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THURSDAY, APRIL 25, 2013
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SOFTBALL
TRAVIS YOUNG/KANSAN
Freshman infoelder Chaley Brickley dives for home plate during the softball game against the UMKC Roos. Kansas defeated the Roos 4-0.
Kansas to face No.14 Baylor for another shot at revenge
CHRIS SCHAEDER
cschaeder@kansan.com
The Kansas softball team will be taking on the nationally ranked Baylor Bears in a three-game series at Arrocha Ballpark in Lawrence this weekend
Kansas is coming off an impressive doubleheader sweep of UMKC on Wednesday, while Baylor split a doubleheader at home against Houston.
in fourth and both sitting behind Oklahoma and Texas.
The Jayhawks
Pitcher Alicia Pille said that the Jayhawks are ready for the challenge of facing a ranked team.
"I think the key to beating Baylor is just rallying and working together as a team."
The Jayhawks enter the weekend with a 29-13 (4-5) record, and Baylor is 35-12 (6-5). Kansas sits within striking distance in the Big 12 standings, with the Bears in third, Jayhawks
"I think the key to beating Baylor is just rallying and working together as a team," Pille said. "They are very beatable, and it should be a good weekend."
ALICIA PILLE Sophomore pitcher
These two teams faced each other in a weekend series in Waco, Texas, with Bavlor
winning two of the three games. Kansas' victory in the last game of that series was the first over the Bears since April 10,2010.
Catcher Maddie Stein said the
team needs to play their game in order to beat Baylor.
"I don't think it will take anything out of the ordinary to beat them," Stein said. "I think if we play our game, we will be absolutely fine. We just have to make sure that we're consistent at the plate, we have our solid defense that we always have and pitching that helps keep us in the game.
A series win against Baylor could propel Kansas in the Big 12 standings and give the team confidence that they can compete with anyone in the conference.
This weekend's series begins on Friday at 6 p.m., with the other two games on Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 12 p.m.
Edited by Tyler Conover
PAR FOR THE COURSE
Kansas golf struggles through final tournament of the season
CHRIS HYBL chybl@kansan.com
The Kansas golf team has had a lot of repeat experiences this year. Attempting to climb out of a hole is one of them, and that's the exact situation the Jayhawks encountered Wednesday at the Big 12 Championship Tournament at Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson. After a field-worst second round score of 308, the Jayhawks carded a closing day 302, which was only enough for an eighth place finish.
CONTRIBUTED BY JEFF JACOBSON
Senior Stan Gautier golfs in the Men's Big 12 Championship in Hutchinson.
"We had a good lead after 27 holes, but from there, it just kept getting worse," coach Jamie Bermel said. "We just didn't finish the second round and just stumbled home from there."
Kansas was tied for last in the nine-team field to start the day, and junior Stan Gautier was the only one carrying the Jayhawks. Gautier had the field's fifth best final-day score, and it was enough to keep the Jayhawks from falling into a last-place tie with Iowa State.
Gilbert finish the tournament tied for tenth individually, while
"He was fairly consistent today and nothing really fancy," Bermel said. "But he did a lot of things well today."
Not leading for the Jayhawks, unusually, was senior Chris Gilbert. After shooting the best opening round in the field and sitting at a T-3 individual position the second day, Gilbert blew up on the way to the clubhouse. Gilbert double-boyed his 15th hole and triple-boyed his 17th hole to finish five-over in four holes. Gilbert, however, was the only Jayhawk to shoot over-par in single-digit numbers.
"He struggled today for the most part. He was trying to grind it out to get up and down and just finish," Bermel said. "But he just made a couple bad swings coming down, and he paid the price."
Texas' Brandon Stone won the tournament with an even-par 210. Texas also won the tournament with a 19-over-par team scorecard, well ahead of Kansas' 59-over-par finish.
"Going in, we were probably the eighth seed out of nine," Bermel said. "We had just got a win, and we were playing with a lot of confidence, so I had thought if we played well, we could get in the top-five."
The Jayhawks don't have the resume for a postseason, and won't be booking a trip to any of the NCAA regional sites. The season is over for the Jayhawks, however, Gilbert played well enough through the season to qualify as an individual for the NCAA Regional. Gilbert will be placed into competition at one of six regional sites. Regional play will be May 16-18.
Bermel's inaugural year as Kansas golf head coach has come to a close. Bermel took over a badly bleeding program to start the year, and he does have more progress to show for than a one-place improvement from the team's last-place finish at the Big 12 tournament last year. The team's win April 14 at the Hawkeye Invitational was the season's biggest highlight; It was the team's first win since 2010.
"We won the tournament in Iowa and beat a pretty good field," Bermel said. "We were more consistent in the spring than we were in the fall, and I thought the guys played with a little more heart in the spring — a little more just started to believe in themselves a little more."
- Edited by Megan Hinman