UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Monday, April 1, 1996
3B
Kansas holds off Tiger power
Jayhawks avoid Missouri sweep
By Dan Gelston
Kansan sportswriter
After watching the Missouri offense batter the Kansas pitching staff for four games last week, it should have come as no surprise to see the Tigers rally from a nine-run deficit yesterday.
In the second game of a double-header yesterday afternoon at Hoglund-Maupin Stadium, the Jayhawk relievers curbed the Tiger offense, and center fielder Issac Byrd's RBI single in the fifth put the Jayhawks ahead for good in an 11-9 victory.
"This feels good because it's been a while since we've felt like this," said Kansas reliever Casey Barrett, who earned his sixth save.
Kansas (14-13, 4-7) jumped out to a
9-0 lead after two innings. Designated hitter Josh Kliner's three-run home run in the first and Byrd's two-run shot in the second provided most of the offensive punch.
Kansas starter Josh Wingerd started strong, pitching three shutout innings. But he let Missouri to tie the score at nine after yielding three runs in the fourth and six in the fifth.
But Chris Williams, in relief of Wingerd, pitched 2 1/3 shutout innings, improving his record to 2.0.
"This was a game we really needed," Williams said. "There was no way we could lose five games in a row to Missouri. We just couldn't afford that. I just tushed to do my part."
In between games of the doubleheader, the Jayhawks received an earful from coach Bobby Randall.
"It wasn't a hang in there talk," Randall said. "What we were doing wasn't good."
Kansas starter Aric Peters (2-4) allowed four runs and five walks in just 21 3/1 innings.
What the Jayhawks were doing was downright awful. They were pounded in the first game 16-4.
"I think every guy that goes out there feels the weight of the world on his shoulders," Randall said. "We tell them not to walk anybody, and that's all they think about. Then they end up walking them. It's the kiss of death."
Friday, Clay Baird started the weekend trend of terrible starting pitching when he gave up eight runs, seven earned, in 2 1/3 innings on the way to a 13-4 Tiger victory. He allowed a grand slam to Tiger center fielder Matt Nivens in the second.
"Missouri is exposing some things that Texas or Oklahoma didn't expose," Randall said.
In other games over the break, Kansas lost 5-1 and 8-4 last Tuesday and Wednesday at Missouri. Kansas also lost two of three to Oklahoma. The Jayhawks lost 4-3 and 11-0 on March 22 and 23 and won 10-9 on March 24.
The first inning could not tarnish an otherwise golden outing by Kansas senior pitcher Beth Robinson yesterday.
By Jenni Carlson
Kansan sportswriter
Softball splits with Texas A&M
Robinson allowed No. 13 Texas A&M softball team one run and three hits in the opening frame. But that would be all the runs and hits the Aggies would get as the Jayhawks won the first game of the doubleheader, 4-1, before losing the second game, 8-2.
"I always have trouble in the first and seventh innings," said Robinson, who improved to 8-3. "I let the first slip through, and I knew we had to hold them."
Kansas softball coach Gayle Luedek said, "After that first inning, then we played a good game — a great game."
The Jayhawks' four-run sixth inniplied propelled to victory in
their Big 12 Conference opener and also snapped Texas A&M's seven-game winning streak.
However, the Aggies began their winning ways again in the second game of the doubleheader.
The Jayhawks pulled to within 4-2 in their half of the fourth inning. Kansas got its only runs of the game when junior first baseman Jacquet Wenger drilled a home run over the left field wall. It was her first of the season.
But Texas A&M turned around and put four runs on the board in the bottom of the fourth.
Gina Thomburg/KANSAN
Sophomore third-baseman Sarah McCann doubles the ball hit by Texas A&M.
An error by Kansas sophomore third baseman Sarah McCann put the game out of reach at 8-2.
"When you're in tight ball games with teams like Texas A&M, you've
got to make the routine plays all the time," Luedke said. "It's disappointing too because after winning the first game, we knew they're very beatable. I'm not content with splitting."
Women's hoops: Kansas falls to the Volunteers in NCAAs
While Kansas was making its first ever appearance in the Sweet 16, the Lady Vols were on their way to their seventh trip to the Final Four in the last 10 years.
Tennessee jumped on the Jayhawks early behind the play of freshman forward Chamique Holdsclaw, who went five of eight from the field and scored 15 points in the first half. The Lady Vols led 49-30 at halftime.
