University Daily Kansan / Friday, April 7, 1989
Sports
13
Jayhawk baseball takes on K-State in series
bv Mike Considine
Kansan sportswriter
Kansas baseball coach Dive Bingham and Kansas State coach Mike Clark have taken different approaches to returning their programs to respectability, but both approaches appear to be working.
Kansas, 15-16 overall and 2-2 in the Big Eight Conference, will try to improve its record to 500 tonight at State. The Wildcats are 18-4 and 1-3.
The 7 p. game is the first of a four-game series. The teams play a 5 p. doubleheader tomorrow and a 12:30 p. game Sunday.
Both teams have played six games against teams ranked in the ESPN/Collegiate Baseball Magazine's top 25 poll this year. K-State has a 3-3 record against ranked teams, while the Jayhawks have 0-6 record.
However, Bingham said Kansas had played a tougher schedule so far.
The Jayhawks have played 16 games against NCAA Division I opponents, while KState has played 10.
The Wildcats schedule gradually increases in difficulty throughout the year, with most of their games scheduled for late April and early May.
The Jayhawks were 25-44 overall last year and placed last in the Big Eight with a 5-19 record. Kansas
"He has a very young team this year," Bingham said of Clark. "We have a veteran team, so we are able to play a higher level of competition early. With young guys, you have to get your skills right. He is played a little more carefully."
Bingham has a 40-50 record in his second year at Kansas and is 398-202 in 16 years as a head coach. He is second to Wichita State coach Gene Stephenson in career victories with 16 or fewer years of experience.
Coaches want to gain respect; Kansas trying for .500 record
currently is tied for third place in the conference after splitting last weekend's four-game series with Nebraska.
"I'd like our kids to learn to play at a certain level of baseball at all the time," he said. "I would like to build the program up to the point where every team we play is a Division I team, away from the non-Division I teams, it's just a different level of competition."
Bingham said he chose to strengthen the Kansas program by playing NCAA Division I opponents.
"When we ask (the players) to get better, we would like them to know what better is," Bingham said. "When you play good teams, you can't get away with playing sloppy and making mistakes."
Clark has an 80-54 record in three years at K State and a 73-190 career mark. The Wildcats are tied for last place in the league, finishing fifth the past two seasons.
K-State won only one of four games against 22nd-ranked Oklahoma last weekend to open the Big Eight season.
The Wildcats leading hitters are left field Russ Ringenberg, who has a 448 batting average, and has a .620 batting average, who has a 400 batting average.
Junior pitcher David Hierholzer, 4-0, was credited with the Wildcats only victory against Oklahoma. Hierholzer and the Sooners to one run and six hits.
"The thing that concerns me most is that they're playing well," Bingham said. "Obviously they are a young team and competently different than last year. I really don't know how or how they will react to the situation."
Last year, KState swept a fourgame series from Kansas in Lawrence.
"Mike Clark does a great job of getting his teams ready to play." Bingham said. "They were very ready when they came here a year ago. I anticipate that they will be ready when we go there."
Bingham said that it was important for the Jayhawks to win at least two games against the Wildcats but he did not mention considering it a crucial Big Eight series.
"Obviously, we want to win all four, but I don't know if that's realistic," he said. "It is hard to tell. KState could be one of the better teams (in the league). Even if we lose three games, we might pick them up someplace else."
Kansas players senior right fielder Jeff Mentel and junior pitcher Brad Hinkle are ranked first in the Big Ten and one weekend of conference play.
Mentel leads the conference with a 643 batting average. He also ranks first with five home runs and eight RBI.
"Things have really started to come together," said Mentel, the Big Eight Player of the Week. "I have all wanted to do well in the Big Eight."
Hinkle and Iowa State's Matt Petersen are tied for the league lead in pitching with 0.90 ERA Hinkle against Nebraska on Saturday.
Competition heightened in Big Eight Tennis teams want to beat Jayhawks
by Laurie Whitten Kansan sportswriter
Kansas men's tennis team Craig Wildey said that every team in the Big Eight Conference wanted to beat the conference season and that the conference season had begun.
Kansas, the conference champion in 1987 and 1988, will open its Big Eight season this weekend against Oklahoma State and Oklahoma Play will begin at 2 p.m. tomorrow and at the Allen Field House courts.
every team wants to beat us bad," Wildey said. "That makes it an even greater challenge for us to win the Big Eight championship again. It's always easier to obtain success than it is to maintain it."
Wildey, who defeated Ken Feuer of Nebraska last year to claim the Big Eight No. 3 singles championship, won a record-breaking favorite in the conference this year.
Coach Scott Perelman said that Oklahoma State, which finished fourth in the conference last year, had recovered from last year's injury problems and had a stronger team this year.
"Besides us, they're the team to beat," he said of the 30-tranked Cowbucks. "On paper, they look really solid. They've always had a lot of injuries. I've seen them with several injuries that kept them from coming through like they wanted to."
"According to their coach, this is the best team from Oklahoma State in the past 10 years." Perelman said. "He thinks they're stronger, talent wise, than they were when they played us last year."
