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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 21, 2010
Lacrosse team finishes 13-0 Club team caps perfect season with victory against Missouri. CAMPUS CORNER |2B
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KANSAS 11, BENEDICTINE 2
Jayhawks bat down Ravens
Sophomore rocks pitching, collects two home runs
Mike Gunnoe/KANSAN
Sophomore first baseman Zac Eligie celebrates with teammates after blasting a two-run home run. Eligie had two home runs and four RBIs.
BY BEN WARD
bward@kansan.com
twitter/bm/dub
The wide grin seen on Zac Elgie's face as he rounded the bases and slapped hands with teammates was evidence enough of the kind of night he had at the plate.
The sophomore first baseman went 2-for-3 with two home runs as Kansas (23-14-1, 5-6-1) cruised past Benedictine 11-2.
Much was expected of Elgie heading into the season, but he got off to a rough offensive start going 3-for-31, and only recently began swinging the bat well.
Elgie said that of the many adjustments he'd made to break out of his slump, the most important was to his confidence.
And the next one left no doubt.
"The main thing is you've just got to be comfortable, and I think I've finally gotten it to a point with my approach and my physical adjustments that I'm starting to get real comfort," he said.
The layhawks let the Ravens hang around for the first three innings with the score tied at one run apiece. Then Elgie came to bat in the fourth.
Elgie ripped a sharp line drive that cleared the fence in left by only a few feet, making the score 3-1 in favor of Kansas.
With two outs in the seventh, Elgie blasted the third pitch deep over the trees in left and quickly jogged around the bases.
"Even though you're playing a non-Division I game, the fact that he crushed two balls is a huge step forward for him," coach Ritch Price said.
The Jayhawks scored two more runs in the fifth inning on an RBI single by Jimmy Waters and a sacrifice fly from Elgie. Then, in the eighth inning Kansas capitalized on two Benedictine errors and smacked four hits to score five runs, putting the game out of reach.
Price said the progress that Elgie had made at the plate meant the sophomore would be in the lineup tomorrow against Missouri, where he needed to prove himself.
"He's got to do it against somebody good," Price said.
Elgie, still smiling after the game, said he felt good about his effort and was ready for his next opportunity.
"To go out there and feel good about going into the Missouri game tomorrow and then coming home for the weekend, hopefully it can change my season around," he said.
Edited by Drew Anderson
Border Showdown heads to Kauffman Stadium
BY BEN WARD
bward@kansan.com
twitter.com/bm_dub
With a rivalry as big as Kansas and Missouri's, it's only fitting that the venue hosting the game is even larger.
For the third straight year Kauffman Stadium will host the Border Showdown, where the Jayhawks (23-14-1, 5-6-1) are 2-0, including a 7-3 victory against the Tigers last season.
"It's definitely fun," senior second baseman Robby Price said. "It's a great atmosphere, great experience to go down there, and then there's the rivalry."
Coach Ritch Price said that on his first visit to Columbia he was unprepared for the rowdy fans and hostile atmosphere.
"You've only got to play one series and
then after that you're a Jayhawk for life," he said. "It's personal."
Tonight's game might be a non-conference affair, but the rivalry is as impassioned as ever.
Echoing the sentiments of his coach, sophomore first baseman Zac Elgie said his first taste of the Border Showdown was greater than he imagined.
Because Big 12 teams can only play three conference games against one another during the regular season, the contest is a non-conference matchup. The layhawks and Tigers will play their three-game series on the weekend of May 7.
"I remember going there last year, and when I first walked in I was kind of in awe," Elgie sait.
SEE BASEBALL ON PAGE 3B
UP NEXT
Kansas vs. Missouri
WHEN: 6:30 p.m.
WHERE: Kauffman Stadium,
Kansas City, Mo.
Player to watch
Freshman Thomas Taylor
Non-conference matchup or not, tonight's game marks Taylor's first start against a Big 12 opponent. Taylor has been sharp of late. He notched a career-high eight strikeouts in a victory against Missouri State on April 13 and two-thirds of an inning of scoreless relief in Sunday's victory against Nebraska. Taylor will need to continue to get ahead of batters by throwing first-pitch strikes and limit his walks to replicate his recent success.
"The good thing is, Taylor is a completely different guy than he was four weeks ago,"coach Ritch Price said. "Now he's starting to command his fastball and mix in his breaking ball. It's a big game for him."
Taylor
Freshman focuses on details to prepare for fall
FOOTBALL
BY JAYSON JENKS
jjenks@kansan.com
During every practice this spring, a familiar message is preached to one of Kansas' offensive linemen.
Sometimes, Kansas' coaches harp on footwork or the use of hands. Other times, they'll holter to lower pad level.
Either way, not a practice goes by without freshman left tackle Tanner Hawkinson hearing those commands.
