana football team since 1983. He said the decision to come to Kansas was difficult because of the foundation of good weight-trained players he had built up in his years as coach for the Ragin' Caljuns.
"I look at the move as a step up for me in the profession," he said. "Getting a chance to coach in a well-known conference like the Big Eight, I see that as a challenge to rebuild us into a competitive situation."
Despite being a late addition to the Kansas staff, Roll said he quickly became comfortable with his job as coach. The players wasn't a handicap early in the
season.
"There are two types of zones that all players go through when they are training," he said. "The first is the 'comfort zone' where players believe in their minds that they are working hard and improving. They're not helping themselves when they are in the 'comfort zone.'
"The second zone is what I like to call the 'twilight zone.' Players in the 'twilight zone' go where no man has ever gone before. When they arrive there, they can do things they never conceived they could do."
When Roll arrived in Lawrence, Kansas defensive coordinator Dave Dunkelberger already knew what Roll could do. Dunkelberger had coached with Roll at Southwestern Louisiana from 1983 to 1985. When the strength coach job opened, it was he who recommended Roll to Coach Bob Valesente.
present.
"He's the best thing that could happen to this program," Dunkelberger said of Roll. "He understands football, and the enthusiasm he brings carries over to the players."
During the Jayhawks' practices in August, senior offensive tackle Bob Pieper spent many hours on the sidelines rehabilitating his sprained knee. While working with Roll to stay in condition, he said he realized the new strength coach would be an improvement over Bielik.
"When (Bielik) was here, there were a lot of players who didn't believe in what he was doing." Pieper said. "With coach Roll though, the players enjoy having him around. He's kind of like 'the enforcer'."
Roll said he must to earn the respect of his players by example. He said he lifted weights with the team to show them a work ethic.
"Coaches as well as players can't afford to become stagnant," he said. "It wouldn't be right for me to have a potbelly and just sit in some corner and give orders."
expects hard work from the players, and they respect him for it."
With his hoarse voice and muscular arms, legs and chest, Roll seems to have the stereotype physical build for a strength coach. He said physical characteristics alone, however, did not make a successfully weight-trained football player.
"It is just so important to be mentally tough," he said. "You can have all the talent in the world, but if you don't push yourself to the outer limits, you'll go nowhere."
The enjoyment of working with career-motivated players and coaches who wanted to improve themselves, Roll said, was what helped him overcome some of the negative aspects of his job. He said a typical work day for him began at 6:15 a.m. and ended at 9:00 p.m.
The progression Roll went through to become a strength coach came as a result of the average physical talent he had. During his college football career at Stephen F. A. Austin College in Nacogdoches, Texas, Roll said he had to work extra hard on the weights to get an edge on other players. While he worked to attain that edge in college, he decided that he wanted to become a strength coach, he said.
"It's killed my social life, and it's the reason I'm still single," he said of his career. "I can't say I don't enjoy it, though, because it's the only life I know. Because I'm working with people who have set long-range goals that makes every day exciting for me."
Pieper said Roll's outgoing, excitable personality made him a fun person to be around.
"He's a down-South kind of guy," he said. "He's the kind of coach you can have fun with, but you also know to improve if you work with him."
"There's no reason in the world why we can't be as good as anyone else in the country," he said. "This is the best coaching staff I've ever been around." This program has a good nucleus of players to build its foundation on. Once the players start working with me year-round, they will be the mental improvement in this football team. That will pay off on the field."
Valesente said he could see improvement in the physical conditioning of the team in comparison to last season. He attributed the improvement directly to Roll.