The Cowboys are led by 304-ranked Jeuneman, who Perelman said was a solid player from the team. He was named to Kansas No. 1 player John Falbon.
"Falbo hasn't played him this year, but I'm sure they're familiar with each other." Perelman said.
Falbo, who is ranked 19th nationally, won the No. 1 conference singles championship last year. He was the only freshman ever to win a conference championship in either singles or doubles.
Perelman said that although Oklahoma State had improved since last year, Oklahoma probably had not. The Sooners, who finished second in the conference in 1988, lost several of their top six players, who graduated or transferred to other schools, he said.
"They're not as strong as they were last year when we played them," Perelman said. "Our No 1 team, the Boston Cubs, beat No 6, position for their last year."
"In both of these matches, I just hope we can come out and concentrate and play with enthusiasm. We're the defending champions. We're going to try to take all the bad things that have happened to us in the last few months and put them behind us."
"They've consistently been tough," Hayes said of the fifth-ranked Cowboys. "This is the match we all had." And, I believe we can beat them."
The Kansas women's team, who finished third in the conference as year, will enter the weekend's matches against Oklahoma State and Oklahoma with a 8-2 record. Play will begin on Friday at Sunrise and Sunday at the fold house courts.
Oklahoma will be another top Big Eight contender, Hayes said.
Coach Eric Hayes said the Oklahoma State match probably would be the most difficult conference match for Kansas this year.
Kansas' record is 4-16.
Kansas pole vaulter Pat Manson relaxes during practice
Vaulter has two forms of competition
He sets goals against self, competition
by Cynthia L. Smith
Kansas junior Pat Manson said he hoped pole vaulting at Kansas would help him make the Olympic team.
That was when he was an incoming freshman who had gone undefeated as a high school senior in Aurora, Colorado, winning the Colorado state championship with a vault of 17 feet. 3 inches.
Manson competed at the Olympic Trials in Indianapolis last summer, finishing 17th with a vault of 17-4. The top three finishes advanced to the Seoul Olympics.
"Making the Olympics was above conference championships and everything else," he said. "Maybe you would call it high school ignorance, but it wasn't ignorance. It was confidence."
"I was disappointed after that but had to keep remembering that I was the youngest guy out there," he said.
"I got over it, refocused my goals and got ready to jump high. I gave it a good shot this indoor season."
During the indoor season, Manson finished second at the NCAA Indoor Track and Field Championships in Indianapolis with a vault of 18.2, and he won the Big Eight meet with a vault of 18.3. Neb., with an NCAA record of 18.8.
This indoor season Manson and Kansas省 Camiller Mull qualified to compete in the pole vault and Kansas senior Craig Watkace qualified to run the 5,000 meters for the NCAA Track and Field Outdoor Championships from May 31 to June 1 in Provo, Utah.
"Making 18-8 at big Eight was a highlight because it earmarked a successful season in general," he said. "It made it not seem like a fluke."
This weekend, Manson, Miller and senior triple jumper David Bond will compete in the Texas Relays in Austin, Texas.
The rest of the Jayhawks will compete at the Emotion Relays in Cape Girardeau, Mo.
The Jayhawk coaches decided who would compete in the prestigious Texas Relays, but Kansas assistant coach Rick Attig said Manson participated in many of the questions that affected his training.
"Sometimes athletes can be totally coachable, 100 percent coachable to the point they don't question anything." Attig said. "But sometimes kids like that don't understand because they don't question. Pat's the kind of kid who wants to understand."
"That's not the kind of athlete I was and that's not the kind of athlete I want to work with," said Kerry of the 1983 Olympic pole vault coach.
Attig said some athletes would doubt a coach's advice but still follow it
Manson also is the kind of athlete who is not always entirely happy with a victory.
"I compete first against other people and then my expectations. I feel better when I perform up to
my expectations," he said. "I can win and still leave the meet angry because I set a goal for myself and didn't achieve it."
Another thing Manson said he did not like was carrying his vaulting poles but said it could be both fun and a hassle in airports.
He said the Kansas vaulters had told other travelers they were competing in the national jousting championships. The vaulters would be trucked to the event.
Manson is more serious about competition.
I want to see how far I can go the pole vault. That's not to sound like a dumb jock because I'm not. I could make a pretty luxurious living in engineering in 10 years," said Manson, an engineering major who has made the engineering honor roll the past two years.
"What I want to do is pole vault and see what I can make of my athletic career. When I'm 30, it'll be too late to find out what I can make of my athletic career, but I can still start my business career."
"Everyone always talks about their dreams. I'm going after them."
KC may make Barry Sanders fourth choice
The Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Chiefs mo. to give serious thought to Heisman Trophy winner Barry Sanders in the NLAF draft even though a running back is not a starter. Major Manager Carl Peterson said
"He's the type of guy who can make a difference, which is the type of guy everyone is looking for," said Peterson, who will have the fourth pick in the draft. "He could affect a lot of people's thinking. It's not a point of him fitting in. You'll fit him in."
The Chiefs primary needs are at linebacker and quarterback. They are set at running back after spending their first and second round picks in 1987 to get halfback Paul Palmer and fullback Christian Okove.
