University Daily Kansan / Wednesday, May 3, 1989
Sports
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Royals win 4th straight; beat NY 5-3
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — Luis de los Santos hit a two-run, go- ahead single in the seventh inning and Mark Gubicza pitched a six-hitter last night, leading Kansas City past New York 5-3 for the Royals' fourth straight victory.
De los Santos, playing in his first game of the season since his weekend recall from the minors, singled to left after Tommy John, 2-, loaded the bases. It snapped New York's four-game winning streak and gave the Royals their ninth victory in 11 games.
Gubicza, 22, struck out six and walked none in his second consecutive complete game, both against the Yankees.
John had gotten the first 10 outs on grounders and 14 of the first 15. With New York ahead 3-2, Frank White and Kurt Stillwell splayed to open the seventh and William Wilson sacrificed. Kevin Seitzer was intentionally walked and de los Santos, who ht. 36 this year at Omaha of the Class AAA American Association, singled after fouling off two 3-2 pitches.
Jesse Barfield went 1-for-3 in 1 new New York debut, getting an RBI single in the second. He was acquired Sunday from Toronto for left-handed
founding One out later, Pat Tabler singled for his third hit and second RBI of the game.
John allowed 10 hits in six 1-3 innings, the third time in six starts he gave up 10 or more hits.
Baseball team receives much needed rest
Kansas hopes to end losing skid
Kansas City took a 2-0 lead in the first
by Mike Considine Kansan sportswriter
After two days of much needed rest, Kansas begins a stretch of six games in five days tonight against nationally ranked Wichita State.
The Jayhawks, 29-28, will play the Shockers, ranked third in Baseball America's national poll, at 7 p.m. in Hoglund-Maupin Stadium. The teams will play at Wichita State tomorrow.
"We were kind of in a standstill." Boeschen said. "We were not getting better or worse, we were just staying idle. Hopefully, with two days off, our bats will be quicker, our feet will be quicker and our pitching will come around better."
Senior second baseman Steve Dowling said Kansas played one of the toughest NCAA Division I schedules in the nation. He said last year's schedule was rated the most difficult.
Kansas has lost five consecutive games and the two games it has played against the Shockers this year. Senior catcher Jarett Broschchen has shook off an injury to recuperate after playing 20 games in 17 days.
"He wanted to find out how we reacted to playing every day." Dowling said of Kansas coach Dave Bingham. "Now we're rested up and we'll have no excuses."
Kansas second baseman Steve Dowling (4), shown here in a game earlier this season, went 8 for 16 in a four-game series this weekend against Oklahoma. The 29-28 Jayhawks play third-ranked Wichita State at 7 tonight at Hoglund-Maupin Stadium.
and fell to fifth place in the league.
The Jayhawks' losing winch began with a 14-0 loss at Wichita State and dropped four straight Big Eight Conference games to Oklahoma
"We were kind of disappointed that they beat us," Boeschen said. "They were playing very well and taking advantage of situations."
Dowling, who had eight hits in 16 at bats during the Oklahoma series, said the Jayhawks struggled against the Sooners.
"It was a little bit of everything." Dowling said, "The pitching didn't go well, then it was the pitching of everything just kind of snowfall."
Kansas was outscored 39-13 by Oklahoma. Boeschen said some of the pitching problems may have been caused by fatigue. He said much of the defense came from the bottom of the kayhawks batting order.
Dowling said that in Thursday's game and a 9-2 loss April 20, Wichita State was at the top of its game. He said the Shockers were a very confident team at this stage of the season.
we were getting on base, but our middle men were not producing like they can," Boeschen said. "It might have been that everyone was tired. Our bat speed was a little slow."
"Their whole pitching staff has good throwers from top to bottom and their everyday players are good." Dowling said. "Sometimes we get a little overmatched by their throwers. If we can't hit their pitching, they're going to beat us 14-0. They can happen any day of the week and we can turn around and beat them like we did last year."
Dowling said defeating Wichita State in the next two games was not as important to the team as playing well against Iowa State this weekend. The Jayhawks play a four-game series against the
In an hour-long team meeting yesterday, Beeschen said Bingham told the team that it had been pressing too hard.
third-place Cyclones at Hoglund-Maupin Stadium.
