6B SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
FRIDAY, APRIL 27, 2007
BASEBALL (CONTINUED FROM 1B)
"That shows their maturity. You recognize that you have to play 27 games, all nine weekends. We're sitting at the bottom of the Big 12 standings looking up at literally two to two-and-a-half games separate us from last to fifth place."
Price has a point. Entering this weekend's series, Oklahoma sits in fifth place in the Big 12 with seven conference victories. Kansas sits in last with six.
Nevertheless, Kansas needs to win starting now. Senior center fielder Kyle Murphy will be a likely candidate in making that happen. Murphy led the offensive effort in his team's last time out on Sunday, going 3-for-5 in the 8-1 routing of Texas Tech. Murphy is second on the team with a .315 average on a team hitting just .278.
Oklahoma, on the other hand, continues to keep the bats hot despite the four game losing streak that was snapped in Manhattan last weekend.
Shortstop Aaron Reza leads the team, hitting .341. His 3-for-6 Sunday performance included a solo shot. Right fielder Joe Dunigan also tagged one on Sunday for his team-leading eighth homer of the season. He barely trails Reza, hitting .340.
"Our first four weeks we swing the bats really well, but we didn't pitch that well," Price said. "Now we're getting the pitching."
Kansas will again start freshman lefty Wally Marceli this weekend. However, he will replace junior Zach Ashwood and sophomore southpaw Nick Czyz will return to a rotation that Price said is giving them more chances to win.
Both will be on display in Norman, Okla., at 7 p.m.
Kansan sportswriter Alissa Bauer can be contacted at abauer@kansan.com.
Edited by Lisa Tilson
DAVISON (CONTINUED FROM 1B)
Zook has coaching roots at Kansas, and Illinois isn't more appealing than KU. Yes, Illinois has struggled so far under Zook, but look at the recruiting classes he has brought in the past two seasons. Zook's last two classes, according to Scout.com, are No. 28 and No. 20. Mangino's are No. 47, and No. 78.
Mangino has done a respectable job of getting KU competitive, but he clearly isn't the coach that can take the football program to the next level. This season should have been a cakewalk — easy schedule
without Oklahoma and Texas, weak Big 12 North. If KU didn't blow the Toledo, Baylor, Texas A&M and Oklahoma State games, this team would be eyeing the Big 12 championship. But wait, shouldn't we just be satisfied that the football team is "in" these games — just like in 2004?
Davison is an Overland Park senior in journalism.
— Edited by Kelly Lanigan
ond inning. The team scored on a fielding error and took the lead 1-0.
SOFTBALL (CONTINUED FROM 1B)
But the Kansas offense reemerged and capitalized on DeBuhr in the sixth inning, scoring four runs and giving Humphreys a big enough lead to put the game away.
"We've got momentum since the Tech game and that has lead to our confidence going up which leads to good things." Bunge said.
the sixth inning offensive explosion began with leadoff hitter, sophomore outfielder Dougie McCauley, who hit a single with one out, which broke up DeBuhr's no hitter.
Senior first baseman Nicole Washburn reached on base on a fielder's choice moving McCaulley to second.
Freshman outfieldier Amanda jobe was walked to load the bases.
Sophomore shortstop Stevie Crisostome hit an infield single to
bring in McCaulley and advance the other runners one base.
Sophomore catcher Elle Pottorf hit a sacrifice fly to bring in Washburn and advance the runners.
Humphreys came up and took a 2-2 pitch to left field for a single that brought in Lobe and Cristo.
The execution with runners on base troubled coach Bunge a week ago against Missouri, but the team got the clutch hit they were looking for.
"When you're feeling good about yourself things go your way." Bunge said.
GAME TWO:
Kansas 2, Creighton 1
Two runs in the second inning were enough for the Jayhawks to defeat the Creighton Blue Jays and extend the Kansas winning streak
- Crissto led off the inning with a single and Potterfolt sinned as well.
to four games.
