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MONDAY, APRIL 8, 2013
M1R
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Billy Butler's grand slam seals victory over Phillies
Kansas City Royals' Alex Gordon (4), Jeff Francoeur (21) and Jarrod Dyson (1) celebrate after Philadelphia Phillies' Erik Kratz struck out to end the in the ninth inning of a baseball game yesterday in Philadelphia.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
PHILADELPHIA — Billy Butler hit a grand slam that was confirmed by video review and tied a Royals franchise record with seven RMIs, and Kansas City held on for a 9-8 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Sunday.
Butler's fifth-inning homer, the first slam of his career and the first ever allowed by Philadelphia left-hander Cole Hamels, put Kansas city ahead 6-4.
James Shields (1-1), acquired in an offseason trade with Tampa Bay, earned his first victory as a Royal. The right-hander gave up hits to five of the first six batters in a four-run first innning, but settled down to blank the Phillies for the next five innings on five hits while striking out eight and walking none.
Butler came through with the bases loaded again in the sixth, hitting a two-run single off Chad Durbin. With the hit, Butler became the 12th Royals player have seven RBIs.
Chris Getz opened the fifth with a double to right. Alex Gordon reached on an infile single and Alcides Escobar walked to load the bases and set up Butler.
Hamels (0-2) appeared visibly upset throughout the inning, perhaps disagreeing with some close balls and strikes calls by homeplate umpire Eric Cooper. His mood didn't improve when Butler launched a 1-0 fastball just over the metal fence that tops the green padded wall in left field. The ball hit off a wall behind the field wall and bounced back into play.
The umpires originally ruled that the ball hit off the top of the wall before going to replay to confirm that it was a homer.
The Phillies looked on their way to the loss trailing 9-4 entering the ninth before rallying.
Jimmy Rollins hit a three-run homer to right off J.C. Gutierrez. Greg Holland relieved Gutierrez
with one out in the ninth. He got Chase Utley to pop out to center before singles by Ryan Howard and Michael Young, who had four hits, put runners on first and second with two outs.
Kansas City manager Ned Yost then lifted Holland, who blew the save in Saturday's 4-3 loss to Philadelphia, and replaced him with right-hander Kelvin Herrera to face pinch-hitter Layne Nix.
Nix singled home Howard to pull Philadelphia to 9-8 and Young and Nix advanced to second and third on a wild pitch. But Herrera struck out Erik Kratz in nine-pitch at-bat to earn his first save.
The Phillies struck out 14 times Sunday.
Slow start weighs down golf team at N.C. tournament
MEN'S GOLF
CHRIS HYBL
chybl@kansan.com
The Kansas men's golf team is finding consistency, just not in its purest form. The team is a middle-of-the-pack connoisseur and solidified that identity again this weekend with a seventh place finish at the Irish Creek College in Charlotte.
The team shot a three-round 872 (297)(287)(288), digging itself a hole the first round of the tournament and making it tough to gain ground on the field from its initial 13th-place start.
"We made boyes and double bogeys in the last few holes that first round," coach Jamie Bermel said. "Guys hitting balls in the water, you just can't do that."
Despite the opening day blunders, the team was able to bounce back for the remainder of the week.
end, thanks to seniors Alex Gutshea and Chris Gilbert. Gutshea got his second top-10 finish of the year with a ninth place finish while Gilbert earned his third straight top-20 finish. Gilbert's round was the team's second best, but Bermel still saw room for improvement.
"Chris didn't put it very well by his standards, he had a few three pumps out there," Bermel said. "Other than that he played pretty good — just his putter was cold."
Bermel was pleased to solidify a fourth spot on his lineup, however. Ryley Haas' scorecards counted for each round of the tournament — enough for Bermel to make space for the junior transfer going forward.
"He will be in the lineup for sure"
Bermel said.
The clock is ticking for the jay-
hawks though, and Bermel's to-do
list for improvement remains fairly long. The team has yet to net a top five finish in 2013, but Bermel still believes the team is making progress.
"We are getting better and we've got a long way to go but we are on the right track," Bermel said. "It was a pretty good field down here but I think we are moving in the right direction."
The Jayhawks may have a long way to go, but not to the postseason. The Jayhawks have one tournament left, The Hawkeye/Great River Entertainment Invitational, before the Big 12 Championships on April 22. The Jayhawks could easily improve though, as the team finished last in the Big 12 tournament last year.
Edited by Brian Sisk
ROWING
Kansas rowers go 4-6 in races against Indiana, Georgetown
STELLA LIANG sliang@kansan.com
The Kansas rowing team won four of six races against Indiana and Georgetown in Bloomington, Ind. The two losses came in the first and last races of the day.
The regatta started with the novice eight race. Both Kansas novice eight boats fell to the Indiana boat.
The Jayhawks earned their first win in the third varsity four race. Like the previous race, it was a matchup between the Jayhawks and the Hoosiers, with Georgetown not participating in the first two races. This win was the beginning of the four-race winning streak.
The second varsity four race followed. The Jawahry boat finished
with a time of 8:54, making it the fastest four boat of the day. The second varsity four rowers were senior Emily Starr, junior Carley Iverson and sophomores Angie Flores, Andrea Joyce and coxswain Sarah Lasni. The third win came in the first varsity four race.
"We have pretty good team depth and that showed again today," Kansas coach Rob Catloth said in a Kansas Athletics news release. "Team-wise we continue to show some good depth and strength in the fours."
The Kansas second varsity eight boat continued its recent hot streak with its fourth win in a row with a time of 7:47.4. Rowers in this boat were seniors Danielle Adam and Cheyenne Verdoorn, juniors Caty
Clements and Amanda Lewis and sophomores Julia Avery, Erin Brogan, Jenni Hartzler, Jade Lambkins and Claudijah Lever. Clements was the coxswain.
The day ended with Kansas placing second behind Indiana in the first varsity eight race. Kansas and Georgetown battled hard for second place.
Kansas, Indiana and Georgetown competed on Lake Lemon in Bloomington on April 6. This was the first meeting between Kansas and each of these teams. Next up for the Jayhawks is the Knecht Cup in Camden, N.J., on April 13-14.
Edited by Julie Etzler