"You can't be perfect on every pitch and every at-bat," Boeschen said. "We talked about that a lot (yesterday). Everyone was trying to be perfect instead of just doing their thing."
Despite recent problems, Big 8 has reason to rejoice
The Associated Press
TV coverage of non-revenue sports, baseball tournament aids conference
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Amid all the NCAA scandal and criminal arrests, the Big Eight is happy to report some positive news.
'The nation's most successful conference baseball tournament is already a sellout, for one thing; and for another, a unique new television contract has coaches in the so-called "non-revenue sports" doing cartoons.
"We're just delighted," assistant commissioner Bill Hancock said of the two-year arrangement with Prime Sports Network, a Denver-based cable company. "We've never had anything like this before."
beginning in the 1989-90 academic year, 10 Big Eight championship events will be aired, including men's
and women's indoor and outdoor track, volleyball, wrestling and men's and women's gymnastics.
most significantly, the agreement will put Big Eight women's basketball on television for the first time. The post-season tournament will be televised from Salina, along with four regular-season games.
"We've had selected televising of a few non-revenue championship events, but only a few," Hancock said. "This company is connected with a dozen other cable networks around the country, and we think it will give us close to national exposure."
And with national exposure the
hope is that women's basketball in the Big Eight will begin catching up with other conferences. Last season, the Big Eight was seventh in women's attendance, according to CAAA data. The Big Eight led the country with almost 1,900 per game while the Big Eight had less than 800.
"Ten years ago when we first started sponsoring women's basketball, I think we all figured that by 1989, attendance and interest would be stronger than it is. It is a major sport in basketball in our region is super big. In little towns all over the Big Eight area, girls' basketball is a giant. It's amazing."
why that hasn't carried over to the colleges. We're hoping it's just a matter of not having exposed people to it."
The conference was heartened when Colorado drew more than 11,000 last spring to its NCAA tournament game against Nevada-Las Vegas. But then the crowd big Eight team to go underdoged through the regular season.
"It proved that if you have a winning team, people will come to see a meaningful game," Hancock said. "But we're still waiting for the answer, that initial spark of interest. I don't think television will automatically give us that."
spark, but the exposure is bound to help. This could be the start."
Hancock takes issue with people who have called women's basketball in the Big Eight a "dismal failure."
“It’s gradually growing, inch by inch.” he said. “We would like it to start growing mile by mile. But, men’s basketball had to crawl before it walked. And you can’t classify if a failure if only for the fact that we’ve had all these kids go through the programs on basketball scholarships, get out in the world and begin leading productive lives.”
The television agreement is not going to pull in big money.
"I would classify it as modest."
franked said. "The main thing is the exposure. But it helps. And we're getting closer and closer to our goal of making non-revenue sports a zero expense, thanks in large part to the baseball tournament.
In two weeks in Oklahoma City, the Big Eight will again play to a sold-out house in its baseball tournament, the most popular, the Big Eight says, in the country. For the second straight year, an attendance of more than 40,000 is expected, bolstered by the Big Eight Oklahoma State are both nationally ranked and most likely headed for the College World Series later this month.
"In 1979, net income from the tournament was $12,000." Hancock said. "In 1988, it was $118,000. That's an increase of almost ten-told".
Money woes prompt Oral Roberts dropout
The Associated Press
TULSA, IL — Evangelist Oral Roberts, who says he is in "a life-and-death struggle" to save Oral Roberts University, said yes.
terday the school was immediately dropping out of the NCAA to save money.
The 71 year-old televi sion evangelist enqid in March
his ministry had to raise $11 million by graduation day May 6 or creditors would owe him. "The administration did not school the City of Faith Medical Center.
The announcement apparently hurts Oral Roberts' baseball team, which is 36-18 with six games remaining in the season and had hopes of qualifying for the NCAA regional playoffs.
The school is applying for affiliation with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics, officials said.
Baseball coach Gary Vaught refused to comment on his team's situation after the surprise announcement yesterday.
