GAME CANCELED
THE BALTIMORE ORILOES postponed their opening day game against the KANSAS CITY ROYALS yesterday because of cold temperatures and high winds.
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
The game was rescheduled for today at 3:05
n.m.
Temperatures only reached the upper 40s yesterday, while winds gusted at 50 mph.
SPORTS
This was the second consecutive year that the Orioles' home opener was postponed. The only other time the Orioles' opening day was canceled was in 1972 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore.
FORMER UMPIRE MCSHERRY REMEMBERED
One year after umpire JOHN MCSHERRY collapsed on the field after his heart failed, the Cincinnati Reds dedicated the umpires' dressing room to his memory.
McSherry collapsed and died at the Reds' home opener last April. The Reds had a plaque made in his honor which will be displayed in the dressing room.
EARLY DEPARTURE
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2.1997
Temple center MARC JACKSON will forge his senior year of college to enter the NBA draft.
Jackson, a 6-foot-10, 270-pound junior and Atlantic 10 player of the year, was the Owls leading scorer and rebounder for the past two seasons, averaging 16 points and nine rebounds last season.
He will be only the second Temple player to leave school early, Junior DONALD HODGE was drafted by Dallas in 1991.
Jackson could declare himself eligible for the draft and return to Temple for his senior year, as long as he doesn't sign with an agent.
SECTION B
Iowa City senior fills out football recruiting class
The first recruiting class of Kansas football coach Terry Allen was completed Monday when running back Jess Holland signed a letter of intent to play for the Javahawks.
Holland, 5-foot-11, 185 pounds,
became a Jayhawk on the last day of
the signing period for football
recruits.
He also was recruited by Iowa, Iowa State, Kansas State and Nebraska. After Holland did not sign with a school at the end of the early signing period Feb. 2, only Kansas and Iowa continued to recruit him.
As a senior at Iowa City High, Holland rushed for 2,043 yards, 29 touchdowns and an 8.6 yard-per-carry average. He had seven receptions for 96 yards and returned 10 kickoffs for 374 yards and two touchdowns.
Holland was the Iowa 4A Player of the Year last season. He led Iowa City High to three large-class state championships during his four-year career.
— Kansan staff report
Japanese baseball player must apologize to return
TOKYO — Hideki Irabu's Japanese team told him that it would not take him back unless he apologized and signed a release that stated he would never attempt to play for a major-league team in North America.
He has described the Marines' transfer of negotiating rights to the Padres as slave trade. The remark injured the Marines' reputation, and Irab must apologize, said Yuji Horimoto, the team's representative.
Irabu's team, the Chiba Lotte Marines of Japan's Pacific League, assigned his negotiating rights to the San Diego Padres in January. Irabu refused to negotiate with San Diego, saying he would deal only with the New York Yankees. He returned to Japan last month.
The Marines asked Irabu to give them, the U.S. baseball commissioners, the Japanese baseball commissioners and all major-league clubs a written statement of his agreement.
Purdue coach to head women's Olympic team
WEST LAFAYETTE, IND. — The U.S.
Olympic women's basketball team
has a new coach. So does Purdue.
Nell Fortner, the big 10 Coach of the Year who led the Boilermakers to the conference co-championship in her first season, was appointed coach of the national team yesterday.
Carolyn Peck, Fortner's top assistant last season, will succeed Fortner as Purdue's coach.
Fortner had been mentioned during the weekend as the likely successor to Tara VanDerveer, who returned to coach Stanford after leading the U.S. women's team to the Olympic gold medal last summer.
Fortner, 38, denied talk of her departure last month. However, that was before USA Basketball, the sport's governing body, voted to form a national team last week.
Fortner was an assistant to Van- Derveer on the 1996 U.S. national team, which prepared U.S. women for last summer's Olympics.
Fortner leaves after just one season in which she directed the Boilermakers to a 17-11 record and a share of the conference title with Illinois and Michigan State. The Boilermakers were eliminated in the second round of the NCAA tournament.
The Associated Press
Pam Dishman / KANSAN
Terry Allen, Kansas football head coach, watches as his new team practices snaps yesterday. Allen was able to see the Jayhawks play yesterday for the first time at the team's first practice
Allen, 'Hawks start new era
Kansas football kicks off spring practice play
By Tommy Gallagher Kansan sportswriter
The Kansas football team ran a two-hour practice in brisk conditions yesterday, commencing a spring football season of transition for the players and coaches.
Kansas football coach Terry
For junior quarterback Akili Roberson, one of the biggest adjustments was the artificial turf at Memorial Stadium. Roberson, a junior college transfer from Los Angeles, never has played a down on artificial turf and struggled to
"We needed to establish tempo from the very start," Allen said. "Tempo flows from day one and carries into the weeks and months that follow. You have to let your players know what it will be like, and this first practice was a step in that direction."
