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KANSAN.COM/SPORTS | THURSDAY, FEB. 16, 2017
New-look Kansas baseball roster set to open season
Baxter Schanze/KANSAN
▶ WESLEY DOTSON
@WesDotsonUDK
Junior infielder Matt McLaughlin throws to first base during batting practice on Oct. 21
Youth and inexperience at almost every position will surround the Kansas baseball team when it travels to Charleston, South Carolina, this weekend to open the regular season.
The Jayhawks will participate in the Charleston Crab House Challenge at Riley Park, where they will first face The Citadel Bulldogs on Friday, Feb. 17 at 3 p.m.
"We're really excited to get going," said Kansas coach Ritch Price at Kansas baseball's media day on Wednesday.
Kansas will then play Liberty at 10 a.m. on Saturday, and No. 15 Virginia on Sunday at 9 a.m. to close out the weekend.
After the key departures of senior infielder Colby Wright, senior pitcher Ben Krauth, senior infielder Tommy Mirabelli, senior pitcher Sam Gilbert and junior catcher Michael Tinsley, the Jayhawks will enter 2017 with several fresh faces.
"You'll be shocked when you see how young our team is [that we] put on the field," Price said. "There could be as many as five freshmen and three sophomores playing at one time. When you have a team that young, we'd like to get comfortable and get in a routine where they could get off to a good start and have some
success before you throw them to the wolves playing in the Big 12."
Kansas will have 11 freshmen on the roster this season, including redshirt-freshman outfielder Peyton Grassanovits, as well as four junior-college transfers.
That inexperience will be especially tested in the starting rotation. The loss of Krauth, who was the most successful pitcher on the staff, is a significant blow to a rotation that struggled for the majority of the season in 2016.
The Jayhawks have added junior transfers Taylor Turski, Chase Kaplan and Jeider Rincon to the pitching staff.
"We actually feel good about [the staff]," Price said. "They've come in and given us more depth."
Price said junior pitcher Blake Weiman and sophomore pitcher Jackson Goddard, who spent the much of last season in the starting rotation, will move to the bullpen to begin the season. Price said both received important exposure to starting due to the injuries to junior pitchers Jon Hander and Brandon Johnson.
Redshirt-junior pitcher Sean Rackoski will also make his return from injury this season and will take over as the Friday starter. He is expected to start on Friday against The Citadel.
"The only good thing to happen last year from a pitching standpoint, with the exception of Stephen [Villines] being really good and [Ben] Krauth being first-team all-conference, was that those guys got experience they wouldn't have gotten normally if there hadn't been so many guys hurt," Price said.
"I'm most excited for
him [to return]," Villines said. "He's been making a lot of strides and he'll be our workhorse on Friday and lead the rest of the staff."
To fill out this weekend's rotation, the junior transfer Rincon will make his Kansas debut against Liberty, and Turski will also make his debut against No. 15 Virginia.
With the inexperience surrounding the team, Price said he expects a younger Kansas team to lean on the experience that both junior infielder Matt McLaughlin and senior relief pitcher
Stephen Villines bring with them.
McLaughlin and Villines, who are captains this season, were labeled by Price as "winners" because of the impact each had on their Cape Cod Baseball League team last summer.
"Their Cape Cod baseball team played for the championship, and Stephen pitched all summer and [only allowed five runs], and Matt's playing third base and shortstop, and I think that the fact that they got to the championship game speaks volumes," Price said. "That's why they're there, they know how to win. They make the team and the players around them better."
McLaughlin said having the exposure he had to other infielders on the team during his first two seasons will help him lead the younger infielders.
"As a freshman, we had a senior shortstop, a junior second baseman and a senior first baseman," McLaughlin said. "Understanding how big those guys were for me in my development of the game, and just trying to do the same thing with these guys."
After the opening weekend in Charleston, Kansas will return to Lawrence to play its home opener against Omaha on Tuesday. Feb. 21. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m.
Maicke: Go away, Green
▶ MIKE MAICKE
@MJ_Maicke
Hey, you guys know what your sports news feed needs? Another take on the mess that is the New York Knicks.
Associated Press
Associated Press Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green drives down the lane during a game against the Memphis Grizzlies on Feb. 10.
While I can write a thousand words about my personal opinion of New York Knicks owner James Dolan and how he has historically mismanaged his beloved franchise into perpetuated mediocrit, I'm going to start with, of course, Draymond Green.