The Titans have gone to the playoffs eight of the past 11 seasons, making it to the regional championship game three times and to the College World Series in 1978.
Oral Roberts becomes the first NCAA Division I school to withdraw from the association since Oklahoma City University did so in 1985, said Shirley Whitacre, NCAA membership coordinator.
NCAA officials said they had not received official notification of ORU's withdrawal yesterday. But Whitacre said the team would be immediately, it would be the baseball team from NCAA postseason play. She said
she could not recall a prior instance of a school dropping out at mid-season.
"Normally, institutions terminate their membership at the beginning of the academic year," she said.
The decision announced yesterday will affect 14 men's and women's sports teams at Oral Roberts University.
"This is a financial decision." Roberts said in a prepared statement. "We have to resolve the death struggle to maintain the university with financial integrity.
Roberts called the decision "heart-wrenching" but said it was necessary for the survival of the species which has an enrollment of about 4,000.
"In line with other necessary cutbacks in other departments to safeguard the academic quality and spiritual commitment of ORU, the board of regents and I, the president, feel we cannot justify the expenditure for athletics at the Division I level."
Contributions to the ministry have declined from $5 million a month to $2.7 million a month in the past two years, Roberts said.
Oral Roberts University was a member of the NAIA from its founding in 1965 to 1971, when it joined the NCAA as an independent. In basketball, he played at the National Invitation Tournament in 1972 and 1973 and reached the final eight of the NCAA tournament in 1974.
Officials released no information about the savings expected to be realized from switching from NCAA to NAIA competition, but said lower travel costs and the possibility of dropping some sports required for NCAA competition could save money.
Schools must offer at least six men's and six women's intercollegiate sports programs for NCAA membership.
Tennis player makes history in Kansas
by Laurie Whitten
Kansan sportswriter
At the Big Eleventh Conference tennis tournament last week, Oklahoma State appeared to be unstoppable, all nine of their first round matches.
She is the first freshman in Kansas history to achieve a No. 1 singles championship with an undefeated conference record.
Hamers, a freshman from Meerens, Netherlands, beat price 2.4, 6-1, 6-4 on the way to winning the Big Eight No. 1 singles championship. In Iowa, Hamers defeated Karen Myers, a Colorado senior, 7.6, 4-1 to clinch the title.
But when Kansas No. 1 player Eveline Hamers met Oklahoma State's Tessa Prentice in the semi-finals, she defended a undefended streak came to a halt.
Although she had defacted 17th-ranked Price in two sets earlier this year, Hamers said Price played better against her in the tournament.
"She had a strong serving game against me. In the beginning, I didn't know how to play her." Humers said. "I knew that he was playing the tournament was in this match."
After being down 4-1 in the third set, Hamers won five games in a row for the victory.
the greatest for me, but I played really well against Tessa," she said. "It was hard coming back in the third when I was down by so much.
"I guess I expected it of myself to finish first in the Big Eight, but you can't think about it during a semi-final game to put to the away and just play."
Kansas women's coach Eric Hayes said Hamers showed maturity during the matches against Price and Myers.
"The whole tournament was not
"Against Tessa, she was down in the third set and on the brink of losing the match. Against Karen, she had to go into a tie breaker in the first set," he said. "We are both situations that are tough for a freshman to handle.
"Eveline showed a lot of compose during the tournament. She was expected to win coming in to it, and she did her job."
Hayes said Hamers likely would be chosen to participate in the NCAA tournament May 10-18. The top four players from each region are invited to play in the tournament. Hammer-Hammer will be her region with Mary Beth Young of Brigham Young.
Mary Been Young
The Jayhaws finished a close third in the Big Eight behind Oklahoma State and Oklahoma. Hayes said he was pleased that Kansas placed two freshmen and a sopho-
Kansas freshman Renee Ray-chaudiur defeated Oklahoma's No. 5 player Jennifer Kuester 6, 4-6, 1-6 to get to the finals, then placed second when she lost to Oklahoma State's Sally Godman 6, 0-2. Sophomore Mindy Pelz won the No. 6 semifinal match against Oklahoma State in game 1, 7, 5, then placed second when she lost to Oklahoma State's Danielle Jones 6, 2-4.
