4B THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
MLb
Royals sweep series
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hocking's two-run pinch single with two out in the ninth inning gave Kansas City its first four-game sweep in six years with 4-3 victory against the Detroit Tigers.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Denny Hocking had just 53 at-bats for Kansas City since being called up from the minors on Aug. 6. He came through when the Royals needed him yesterday.
"It's not a comfortable situation to be in," Hocking said. "You've got one chance to go up there and succeed. It is like what I try to tell all the guys that aren't playing that day that go down and are preparing in the (indoor batting) cage from the fifth inning on. I tell 'em, 'Someone in here is going to have a big impact on the game.' Today was my turn," Hocking said.
Tigers reliever Fernando Rodney (1-3) gave up a leadoff single to Matt Stairs in the ninth. Mark Teahen doubled with one out and Angel Berroa was intentionally walked to load the bases with one out.
After John Buck struck out, Hocking — who at 35 is the second-oldest Royals player — batted for Andres Blanco and singled on a 2-2 pitch.
"When you're an older guy on a younger team, you can lead by example or you can lead verbally," Hocking said. "I lead enough here verbally. I had a chance here to lead physically today, it worked out in my favor. I was happy to get the opportunity and I was ready. Today I had a
chance to pick a lot of guys up by doing something on the field. I think they appreciate that."
Kyle Snyder (1-3) pitched 3.2/3 scoreless innings for the victory, giving up three hits and striking out four.
"That at-bat doesn't happen without the effort Kyle Snyder threw out there today," Hocking said.
Snyder picked up his first victory since June 4,2003, against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
"I went to my cut fastball quite a bit and it really helped keep the hitters off stride." Snyder said.
Snyder gave up a double to Ivan Rodriguez, the first batter he faced, to put runners on second and third with one out. Craig Monroe hit a high chopper to Teahen at third base, who leaped and threw him out at first base.
The Royals again avoided becoming the first team in the majors with 100 losses this season. Detroit dropped its seventh in a row despite an impressive home run by Chris Shelton that bounced off a sport utility vehicle. The shot was estimated at 449 feet, the longest in Kansas City this year, and gave Detroit a 3-1 lead.
"Teahen's play won the ball game when he left his feet," Snyder said. "If that ball gets over his head or he doesn't field it, we don't get Monroe out and both base runners score and it's a totally different ball game."
"No matter how far you hit it, it is just one home run and nobody's on base, so it is just one run." Shelton said.
Kansas City has won six in
a row at home, its best streak at Kauffman Stadium since it went 11-0 to start the 2003 season. This was the Royals' first four-game sweep since May 1999 at Minnesota, and their first at home since August 1994 against Oakland.
The Tigers went 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position.
"I just look back at the opportunities we had," Tigers manager Alan Trammell said. "We had runners on first and second and nobody out in the first and we didn't score. In the sixth after Shelton's hit the home run, we had runners at second and third with one out and didn't get anybody in. Going back those (lack of) runs hurt us. They got it done and we didn't."
Curtis Granderson led off the Tigers' third with a home run. He has three homers, four doubles and eight RBIs in his past 15 games.
and we run Aaron Guel hit a solo home run in the Royals' third. Emil Brown had a sacrifice fly in the sixth, giving him a team-leading 81 RBIs.
Jason Johnson, who was sent back to the Tigers' team hotel on Tuesday with a sore throat, gave up five hits and two runs in six innings. He failed to improve to 4-0 in five starts against the Royals this season.
Royals lefty Jimmy Gobble, making his fourth start since being moved into the rotation, allowed three runs on five hits over 5 1/3 innings.
Shelton's sacrifice fly in the third scored Placido Polanco, who had tripled for one of his three hits.
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2005
Schedules CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A
Recently, the Kansas football team has scheduled as many guarantee games as possible, Keating said. Guarantee games, against schools such as Appalachian State or Jacksonville State, allow the department to play a game in Lawrence without having to play a road game against that team.
for the football-less weekend. Ochoa will be attending a wedding, and Fowler plans to be just like any other student this weekend: watching college football and doing homework.
The schedule for next season includes nonconference home games against Northwestern State and Florida International and an away game against Toledo.