Tennessee guard Michelle Marciini said it was the fast start that propelled her team to victory.
"We came in with more energy, and it allowed us to jump on Kansas the way we did," Martiniak said.
The power in the pain, combined with a 64.5 shooting percentage, all but buried the Jayhawks by half-time.
That energy, along with its height advantage, allowed Tennessee to dominate the Jayhawks inside. Kansas was outrebounded in the first half, 21-9.
"They shot the lights out," Kansas junior guard Angie Halbleib said. "We dug ourselves a hole that we couldn't dig ourselves out of."
The Jayhawks were never able to
cut the lead in the second half. The two teams played almost even, with Tennessee scoring only two points more than the Jayhawks.
Lady Vols coach Pat Summitt didn't feel like her team played a complete game.
"You want to start strong and finish strong, and I didn't think we finished strong," Summitt said. "But we started both halves the way we wanted to."
Kansas junior guard Tamecka Dixon, the Jayhawks leading scorer, never got on track and fouled out with just under 14 minutes left in the game. She finished with just six points.
Halbleib led with 21 points, and senior guard Charisse Sampson ended her college career with a strong game. She finished with 18 points on six for eight shooting from the field.
Halbleib was more than a little impressed by Tennessee's precision performance.
"I think we just played one of the best teams in the nation," Halbleib said. "I expect to see them in the Final Four."
GOLF BRIEF
Kansas gets fourth in golf tournament
Kansan staff report
The Kansas men's golf team finished fourth at the 21st annual Pacific Coast Intercollegiate Championship on Friday.
The team had a three-round total of 886 and finished 17 strokes behind the tournament champion, No.31 Pepperdine.
San Jose State, No. 82 New Mexico State, Kansas and the University of Washington rounded out the top five.
Kansas also had two top-20 finishers.
Senior Alan Stearns shot a three-round total of 219 and tied for 12th place. Stearns had led the competition after the first round after shooting a 69. However, he was unable to keep the lead, shooting a 74 and 76 in the second and third rounds.
Senior Slade Adams also finished in the top 20. He tied for 17th place with a score of 221.
Other finishers for Kansas were junior Kit Grove and freshman Chris Thompson, who shot three- round totals of 227 and tied for 41st place.
Senior Dan Rooney shot rounds of 84,74,and 72 and finished with a total of 231 and a 67th place finish.
San Jose State's Aaron Oberhosler won the tournament with a score of 214. He also won the title last year.
Men's hoops: The Orangemen turn the Jayhawks a little blue
points, nailed three of Kansas' three-pointers, and freshman forward Paul Pierce had the other.
Even with that performance, no Jayhawks were calling shooting a flaw.
"I think we've got terrific shooters," junior center Scot Pollard said. "They proved it at different times throughout the year. It feels kind of like last year's loss to Virginia. We just couldn't get the ball in the basket no matter what we did."
The Cavaliers knocked the Jayhawks out of the 1996 NCAA tournament in the third round. In that 67-58 loss, Kansas hit 33.9 percent of its shots from the floor, including two of 21 from three-point range.
Poor long-range shooting ultimately knocked Kansas from the tournament but wasn't a problem two days before.
Kansas defeated Arizona 83-80 in the Sweet 16 when Haase hit the game-winning three-pointer with 36 seconds remaining.
"I felt pretty good, actually," Haase said.
"With about four minutes left, I decided it was just a basketball game."
After a pair of Vaughn free throws, a last-ditch attempt from Arizona failed, and a Kansas celebration erupted at midcourt. The Jayhawks did an impromptu mosh pit before heading to the locker room.
The celebration after defeating Arizona seemed to make the low after losing to Syracuse even lower.
"That's what hurts so bad," Robertson said.
"We know how much fun it could have been.
We know how much fun we'd be having right now if we would have hit a few more shots or done this or that."
The loss still cannot take away from Kansas' 29-5 overall and 12-2 Big Eight Conference records, its second consecutive conference championship, an appearance in the NCAA tournament's Elite Eight or victories against UCLA, Utah and Arizona.
The glare of the Jayhawks' season-ending loss dimmed those highlights, though.
"I'm sure after the hurt's gone I'll look back at this year as a success." Pollard said. "We won a lot of basketball games. We can be proud of that. But obviously, we had higher goals."
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