THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY, APRIL 15, 2008
SPORTS
5B
Preparing to play
The blue and white teams face off against each other in the Kansas spring football game at Memorial Stadium Monday night. An estimated 10,000 people showed up to watch the game.
Jon Goerina/KANSAN
MLB
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kansas City Royals' Mark Teahen catches the ball in the eighth inning of a baseball game against the Seattle Mariners in Seattle on Monday.
Greinke tosses complete game in Royals' 5-1 win over Mariners
BY TIM BOOTH ASSOCIATED PRESS
SEATTLE Zack Greinke pitched a five-hitter for his third career complete game, and the Kansas City Royals opened a sevengame road trip with a 5-1 win over the Seattle Mariners on Monday night.
Billy Butler and Miguel Olivo each hit their first homer of the season for Kansas City.
Greinke (3-0) joined teammate Brian Bannister with his third win, though his ERA climbed from 0.60 to 0.75. The right-hander was efficient, striking out four and inducing three double plays while facing only three batters more than the minimum.
Greinke threw 107 pitches and walked one, working at least eight innings for the second consecutive start. He shut down the New York Yankees in his previous outing.
Just one Seattle baserunner advanced past first base against Greinke, who retired 18 of his final 20 batters. He got some defensive help, as Mark Teahen made a leaping catch against the left-field wall
Greinke got all the runs he needed in the second inning, thanks to a pair of longballs from an offense that entered the night with just five homers, the fewest in the AL.
on Yuniesky Betancourt's drive to end the eighth.
It was the sixth complete game in the American League this year and second by a Kansas City pitcher.
Butler homered into the Kansas City bullpen leading off the second to extend his career-best hitting streak to 13 games. Former Mariner Jose Guillen followed with a double to deep right-center and two batters later Olivo, another former Seattle player, homered to left-center on a 2-2 pitch.
The Royals added another run in the seventh as Seattle's bullpen continued to struggle. Sean Green took over for starter Jarrod Washburn starting the seventh and allowed two singles and a walk to load the bases. Ryan Rowland-Smith took over and gave up a sacrifice fly to David DeJesus, but escaped the inning without further damage.
It was Olivio's first homer since Sept. 12 with Florida.
Kansas City scored again in the eighth off Roy Corcoran. Second baseman Jose Lopez dropped the transfer of a potential inning-ending double play, and Olivo and John Buck had consecutive singles to plate another run.
Washburn's only problems came in the second, when the Royals forced the left-hander to throw 30 pitches. Washburn (1-2) allowed three runs and six hits, striking out six.
Seattle's only run came in the third when Ichiro Suzuki barely beat out a double-play attempt, allowing Brad Wilkerson to score from third.
notebook
Spring game
Junior college transfer Jocque Crawford, a running back who will arrive on campus in June and join the team for preseason workouts, made an appearance at the Spring scrimmage. Crawford, a 6-foot-1, 230 pound junior from Cisco Junior College, said he was enjoying his time in Lawrence – except for the cold weather. He said he thought he could compete for the starting running back job in 2008.
Kerry Meier continued to serve as a jack-of-all-trades, punting four times, rushing four times, grabbing four receptions and attempting 18 passes. In all, Meier tallied 69 passing yards, gained 45 yards on rushes and receptions and led the Jayhawks by averaging 41 yards per punt.
"I think we have a nice squad," Crawford said. "Everybody is capable of making plays, and in the running game they do a good job."
Todd Reesing may have donned a red jersey to ensure no defenders tackled him, but he didn't stay away from contact. The junior quarterback made two solo tackles, each coming after he threw an interception. Reesing chased down senior safety Patrick Resby for his first tackle and sophomore linebacker Drew Dudley late in the second quarter.
"After two of em, we told (Reesing), 'Number one, don't throw any more interceptions, and let them run for a touchdown if you're the only guy who can tackle them. It's not that important," Kansas coach Mark Mangino said.
Kansas made some late additions to its roster in the days leading up to the Spring game. Several offensive linemen were not included on the roster, including number 76 and number 55, who both played on the white team along with the second and third squads.
A few notable Jayhawks missed Monday's scrimmage because of injuries. Senior defensive end John Larson sat out with an illness, but Mangino said Larson would recover soon. Junior safety Justin Thornton, senior center Ryan Cantrell and senior linebacker Joe Mortenius nissed the game because of leg injuries. The three projected starters are slated to return before the start of the season. In their places, sophomore linebacker Justin Springer, sophomore safety Phillip Strozier, sophomore center Sal Capra, and junior defensive end Maxwell Onyegbule received increased playing time
Around 7,500 fans turned out for the Spring game, an impressive total considering many Jayhawk fans have spent much of the last week celebrating the Kansas basketball team's national title.
"If I had to guess, I'd say it's probably the best crowd we've had at the Spring game since I've been here," Mangino said.
—Asher Fusco
Blue Team 17, White Team 3
Player Catches Yards TD Long
Dezmon Briscoe 8 92 0 29
Dexton Fields 5 46 1 18
Kerry Meier 4 40 0 22
Jonathon Wilson 2 11 0 6
Ralmond Pendleton 1 6 0 6
KUSHING Player Carries Yards TD Avg. Jake Sharp 10 40 0 4.0 Angus Quigley 6 28 0 4.7 Todd Reesing 12 38 0 1.1
WHITE TEAM
Player Completions-Attempts-Interceptions Yards TD Long
Todd Reesing 23-42-2 227 1 29 1 29
MISSING Player Compleltions-Attempts-Interceptions Yards TD Long Kerry Meier 13-18-0 69 0 18 A.J. Steward 3-6-0 6 0 4 Kale Pick 1-2-0 8 0 8
BLUE TEAM
Player Carries Yards TD Avg.
Angus Quigley 7 31 0 4.3
Kerry Meier 4 4 0 1.0
Kale Pick 1 3 0 -3.0
Donte Bean 3 -4 0 -1.3
Camron Boyd-Anderson 3 -7 0 -2.3
A.J. Steward 3 -11 0 -3.7
RECEIVING Player Catches Yards TD Long Gary Green 5 34 0 18 Raymond Brown 3 17 0 8 Rod Harris Jr. 3 14 0 6 Angus Quigley 2 9 0 5 Carmon Boyd-Anderson 2 3 0 4 Nick Plato 1 2 0 2
Sweet Reesing
9th & Iowa *Not Valid with any other offer. Minimum delivery 6/1/08
Sun-Thurs 1am-1a 1 - Fri-Sat 1am-3am
Jon Goering/KANSAN
Junior quarterback Todd Reesing scrambles out of the pocket during the first half of the Kansas spring football game. Reesing completed 23 of his 43 pass attempts for 227 yards but also threw two interceptions.