Freshman Sara Ramirez laid down a sacrifice bunt that advanced the runners and sophomore third baseman Val Chapple's single to right field brought home Cristost.
Freshman outfielder Ally Stanton brought in Potorf with a fielder's choice hit.
Sophomore Valerie George started for the Jayhawks and threw for 3 1/3 innings.
Senior Kassie Humphreys came in as a reliever and got out of a jam to pick up her 17th victory of the season.
Kansan sportswriter Evan Kafarakis can be contacted at ekafarakis@kansan.com.
Edited by Trevan McGee
Kansas 5, Nebraska3
Kansas 000 0041 1 — 5 62
Nebraska 010 0002 1 — 3 31
Kassie Humphreys and Tiffany Craner; Ashley DeBuhr, Molly Hill (7) and Jamie Waldecker. W — Humphreys 16-10. L — DeBuhr 17-8.
Kansas 2, Creighton 1
Kansas 2, Creighton 1
Kansas 020 000 0 — 2 60
Creighton 100 000 0 — 1 60
Valerie George, Kassie Humphreys (4) and Erika Simington; Oltman and Eadus, W — Humphreys 17-10. L — Oltman 20-6, 2B — CU; Eadus, Sinkler.
Records — Kansas 31-18-1,
Creighton 32-11-1.
>> NBA
Nuggets coach's son recovers from cancer surgery
BY PAT GRAHAM ASSOCIATED PRESS
DENVER — Coby Karl went through dribbling and shooting drills on the far corner of the Denver Nuggets' practice court.
He put himself through quite a workout as some of the Nuggets players scrimmaged at the other end.
"It feels good to get a sweat going," the Boise State basketball player said Thursday. "I'm tired,
but it's a good thing. You know you're getting better"
Karl, the son of Nuggets coach George Karl, underwent a seven-hour surgery on April 2 to remove cancerous lymph nodes. It was his second operation in 13 months.
But he's feeling better. He's slowly getting back into basketball shape and the 3-inch scar below his chin from where the doctors performed the operation is starting to fade.
"I hope they (NBA teams) like me," Karl said.
"it's tough," Karl said of getting back his conditioning. "The beginning is the hardest part."
There's definitely one that does his father.
"He's obviously a little biased," Coby Karl said with a laugh. "Hopefully I can play well enough in Orlando (at the NBA pre-draft camp) to impress some other teams and hopefully start a buzz."
Karl was diagnosed with papillary carcinoma, a form of treatable cancer, in January 2006 and had his thyroid removed three months later. He also underwent chemotherapy to kill off any remaining cells, but the cancer returned.
Karl was in town to visit his dad and take in a couple of Nuggets playoff games against the San Antonio Spurs. Then it's back to Boise State, where he'll graduate in May with a degree in mass communications.
After that, Karl's attention will be solely focused on basketball. He's hoping to be selected in the NBA draft in June.
in April, his father left the Nuggets following a game in Seattle so he could be with his son.
KU Students'
Graduation Headquarters
JayhawkBookstore.com
Jayhawk Bookstore
...at the top of Naismith Hill
George Karl, who was treated for prostate cancer in 2005, said at the time of his son's surgery that it was hard to wait for him to come out of the long operation.
Karl will have blood work done in a month to see how he's recovering. However, he isn't living in fear of the cancer.
"The word is kind of scary," Karl said. "It's cancer and it's a big deal. But what my doctors have told me about it, it's very treatable. I've just got to keep going."
"When it goes longer and longer, you always think the worst, and start worrying about things like being under anesthesia that long and all the nightmares you have about surgeries," George Karl said.
When Karl went in for surgery
Now, Coby Karl is almost back to his old self. His touch was returning Thursday as he swished one shot after another. Karl finished third on Boise State's career scoring list with 1,698 points. He's also the school's career leader in games played, 3-pointers made and attempted.
"I'm not in the shape I have been in the past," Karl said. "But I'm feeling good and that's big."
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