"Every day, every minute, every second of every day," offensive line coach J.B. Grimes said, "those are things that he can affect as a player fundamentally to make himself better. And they have nothing to do with how much he bench presses."
On an experienced offensive
line that will return every starter from last season. Hawkinson perhaps possesses the most potential. After all, he was named All-Big 12 Honorable Mention in his first season as an offensive lineman.
PAGE 1B
start of next season, and much of that work centers on the technical aspects of the offensive line.
Yet Hawkinson still has plenty of room to improve before the
At 6-foot-6,
290 pounds.
Hawkinson is
considered undersized for a left tackle in the Big 12.
In that case, instead of simply overpowering defensive linemen, the more agile Hawkinson must focus on the game's intricacies, such as proper positioning of his
Hawkinson
hands and feet.
Recruited as a tight end out of high school, Hawkinson arrived at Kansas weighing 243 pounds. He then moved to defensive end before finally settling in as a left tackle.
"You can get them stronger, but it's hard to make them quicker and faster," Grimes said. "It's like coaching them tall. It's hard to coach them tall. You just can't do that."
That background as a tight end - he caught 30 passes for 500 yards as a senior - is one shared by many successful offensive tackles, including former Kansas lineman and current Houston Texan Adrian Jones.
"Over the years, since I've been coaching offensive linemen, some of the better guys we've had were tight ends in high school," said Grimes, who started as an offensive line coach in 1977.
Still, Hawkinson rarely showed up in a negative light, and he earned Freshman All-American honors from the Sporting News and the Football Writers Association of America.
In his first season at left tackle last year, Hawkinson consistently weighed around 285 pounds - a drastic jump from his days as a tight end. Many of the rest of the Big 12's offensive tackles tipped the scales weighing at least 300 pounds.
"He's a natural fit," sophomore center jeremiah Hatch said. "Last year it wasn't his natural position. He had a bumpy road, but he also did good last year. Not to criticize last year, but now he's got it down pat."
Even now, in need of adding more bulk to his frame, Hawkinson appears noticeably bigger from a season ago.
"Looking from now to where I was last year, I just feel like I've grown into my body," Hawkinson said. "I had to gain the weight so quick last year."
able with the added weight this season.
He said he felt more comfort-
In the meantime, Grimes said,Hawkinson must sharpen his fundamentals in order to make up for his lack of girth.
.
Grimes, who repeatedly praised Hawkinson's athleticism, listed the proper use of hands, footwork and keeping a low pad level as areas Hawkinson could use to offset any lack of weight or strength.
"You can make a difference with technique and fundamentals to help a guy like that," Grimes said. "But like I said, you can't coach them fast and quick."
Edited by Megan Heacock
COMMENTARY
New start for football leadership and player
BY NICOLAS ROESLER
nroesler@kansan.com
"It's the most free I've felt in a long time, since like my senior year of high school," Johnson said after practice. Johnson wasn't talking about playing in the new system coach Turner Gill implemented. He was talking about his knee.
Johnson's story represents the over all mood of the Kansas football team right now.
Steven Johnson, a junior linebacker from Pennsylvania, left practice Monday with a smile on his face, just like most of the other players. It's spring, the sun is out and the spirits of the players are higher than ever. But Johnson may be the most joyful of them all.
The frame of a team rebuilding from a harsh leader has fallen by the
wayside, just like Johnson's right knee brace.
Johnson suffered a career threatening injury in high school while running a deep fly pattern as a wide receiver in Media, Pa. But
Johnson
Kansas looked past the injury and gave him a chance to walk-on in 2008.
He had to play all of his freshman year with an ACL brace, similar to the ones linemen wear, and still almost got the job as a starting outside linebacker. Then he was able to upgrade to a lighter knee brace in 2009, but the restriction of movement remained and he only picked up nine tackles in 10 games.
Now Johnson's knee has been let loose.
"Sometimes I come out and run on the field and I feel like I'm missing something." Johnson said. "I'm so used to wearing stuff on my legs. I feel like I'm missing my girdle, my knee pads or something. Now I just come out here and feel free."
And Johnson's performance in spring practice has shown that unbound potential. He is now playing with the first group of linebackers consisting of himself, senior Justin Springer from Los Fresnos, Texas, and freshman Josh Richardson from Dublin, Ohio.
Johnson said that after practice coaches in the past would get on players' backs in a way that could negatively affect them mentally, but that it was different now.
Although a depth chart hasn't been set, at this point in spring practice it looks as though this group of three will be the hitting power of Kansas' defense.
The brace that came off Johnson's knee and the fresh leadership of Kansas football made for a spring practice that the team desperately needed.
"They tell you when you do wrong," Johnson said. "But they get on you the right way so you can pick yourself up and keep moving on."
It is the quintessential spring rebirth: the beginning of a new program and the beginning of a bright future for Johnson who aims to continue to impress coaches in the Spring Game Saturday.
Edited by Kirsten Hudson
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