"There's not a whole lot of margin for error in an offense when your quarterback takes the ball and hands it off four inches away to a guy who runs the way Sanders does." Coach Marty Schotthemer said. "He's a guy we'd absolutely have to consider."
Sanders announced this week that he would pass up his final year of eligibility at Oklahoma State and enter the draft.
The Chiefs worked out Nebraska linebacker Broderick Thomas on Tuesday and then watched film of the Nebraska-Oklahoma State game.
"With 11 minutes to go in the first half, it was 40-2 Nebraska." Peterson said. "At halftime it was 49-21. At the end of the game it was 67-45. and the reason for the 45 was Barry Sanders. He was impressive."
Kansas City probably would not take quarterbacks Steve Walsh of Miami or Timm Rosenbach of Washington State if they entered the draft because neither was "a top five guy." Peterson said. Their presence in the draft, however, could change thinking of teams above Kansas City.
"I'm never disappointed when there are more good players in the draft," Peterson said. "I believe strongly that the fourth pick in the 1989 college draft is going to be an MVP." He added one that can help this football team
"With what's transpring here with Sanders and Walsh and Rosenbach, you have to keep your options open," Peterson said. "We'd consider trading down if it could be assured we can get the player we want and gain something else that could help this football team."
Trevino looks for elusive Masters victory
The Associated Press
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Lee Trevino, stalking the green jacket that has eluded him for two decades, coaxed a 5-under-67 from gusty winds and took a one-shot lead yesterday in the opening round of the 53rd Masters Tournament.
"Not had for an old cripple," the 49-year-old Trevain said as he skewered away from the green glass at the Augusta National Golf Club, where he once vowed he never would play again.
As late as last year, he said "I hope to God they don't send me an invitation. I don't want it."
Three times during the 1970s, he declined an invitation to this elite's event
He still refuses to use the locker room; he changes his shoes in the parking lot.
"I'm consistent, nothing has changed," Trevino responded when asked if the best round he ever shot at the Masters had altered attitude about the course or the tournament.
The boggy free effort, which left him one stroke in front of former British Open champion Nick Faldo of England, came as a complete surprise, Trevino said.
"I certainly didn't expect to play this well," said Trevino, who hasn't played a full schedule in seven seasons and became the oldest man ever to lead the Masters.
But it was no surprise to his peers.
"The only surprise is that he hasn't done it before." Tom Kite said.
"I'm pulling for him," Tom Watson said. "He can play well anywhere. We want to win this game."
"I think it would be fabulous if Lee could play well and on and win it." Jack Nicklaus said.
Trevino agreed.
"It would mean a lot. It would mean filling out the Grand Slam," said Trevino, who won golf's other three major events, the U.S. Open and the US Open Championship, two others' Association Championship, twice each.
Only Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player and Nicklaus have won them all.
But any way of acquiring the green jacket that goes to the Masters winner are definitely better.
"I might shoot 80 the next three days, and it won't bother me a bit," he said.
"If a man had come up to me this morning and offered to bet me that I couldn't break 76, I would have been ready."
"It just proves there's still a spark in the wood. All I have to do is throw the right wedge on."
betting man.
This time, it was the putter that provided the blaze.
Faldo's 68 included a 3 eagle on the 13th, where a 1-iron on his second shot up a 12-foot tuff. He had a chance to be the lead on the final hole but left a 12-foot tuff inches short.
Scott Hoch, one of the last players to finish,
shot a 69. Don Pooley, who birdied two of his last three holes, and Andy Bean were next at 70
"I was making everything." Trevino said. He one-putted the first five holes and the last three, getting up and down from difficult shots on the last two holes to preserve his lead.
Nicklaus, 49. the only six-time winner of this
Kite, who has won two tournaments and leads the game's money-winners this season, and Watson, a five-time British Open champion, were in a large group at even par 72.
A group at 71 included British Open champion Seve Ballesteros of Spain, Jumbo Ozaki of Japan, T.C. Chen of Taiwan, former champion Ben Cremshaw and Ponturitz.
event, rallied for a 73.
U. S. Open title-holder Curtis Strange made a triple bobye after he hit into the water on the 12th hole and joined Australian Greg Norman at 74.
Defending champion Sandy Lyle of Scotland struggled to a 77.
Arnold Palmer, 59, whose four victories in the late 1950's and early 60' helped establish this event as one of golf's Big Four tournaments, struggled to an 81 in his 33 Masters.
Trevino got away to a fast start with birds on three of the first five hales and one puff at ten.
He missed the green to the right on the first hole and had to make a 12 foot putt to save par
On the second hole, he ran a low 2-1ron shot into a greenside bunker and got it up and down for birdie, scoring from about 10 feet. A 20 foot putt found the cup for birdie on the third, and he saved par from a buncker on the fourth, again with a 12 foot putt.
A 4 iron shot to 4 feet on the fifth hole put him 3 under par for the day.
He made a 20-foot downhill birdie putt on the ninth, turned in 32 and then parred the next six holes routinely. A 5-irono three feet set up a birdie on the 16th and him put 5 under par.