Roberson is expected to compete for the starting spot at quarterback with junior Matt Johner and freshman Zac Wegner. Other quarterbacks on the roster include redshirt freshman Curteese Poole and sophomore Hamilton Hill.
"We played most of our games on grass out in California," Roberson said. "I was rusty out there (at Memorial Stadium). It's not so much that it was a sophisticated offense as it was the formations, play calling, getting into the huddle and getting up to the line of scrimmage."
Allen said that when placed in new surroundings it was important to have a good first practice.
opportunity to start at tailback. Even though he plays for the Kansas baseball team, Vann gave up one year of baseball to concentrate on becoming the starting tailback for the fall season.
Junior Eric Vann will be given the
"Not playing baseball this season was the best decision to make in the long run," Vann said. "After football is over this season, I'll have two years of eligibility remaining for baseball. For me, the decision was an no-brainer."
Vann said the changing of schemes and personnel would be good for the program, even if it might not be apparent at the time.
The decision will help Vann learn a new offensive scheme that uses one running back instead of the scheme that former Kansas coach Glen Mason used.
find his footing at times.
Allen said he would like to see the Jayhawks learn and embrace his offensive and defensive schemes during spring practice, although he said everything must start from the most basic level.
"We have to learn how to releain the plays in the huddle, break the huddle and get to the line of scrimmage," Allen said. "That's a sad thing to make reference to, but it's reality. We have to work on those things and identify personnel before we move forward."
Team anticipates first home game
By Matt Woodruff
Kansan sportswriter
Only rain can stand between the Javahawks and home.
Assuming the weather cooperates, the Kansas softball team will play its first home game of the season at 2 p.m. today at Jayhawk Field.
Despite the lack of a home-field advantage, the team has compiled a 21-12 overall record and went 10-4 on the most recent road trips to California and Texas.
"It's been rough playing 33 games on the road without a home game," said Kansas coach Tracy Bunge.
Kansas will play the Wichita State Shockers (9-15), a team that Bunge said could be dangerous if taken lightly.
The teams played a close game on March 15 at the Oklahoma State Cowgirl Classic, but Kansas won 5-4.
"They are a team that doesn't have a winning record right now, but we played them earlier this year and we almost found a way to blow that game." Bunge said. "They are a team that, if you make mistakes, they can really hurt you."
Wichita State coach Jim Maynard said he hoped the team could keep the score close
Kansas will be looking to keep winning with an offense that has scored an average of more than four runs a game. The team has also received solid pitching from Sarah Workman, who has an earned run average of 1.98.
against the Jayhawks, who have a 45-7-1 overall record against the Shockers.
Right fielder Jennifer Funkhouser did not play in the games against Texas Tech Saturday after she was hit by a pitch and suffered a bruised thumb, but she is expected to start today.
"I hope we can stay with them," Maynard said. "We've had some good series against them, and they're a very good team. We've been improving each week, and if we can continue to do that, we'll be all right."
Bunge said that the team had been fortunate not to have any major injuries so far this season.
"We haven't had any severe problems, just a few bumps and bruises," she said.
Geoff Krieger / KANSAN
Bunge said that the team was fired up to play its first home game and will show no mercy to visiting teams.
"We can't have teams coming into Lawrence and expecting to win any games," she said. "We have to go out and take care of business at home."
Kansas shortstop Paul Levins tags a runner from Oral Roberts on Monday. KU will try to avenge a loss from earlier in the season when they play Wichita State at 7 tonight in Wichita.
Red-hot teams to battle again
By Harley V. Ratliff
Kansan sportswriter
Revenge.
That's exactly what the Kansas baseball team will be looking for when it plays Wichita State at 7 p.m. at Eck Stadium in Wichita.
them."
Tonight's game will mark the second time this season the two teams have met. The Shockers won the first game, 7-1.
"We would like to get back the one they took from here," said Kansas pitcher Rusty Philbrick. "So we want to take one from
"They're very tough and very good. They've won a lot of games and are playing great baseball," said Kansas head coach Bobby Randall. "Our goal is to go down there and win the game."
Kansas (22-10) will be greeted by a Wichita State team that is one of the best in the nation. The Shockers enter the game with a six-game winning streak — their second longest of the season — and ranked No. 12 in the Baseball America poll and No. 10 in the Collegiate Baseball poll.
Randall thinks his team has made significant strides in becoming a better ball club since its last meeting with the Shockers.
"We played poorly the first game," Randall said. "But our caliber of play has really improved over the season, especially over the last two weeks."
Since a four-game losing streak, which included being swept by Big 12 Conference rival Oklahoma, the Jayhawks have mowed through the competition, winning seven of their last eight games.