WIRE
Tennis star Andre Agassi is ranked No. 1. Page 2B
WIRE
Ozzie Smith's return to the Cards; Page 3B
SPORTS ERSITY DAILY KAN
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY, APRIL 11, 1995
Ahhh... back in the day
Two years ago, Kansas dominated the college sports world.
The men's basketball team went to the Final Four in New Orleans, the women's basketball team played in the NCAA tournament, the football team won the Aloha Bowl and the baseball team went to the College World Series.
What has happened since then? We've watched the basketball teams continue their success while both the football and baseball teams have
slid away from excellence, par-
national baseball.
Why? The Jayhawks have no pitching — none, zero, zilch, nada.
The staple of any baseball team is its pitching, and, in particular, its relief pitches.
Kansas at 13-23 overall and 4-9 in the Big Eight Conference has
Valerie Crow / KANSAN
SPORTS EDITOR
heiner good starting pitching nor middle relievers.
Junior Jamie Splittorrf is supposedly the ace of the staff and he is only 3-5 this season. You can't win baseball games when starters can't last past the fifth inning and middle relievers can't keep an opponent in check.
SECTION B
Last week, Kansas lost two out of three games to Nebraska in Lincoln, Neb. That's not terrible, considering the Cornhuskers are a decent Big Eight Conference team. The problem is that the Jayhawks lost both games in the last inning. Not only that, but Nebraska didn't deserve to win either game.
Last Tuesday, Kansas senior pitcher Dan Rude walked four batters in the bottom of the ninth inning, including walking in the winning run.
Saturday, Rude was forced to start for the first time in his career. Up until then, Rude had played shortstop and been reliable in the bullpen. It's clear that the Jayhawks are just searching for someone to throw the ball across the plate.
Kansas senior Josh Igou said that this was the most talented team he had played on since he has been at Kansas. That's saying a lot because Igou played on the World Series team in 1993. There is a lot of punch in the batting order, but the staples for a team are not there yet this season. An old philosophy exists in baseball: big hitting is fun to watch, but pitching and defense win games. Winning games 18-1 looks great in the boxscore, as the Jayhawks did this weekend against Iowa State. But things can change and in a hurry when a team doesn't have pitching.
Kansas is not going to out muscle a quality team like Oklahoma State with hitting alone as the games with Cowboys proved two weeks ago. Then-No. 3 Oklahoma State took advantage of bad pitching and Jayhawk errors to dominate Kansas in all three games. One thing Kansas can do to help its pitchers is play better defense. Kansas has committed 77 errors in 36 games. Not good.
But wait. Take heart young Jayhawk fanatics. There could be a rainbow on the other side of this error-infested, poor pitching canyon Kansas has dug itself into. These things can be changed for the better, especially as the freshmen get more playing time and the team plays more games at home.
And guess what? Everyone else in the Big Eight has been as inconsistent as Kansas, if not more so. Oklahoma State crushed Nebraska 37-18 Saturday, then turned around and lost 11-7 to the Cornhuskers yesterday. Crazy.
Igou said that all aspects of the team just haven't come together yet. As cliche as this sounds, it is true. The Jayhawks show signs of a great team at every position.
Let's just hope that the season doesn't end before Kansas puts the pieces together.
Kansas shortstop Joe DeMarco slides into second base in the game against Iowa State on Sunday. Kansas won the game 8-3. The Jayhawks will play Oklahoma State tomorrow in Stillwater, Okla.
Big Eight Conference Baseball Standings
Upcoming Games:
Today:
at Oklahoma State, 7 p.m.
Wednesday:
at Oklahoma State, 2 p.m.