Wait, what? You mean the power forward from Golden State who is completely unrelated to this matter?
Yep, that's the one. The guy who should be completely uninvolved in this, yet in vintage Draymond Green fashion, chose to speak ignorantly and, well, stupidly about the recent events between Dolan and former Knicks player Charles Oakley.
If you have just returned from an extended wilderness hike, or haven't paid an internet or cable bill in a few weeks. Oakley was escorted out of Madison Square Garden after he was supposedly trying to confront Dolan during a game against the Los Angeles Clippers. The intentions of both parties involved are disputed, but the facts are that Oakley was in a pushing match with security, escorted out, banned for life, only to not be banned anymore.
Yeah,sounds about right
for the Knicks, doesn't it?
So where does a player on a team across the nation in a completely different conference come into play here?
On Draymond Green's podcast, Uninterrupted Dray Day, Green said that Dolan had a "slave mentality," then clarified "slave master mentality" about the treatment of Oakley throughout this process.
Attention, Draymond Green: You haven't got the first clue what the actual relationship between Dolan and Oakley is like behind closed doors, and neither do I. That's why I don't go around throwing out insanely racially charged takes for everyone to ingest.
Have you (Green) not noticed how delicate race relations have been in the past few months? Does your immaturity know no bounds to the point where you'd have the audacity to compare anything in the
And just like that, like it almost always does, it became about race.
basketball world to the horrible atrocities of slavery?
I don't think James Dolan has done a good job with the Knicks, but just because I disagree with his decisions doesn't give me an inkling to call him a slave master racist.
This incident has nothing, quite literally nothing, to do with you, Draymond. You are not media, hell, you are not even a Knicks supporter. You do not know the first thing about Dolan's character, so stay the hell out of it.
I won't weigh in on who's right and wrong in this Dolan vs. Oakley debacle, because then this whole column becomes slightly hypocritical. But if a former player has openly ripped my franchise, I may not be inclined to throw any "Charles Oakley Nights" at my venue.
Not everything needs to be about race, Draymond, and certainly not every thing needs your "insight."
Miranda Anaya/KANSAN
Erik Harken, a sophomore from Prairie Village, competes in the pole vault portion of the heptathlon at the Jayhawk Classic.
Miranda Anaya/KANSAN
Men's track cracks top 10
▶ SHAUN GOODWIN
@ShaunGoodwinUDK
Following another strong weekend in Fayetteville, Arkansas and Ames, Iowa, the Kansas men's track and field team has skyrocketed into the NCAA top 10. The Jayhawks climbed from No.16 to No.8, thanks to strong showings from the vaulters and throwers, making the leap into the top-10 for the first time in program history.
This ranking was released by the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. These rankings are slightly different than the NCAA rankings, due to the fact that for the preseason and first three weeks of the season, the USTFCCCA take into account last season's performances.
Kansas vaulters currently occupy five of the top-30
NCAA spots, with 2016 Outdoor Big 12 Champion Jake Albright leading the way for the Jayhawks. They also currently own the top spot as a team in the USTFCCA rankings.
Albright is currently ranked fourth in the nation after his vault of 5.54-meters (18-2) at the Rod McCravy Memorial in January. Vaulters Nick Meyer, Nick Maestretti, Paulo Benavides and Hussain Al Hizam all join Albright in the top-30, all clearing 5.30-meters (17-4) at some point this season.
Elsewhere, freshman Gleb Dudarev and junior Nicolai Ceban lead the Jayhawk throwers. Dudarev leads the Big 12 in the weight throw and ranks third in the nation, helping the weight throw team to a No. 44 overall ranking. Meanwhile, Ceban also sits third in the nation in the shot put, with a toss of 19.65-meters (75-
Track athletes also had a strong weekend. Senior Strymar Livingston lifted the Jayhawks to a sixth overall ranking in the 800-meters, as he ranks No.17 in the nation with a time of 1:47.95 seconds. Livingston is also part of the 4x400-meter relay team that boasts the No.16 fastest time in the nation, holding the Kansas record of 3 minutes and 7.82 seconds.
1) . This puts Ceban 3-meters over the national average and places the shot put team No.11 in the nation.
Junior Barden Adams launched himself 16.01-meters (52-2) in the triple jump last week in the Tyson Invitational. This career-best jump moved Adams to No.11 in the NCAA rankings.
The team reconvenes this week and heads back to Fayetteville to participate in the Arkansas Qualifier. Events start on Feb.17.
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