Hayes said he couldn't understand why players had to compete separately instead of as a team against other college programs during the tournament.
"I'm really frustrated with the format of the Big Eight tournament," he said. "We're supposed to be playing for a team championship, but then they split us up and disrupt the match flow we've grown accustomed to during the season. I don't understand it. It's got to change."
Four members of the Kansas men's team placed in singles as the Jayhawks finished third behind 30thrank Oklahoma State and Nebraska in the Big Eight tournament on Thursday and Friday.
Sophomore Jeff Goss became the No. 2 singles champion Friday when he defeated Oklahoma State's Uli Niklasson 6-3, 6-2. Gross, a walk-on from Overland Park, won the No. $^a$
singles championship last year.
Finishing second for Kansas in No 4 singles was freshman Carlos Fleming, who had played No. 6 singles much of this year. Fleming lost to Nebraska's Ken Feuer 7-5, 1-6, 6-3 in the final round.
Junior Craig Wildey placed third for the Jayhawks when he defeated Iowa State's Glemm Wilson 7-6, 4-1 in the convalisation round of the finals. Wildey was the No. 3 singles champion last year.
Also finishing third was freshman Paul Gavin, who defeated Colorado's No. 6 player Kevin Johnson 6-1, 6-4.
Kansas men's coach Scott Perelman said he was proud of how the Jayhawks played at the tournament.
"I thought, and other coaches responded the same way, that we played our best tennis at the end of the season." Perelman said the year 9-10 overall. "We had too many mental breakdowns at the beginning."
Pererlman said he was especially proud of Gross' performance.
"Jeff had a tremendous tournament. It is a tribute to him as a player that he was able to improve so much. He won the national championship better day by day, week by week, month by month. And he's just starting to realize how good he can be."
Boston Celtics eliminated from postseason play
The Associated Press
BOSTON — The Detroit Pistons outscored Boston 27-1 in the last 9-17, and behind Vince Johnson's 25 points, completed a 3-0 sweep with a 100-85 victory last month that ended his shortest playoff season in 33 years.
Detroit kept Boston under 100 points for the third straight game and limited the 30 points after they led 55-61 at halftime. They had just 12 in the fourth quarter after leading 73-71 entering the period.
After Kevin McHale's short shot gave the Celtics a 77-73 lead with 9:42 left, they went scoreless for 4:18 until
playout series.
It was only the second time in 36 playoff seasons that the Celtics, who
83-80.
With Detroit leading 88-83 with 3:27 to go, Johnson's basket started a 12-2 surge that ended the game.
Reggie Lewis, who led Baton with 20 points, ended a 10-Detroit run with a three-point play that made the score 83-80.
have an NBA high 16 titles, failed to win a postseason game. And it's the first time Boston has lost five consecutive playoff games, dating back to last year's Eastern Conference finals against the Pistons.
The last time the Celtics failed to survive the first round was in 1956 when they lost 2-1 to Syracuse. They were swept for the first time since a 4-4 loss to Milwaukee in the Eastern Conference semifinals in 1983 and the fourth time in the franchise's 82 playoff series.
Detroit, which had the NBA's best overall and road records this season, swept its opening series for the third time in five years.
Joe Dumars added 24 points for Detroit, McHale had 17 and Brian Shaw 15 for Boston. Larry Bird, who played just the first half of heel surgery, didn't appear after pregame speculation that he might play.
Dennis Rodman's layup began the 10-9 run with 9-17 to go. Johnson's basket tied the game and Salley's layup put Detroit ahead. Eddings and Isaiah Thomas, who had three points on 1-4 for 9-shooting, ended the spurt.
The Sticons took a 45-11 lead on Johnson's jumper with 5:32 left in the second period. But an eight-point run put the Celtics ahead 49-45. They led 54-9 before Mark Aguirre stole the ball from Lewis in the backcourt and drove in for a dunk as the halftime buzzer sounded with the score 55-61.
Neither team led by more than four points in the third quarter.