Friday:
Kansas State, 7 p.m. (Home)
| | Win | Loss | Pct. | Win | Loss | Pct. |
| :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- | :--- |
| Oklahoma St | 11 | 3 | 786 | 31 | 5 | 861 |
| Oklahoma | 12 | 5 | 706 | 23 | 10 | 697 |
| Nebraska | 8 | 7 | 533 | 19 | 13 | 594 |
| Iowa St | 5 | 6 | 455 | 13 | 11 | 542 |
| Kansas St | 4 | 9 | 308 | 17 | 14 | 548 |
| Kansas | 4 | 9 | 308 | 13 | 23 | 361 |
| Missouri | 3 | 8 | 273 | 12 | 21 | 364 |
Brian James / KANSAN
'Hot' 'Hawks put win streak to test tonight
By Tom Erickson
Kansan sportswriter
The term "hot streak" has not been in the vocabulary of the Kansas baseball team this season.
Until now.
Kansas has won three of its last four games, including two out of three against Big Eight Conference foe Iowa State during the weekend.
Standing in the way of the Jayhawks' third consecutive victory is No. 4 Oklahoma State. The Cowboys roped together 36 runs to Kansas' 15 in a three-game sweep of the Jayhawks earlier this season.
But Kansas sends a more confident team to Stillwater, Okla., for the two-game series with the Cowboys starting at 7 tonight. The two teams will meet again at 2 p.m. tomorrow.
Kansas coach Dave Bingham said he realized that to play in the post-season, the team would need to put more consecutive wins together.
"At some point we've got to do that," he said. "If we continue to do what we have been doing, the best we can get is an outside chance of playing in the postseason. But if we can run off a string of games, it will make things easier."
Although the Jayhawks' current two-game win streak is not their longest of the season, the team appears confident about its performance since a 9-8 comeback victory against Washburn on Thursday.
"I think we can do it," sophomore pitcher Tim Lyons said of the teams' ability to turn things around. "We just need to get hot. The pitchers are working hard to go in and be aggressive."
Lyons, whose pickoff move in the top of the ninth with one out helped put Washburn away, is ready to put his worries aside and go after Oklahoma State.
"Coach gave me a chance to close against Washburn and it helped," he said. "I had to be put in the pressure situation. It really gives me the confidence to go out there the next time."
An offensive awakening of sorts against Iowa State is another key to finding success in Stillwater, Bingham said. Kansas rattled off 30 hits and scored 30 runs in the series.
"That is a big factor," Bingham said. "We hit the ball harder, had a good series swinging the bat and the confidence level is increasing."
Kansas junior pitcher Clay Baird (3-4, 6.28 ERA) is expected to start tonight's game. There was a possibility that the left-hander might have been, skipped in the rotation because of problems the Jayhawks' southpaws had with Oklahoma State in prior meetings this year, Bingham said.
Sophomore Robert Garola (2-4, 5.58 ERA) will take the mound for Kansas tomorrow.
Baird said he was proud of the work of his teammates against Iowa State, despite the fact that Kansas committed six errors on Sunday.
"We played well on Saturday and didn't play as well on Sunday, but still won," Baird said. "It will be a big thing for us. I'm hoping to go down to Oklahoma State and win at least one."
"I've been working hard these last couple of days to repair my motion," he said. "I feel better. I believe going down to Oklahoma State will be a big confidence builder."
Baseball America Top 25 The top 25 college baseball teams as determined by Baseball America magazine with records through April 9.
Source: Kansas Sports Information
rank team rec pts. pr
1. CS-Fullerton 32- 6 1
2. Clemson 32- 4 3
3. FSU 31- 8 4
4. OSU 31- 5 2
5. LSU 28- 4 6
6. Auburn 29- 4 7
7. Miami 29- 7 5
8. Texas Tech 31- 7 11
9. Texas 36- 10 15
10. Sthrn Cal 26- 15 16
11. WSU 23- 9 8
12. Oklahoma 23- 10 10
13. Cent. Fla. 34- 8 17
14. Rice 27- 12 12
15. Tennessee 24- 9 13
16. Stanford 21- 14 14
17. Ariz. State 27- 13 9
18. Fresno St. 27- 12 18
19. Nevada 25- 9 20
20. Alabama 24- 10 23
21. Florida Intl. 36- 7 25
22. Arkansas 25- 10 21
23. Mississippi 25- 8 —
24. Santa Clara 24- 11 —
25. Jcksonville 28- 10 —
Baseball America magazine KANSAN
Men's Volleyball
Kansas will compete for the national championship this weekend in Minneapolis, making its first appearance in the tournament in at least 10 years.