Keating is still searching for one additional nonconference game to fill the football schedules in 2006 and 2007.
The Big 12 Conference football schedule is completed in four-year blocks, Keating said. It takes four years for Kansas to play a home and away game against all six teams in the South division.
The football team completed a home-and-home agreement with Northwestern last season. It will complete an agreement with Toledo in 2007, which required two games in Lawrence and one in Toledo, Ohio.
He said in the next few years, as the program progresses, the team would be able to schedule at least one home-and-home game per year.
—Edited by Theresa Montaño
Kansas Athletics Director Lew Perkins said smart scheduling was a key to success in football and basketball.
"Scheduling is one of the most important things to building our program," Perkins said.
Similar to football, the amount paid to a team in basketball is based on the average income from a home game. In basketball, the average is about $50,000, Keating said. The basketball average was similar to what numerous schools across the country pay opponents, he said.
The rare weekend off for the Jayhawks has a few players making plans
Even though Kansas men's basketball coach Bill Self leads a well-established program, scheduling games against major and mid-major teams is important to maintaining a nationally recognized program.
pected to challenge the nationally ranked Red Raiders. Last weekend Texas Tech scored 80 points against IAA Sam Houston State.
The team typically has 11 nonconference games each season. Keating said that on average, the team played six guarantee games and four or five home-and-home games per season.
This season the men's basketball team's mid-major opponents include Nevada, the 2005 Western Athletic Conference champion, and Peperdine, the 2003 West Coast Conference runner-up.
The four or five home- and home games are against higher-caliber teams than the guarantee games. The remainder of the schedule is filled with conference games and a preseason tournament.
When scheduling games, Keating said he looked for respected mid-major schools, as well as national championship contenders.
Keating said the major games against teams such as Kentucky or Michigan State were not difficult to schedule because they were typically tied to prime television times on ESPN or CBS.
"We try to play upper teams in the mid-level conferences," Keating said. "There's a difference in playing the No. 1 team instead of the No. 10 team."
The team completes a home- and-home series against Kentucky this season. Kansas still has contractual obligations to play away games against Georgia Tech and Michigan State. Michigan State and Georgia Tech played at Allen Fieldhouse in 2003 and 2005, respectively.
Those high-profile games will bring in paychecks and inspire fans to dream of marque match ups for seasons to come.
— Edited by Tricia Masenthin
Hatchlings
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A
Darrell Arthur will join Collins in visiting Kansas during Late Night weekend. Arthur is a 6-foot-9-inch forward from South Oak Cliff High School in Dallas. He is the fourth-ranked power forward in the class of 2006, according to Rivals.com. The scouting report on Arthur says he is athletic for his size, a good inside player and an outstanding rebounder. Arthur is also being recruited by Baylor, Texas, North Carolina, Indiana and SMU, according to Rivals.com.
Muonelo completes the trio of high school seniors who will be in attendance at Late Night. Muonelo, a 6-foot-4-inch shooting guard from Edmond, Okla., is the third-ranked point guard in his class, according to Rivals.com.
Although Texas Tech has a game this weekend against Indiana State, a division IAA opponent, the game is not ex-
There will also be a slew of high school juniors in Allen Fieldhouse getting their first tastes of Jayhawk basketball. The list includes Cole Aldrich, a 6-foot-9-inch forward from Bloomington, Minn., who is the eighth-ranked player in the class of 2007; Lance Storrs, a 6-foot-5-inch small forward who is ranked top 30 from Decatur, Ga.; Jeremy Price, a 6-foot-9-inch small forward from Decatur, Ga.; George Goode, a 6-foot-7-inch power forward from Raytown South High School in Raytown, Mo., and Alex Legion, a 6-foot-3-inch guard from Detroit.
Another high school junior could make the list. Tyler Reed, from Burlington High School in Burlington, might make the short drive to Lawrence for Late Night, said Stacy Reed, his father and coach.
Week off
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1A
"He been coming to Late Night since he was a kid," Stacy Reed said."
Tyler Reed is being recruited by many schools, including North Carolina, Mississippi State, Illinois, Stanford and UNLV.
When asked if he wanted his son to attend a Kansas school, Reed said, "He is still young, but when the time comes I want him to make the right decision."
Edited by Becca Evanhoe
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