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Sports THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Softball swept in series
Kansas loses both games to Texas Tech. **SOFTBALL** | 10B
WWW.KANSAN.COM
MONDAY, APRIL 26, 2010
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Senior day spoiled
Team loses all its matches at home against Texas Tech. TENNIS | 8B
THROW-OUT SHOWDOWN
PAGE 1B
Quarterback battle continues
Sophomore quarterback Kale Pick throws a pass towards the sideline during Saturday afternoon's annual spring game. Pick threw for 122 yards and a touchdown for the blue team.
Weston White/KANSAN
Pick and Webb are favorites in final rounds
BY MAX ROTHMAN
mrothman@kansan.com
He may have been competing against his own teammates, but freshman Kale Pick displayed the talent and intangibles of a capable starting quarterback.
Pick completed 10 of 14 passes for 122 yards and two touchdowns and led the Blue Team to a 14-10 victory against the White Team in the annual intrasquad spring game Saturday at Memorial Stadium.
Since Todd Reesing's departure, the battle for the starting quarterback spot has become one of Kansas' greatest uncertainties. Coach Turner Gill said that the race has been whittled down to two: Pick and freshman Jordan Webb, who completed 5 of 9 passes for 42 yards and threw one touchdown and one interception.
"I can't be satisfied yet," Pick said. "I want to keep working hard and have a big summer while working with my receivers. Every day I want to get on the same page and get this offense going."
While Saturday's game cannot project who will be the best choice to open the season, it hints at who may have the upper edge heading into the season's preparation.
Gill said that Webb had the stronger arm, but Pick has more
"I think it breeds competition," Webb said. "Throughout the summer, throughout fall, until we get to that first game, I think the competition is really going to make the starter a lot better."
experience and perhaps more accuracy with his throws.
"They both did a good job of keeping their composure in the huddle," Gill said. "We knew they weren't going to be perfect today, but I liked how they both did a good job of trying to make some plays." The one thing we need to work on is getting rid of the football sooner.
Both quarterbacks exhibited versatility skills as they eluded pass
THREE
JAYHAWKS
PICKED IN
NFL DRAFT
"I think I caught more passes on that first day of practice than I did in about a week last year." Biere said.
rushers to make plays down the field. Junior tight end Tim Biere was one of the main benefactors of both Pick and Webb's big play ability. Webb finished with three catches for 56 yards and a touchdown.
SEE FOOTBALL ON PAGE 4B
Junior shortstop Brandon Macias watches as the ball goes past him after it went off the side of his glove. Kansas lost to Texas Tech 21-10.
For more photos of spring practice, check out kansan.com/photos/galleries
Stuckey and Meier were first players chosen from Kansas.
PAGE 5B
BASEBALL
Pitching fails to contain Red Raiders' offense
BY BEN WARD
bward@kansan.com
twitter.com/bm_dub
A few moments aside, it was a rough weekend to be a pitcher at Hogglund Ballpark.
After junior T.J. Walz silenced Texas Tech in a 10-2 victory on Friday, the Red Raiders spent the rest of the weekend proving why they're one of the top hitting clubs in the Big 12.
Kansas (25-16-1, 6-8-1) was downed in the final two games of the series, dropping the second game 11-8 before suffering a 21-10 thumping at the hands of Texas Tech in the series finale. The Red Raiders' offensive outburst came at the expense of the Jayhawks' pitching staff, which had been sound for nearly two weeks.
"Their offense was really good today, and you've just got to tip your cap to them," junior third baseman Tony Thompson said after Sunday's defeat.
In Friday's opener it was the Jayhawks — not the Red Raiders — that looked like one of the top offenses in the conference.
SERIES FINAL SCORES
The first six Jayhawks reached base in the first inning, and each came around to score, giving Walz an early 6-0 lead. Thompson and sophomore catcher Chris Manship
Kansas pounded out 13 hits, including six in its six-run first inning, and rolled to a 10-2 victory.
Game 1
Kansas 10, Texas Tech 2
Mike Gunnoe/KANSAN
Kansas 10, texas tech 2
**Game 2**
Texas Tech 11, Kansas 8
**Game 3**
Texas Tech 21, Kansas 10
"Any time when you score a bunch of runs in the first inning it takes of a load of pressure, and you can kind of play the game a little more relaxed," Waters said.
each smacked two RBI singles and junior left fielder Jimmy Waters added an RBI single of his own to account for most of the damage.