Kansas is one of 101 teams that will compete in three divisions at the tournament.
Kansas 'set' for volleyball nationals
The top three teams in each pool advance to a single-elimination tournament. The winner will be determined on Saturday.
The Jayhawks are in division one, and will be placed in one of 1.2 pools with four teams in each pool.
By Tom Erickson
Kansan sportswriter
For the first time in nearly 10 years, the Kansas men's volleyball club team will play for a national championship.
The Jahaywa beat Wichita State 18-16, 15-10 but lost to Kansas State 10-15, 15-13 and 16-14 on Sunday at Robinson Center.
Now the focus is on Minneapolis and the national tournament.
The team plans to depart tomorrow for the tournament, which runs
VOLLEYBALL
from Thursday to Saturday at the University of Minnesota.
"We did very good," said Nezar Abdelfattah, Lawrence senior and co-team captain. "We had awesome performance, and I thought everybody played well."
Kansas is one of 101 teams at the tournament. The teams are divided into three divisions.
The Jayhawks will be one of 48 schools in division one.
The 48 division-one teams are further divided into 12 pools with four teams each.
Pool play will be on Thursday, with the top three teams in each pool advancing to a single-elimination tournament on Friday.
However, Ward said the team hasn't thought much about how far it
The final 16 teams will be played on Saturday.
“...It is the first
time in at least the
last decade..."
Jason Ward men's volleyball co-team captain
"We're excited for a chance to go," he said.
"I really don't know when the last time our team was there, but it is the first time in at least the last decade."
Walkout could be Royal pain
The Associated Press
HAINES CITY, Fla. — Fans who would boycott opening day in Kansas City should contemplate a town without baseball, says relief face Jeff Montgomery.
"I'd say if you want to do it, then do it, knowing that there's a risk you're running that baseball may leave you," said the Royals' player representative. "If that's a risk you are willing to take, fine. If not, give us your support and try to keep the team successful."
Said third baseman Gary Gaetti, "I don't think it would affect the players at all."
Led by Kansas City Star columnist Jason Whitlock, with the support of popular radio personality Mike Murphy, Royals' fans are being urged to boycott the April 26th season opener against Baltimore.
Kansas Citians figure they have more reasons than most to be unhappy. After enduring the 232-day strike, they saw their cash-strapped club dump their best pitcher, David Cone and outfielder Brian McRae, for minor leaguers in a pure payroll purge that's sure to weaken the team in the short-term.
At the same time, the Royals are one of those small-market teams whose future could be in doubt. They haven't found an owner since team founder Ewing Kauffman died in 1983, and without revenue-sharing, which the
BRIEF
long, bitter strike failed to produce, many believe Kansas City could one day lose its franchise.
"I can understand the fans' frustration," said pitcher Mark Gubicza, the only remaining member of the 1985 World Series champions. "But it's not a smart thing to do when you've got a club in transition looking for an owner."
Fans protesting the trading away of McRae and Cone will enjoy the players' support.
"I'm not sure the direction we're going is right. But I'm just a player," Montgomery said. "If management elects to go with second-rate entertainment, they're probably going to have a second-rate business."
After being rained out earlier in the season, the Jayhawks and Shockers tried to play in Wichita yesterday but once again the weather canceled the scheduled meeting.
Playing Wichita State on the Shockers' home turf was not meant to be for the Kansas women's softball team.
Weather 1, Kansas softball O
Kansas hopes the weather is not a factor today. The Jayhawks will play Pittburg State at 3 p.m. and 5 Kansas staff report
p. m. at Jayhawk Field. They have a record of 14-15 entering the doubleheader.
Kansas split a four-game series with No.14 Nebraska during the weekend. It got strong hitting from sophomore second baseman Heather Richins, who was 7-for-15 in the series.
Junior pitcher Beth Robinson and sophomore pitcher Tiffany Blood each earned a win for the Jayhawks.