Eight of Kansas' nine starters each tallied a hit in the game, and four recorded multiple hits - including junior right fielder Casey Lyle, who had three singles, three runs scored and stole two bases.
Walz pitched the first seven and 1/3 innings, holding the Red Raiders to two runs on seven hits while striking out seven. Walz earned his sixth victory of the
- scoring single runs in the second, fourth, fifth and seventh - junior T.J. Walz easily handled the Big 12's highest scoring offense.
While the Jayhawks continued to pile offense on the Red Raiders
Coach Ritch Price praised Walz for throwing first pitch strikes and pitching to contact, which he said was in sharp contrast to what Texas Tech's pitchers did.
season, and is now 3-0 with a 1.99 ERA when pitching at Hoglund Ballpark.
"When you play against metal
bats, you can't set the table and that's what happened to them tonight," coach Price said. "They set the table for those crooked number innings we put up.
Senior Cameron Selik wasn't as sharp as Walz Saturday, but only allowed two runs despite scattering seven hits through four
After Texas Tech took an early 1-0 lead, sophomore catcher James Stanfield ripped an RBI single to center field in the second inning which scored Thompson and tied the game at 1-1.
COMMENTARY
SEE BASEBALL ON PAGE 6B
innings.
Briscoe must prove his worth in the NFL
BY CLARK GOBLE
goble@kansan.com
twitter.com/clark_ goble
Check out more photos of the weekend series at kansan.com/photos/galleries.
A after the first round of the NFL Draft on Thursday, ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. projected Dezmon Briscoe to go off the board with the 16th pick of the second round.
He lasted 143 picks longer.
He plummeted so far that Jimmy Clausen, a Notre Dame quarterback who was projected in many mock drafts to go top-10 but fell to the late second round, can't even relate. The Cincinnati Bengals took Briscoe with the 22nd pick of the sixth round.
Cincinnati isn't exactly an ideal situation either. The Bengals selected Texas' Jordan Shipley in the third round, so Briscoe is facing competition even from within his own draft class. Right now, the Bengals have 11 wide receivers on their roster, including Chad Ochocinco and free-agent signee Antonio Bryant.
As shocking as it sounds, Briscoe might have been better off going undrafted and finding a better situation as a free agent.
Even though the draft didn't go as planned for Briscoe, there's no question that Briscoe made the correct decision to enter.
Opposing defenses would have locked in on Briscoe like they did many times last season, and Kale Pick/jordan Webb/whoever wins the QB job won't match Reesing's ability, at least in their first extended playing time. Briscoe was First Team All-Big 12 in 2009 and started all three seasons as a Jav Hawk.
But as a sixth round pick, and the second rookie receiver selected by the Bengals, Briscoe's window of opportunity is small. If he doesn't make an impact early in his career, he will struggle to make money playing football professionally. Wide receivers generally need a lot of time to develop, and teams won't keep giving Briscoe chances if he doesn't show promise in his first couple years.
Sure. Briscoe could have decided to come back, go to every class in the fall and catch a few more balls while getting whacked by a defender. He could have worked with trainers to slightly improve his 40-yard-dash time.
The questions surrounding Briscoe weren't about his productivity. They were about his toughness, his top-end speed and his off-the-field antics. So any decreased productivity in his senior season would have hurt Briscoe's stock dramatically.
But the chance of making slight improvements wouldn't be worth the risk of dropping out of the NFL radar completely.
Briscoe has a lot to prove to see the field. With so many experienced receivers dotting the Bengals' roster, Briscoe will have, to work hard just to remain on the roster. If he doesn't make it with the Bengals, he will get a chance to impress somewhere else.
Not getting selected until the sixth round is a definite roadblock that Briscoe will have to maneuver around. He won't get as much time to make an impression as earlier draft picks who have longer starting leases with their teams.
But Briscoe has the talent to succeed. Now it's just a matter of how hard he will work to answer the scouts' lingering questions.
Edited by Ashley Montgomery