THE UNIVERSITY DARRY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 5, 2008
SPORTS
3B
BASEBALL
Kansas turns to southpaw in opener After a 4-5 start, Kansas could improve record to.500
BY SHAWN SHROYER
sshroyer@kansan.com
This isn't your typical home opener.
More times than not, Division I teams schedule directional schools for their home openers to help assure that opening day crowds will witness a victory. However, Kansas (4-5) opens its home slate today against Le Moyne College (2-6), which reached the NCAA tournament last season.
While the Dolphins, of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, aren't a household name when it comes to college baseball, they aren't to be underestimated. Located in Syracuse, N.Y., Le Moyne went 34-19 last season and is coached by the eighth winningest active baseball coach in Division 1: Steve Owens.
With a career. .683 winning percentage, Owens and his Dolphins have gotten off to an uncharacteristically slow start this season. In the midst of a 15-game road trip to start its season, Le Moyne was swept over the weekend by Oral Roberts.
Yesterday, Le Moyne took No. 25 Wichita State the distance before losing, 9-8, at Eck Stadium. Le Moyne led Wichita State most of the game until the Shockers piled on four runs in the last two innings to steal the victory.
In defeat, the Dolphins continued to receive production from their two best hitters. Infielder Matt Nandin and first baseman Corey O'Neill went a combined 3-
for-9 with two runs.
Today Le Moyne will throw left-hander Corey Nelson (0-0), whose only appearances thus far have been out of the bullpen. In five innings, he's struck out four and has yet to allow an earned run.
The jayhaws, on the other hand, shook off their rusty play during the weekend.
Kansas is coming off a 2-1 showing in the Music Class Classic in Nashville, Tenn. The Jayhawk offense blew up for 21 runs Saturday and Sunday after scoring fewer than five runs in six of their previous seven games.
"It's good to start waking the bats up a little bit more," freshman third baseman Tony Thompson said. "I think we're going to come through now."
Leading the charge for Kansas was junior first baseman Preston Land and senior outfielder Casey Larson. Land was 4-for-5 with two home runs in a five-RBI performance on Saturday while Larson went 4-for-7 with two runs and two RBI in Kansas' two wins. Both were named to the all-tournament team.
Junior center fielder and leadoff man Nick Faunce capped the weekend by going 4-for-5 Sunday, scoring three runs.
"I just think we had to see some pitching for us to get going a little bit," Thompson said. "Our pitching has been doing really well and we just needed to support them with some runs. We finally did that the last couple games."
Le Moyne facts
Enrollment: 2,300
Location: Syracuse, N.Y.
Colors: Green and Gold
Conference: Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference
Coach: Steve Owens (504-233-1)
Notes: The Dolphins open 2008 with a 15-game road trip and their home opener is scheduled for March 22 a full month after their first game of the season...Le Moyne has never played Kansas in baseball before.
Kansas coach Ritch Price will again look to sophomore left-hander Wally Marciel (1-1) to bridge the gap to the weekend.
Wednesday, Marceliel allowed only two runs in 5 2/3 innings of work at Arkansas. In two starts, Marcel has a 2.31 ERA and six strikeouts to nine hits and four walks allowed.
Price is counting on another solid performance from Marciel today to give the home fans what they want to see — a home-opening victory.
"Wally Marciel pitched like a Big 12, Friday night starter," Price said after the Arkansas game. "He's improved his fastball command, improved his breaking ball and his changeup. Now he's got three pitches."
Edited by Daniel Reyes
NHL
Blues snap six-game skid 3-2 Heavy snowstorm causes low attendance
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ST. LOUIS — Ryan Johnson scored his fifth goal of the season as the St. Louis Blues snapped a six-game skid with a 3-2 victory over the Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday night.
The Blues had gone 0-5-1 in their previous six games, scoring only four goals in that span. But they handed the Kings their fifth straight loss and seventh in eight games.
St. Louis also got goals from Andy McDonald and Keith Tkachuk. Manny Legace stopped 31 shots for the victory.
The Kings got goals from Alexander Frolov and Dustin Brown. They had a chance to tie the game late with a 6-on-3 manpower advantage after pulling the goalie for a sixth attacker, but couldn't get the equalizer.
Johnson gave the Blues their deci
sive goal when Jamal Mayers sprung him loose along the right wing with a tip-in pass. Johnson got the puck past a sliding Anze Kopitat and beat goaltender Erik Ersberg between the pads with 6:54 to play in the game.
Brown gave Los Angeles a 2-1 lead 4:02 into the second period, snapping a shot from the left circle that squirted past Legace at the near post.
Tkachuk answered with his 21st of the season and 494th of his career when he converted a 2-on-1 break. Tkachuk and David Perron raced in against a Kings defenseman and Tkachuk kept the puck to beat Ersberg with a high wrist shot to tie the game 2-2.
McDonald quickly gave the Blues a 1-0 lead when he banged home Paul Kariya's centering feed just 1:40 into the game, McDonald's 13th goal of the season.
The Kings tied it as Frolov col.
lected a loose puck in the slot and fired it past Legace with 47.4 seconds to play in the opening period for his 20th of the season and fifth goal in three games against St. Louis this season.
Notes: A heavy stormsnow kept many of the announced crowd of 14,973 away from Scottrade Center. There were roughly half as many fans in attendance. The St. Louis metropolitan area got anywhere from 8 to 12 inches of snow throughout the day Tuesday. ... The Blues will hit the road for a nine-game road trip that begins Wednesday in Detroit. The trip will also take them to Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, San Jose, Anaheim, Montreal, Ottawa and Chicago. ... The last Kings victory was 5-1 at home against the Blues on Feb. 21. The Kings have also lost six straight road games. ... Frolov had a hat trick in the teams' last meeting.
JOURNALISM CAREER FAIR
Several of your friends already know what they're doing after graduation. It's just around the corner and you're trying to figure out the next chapter of your life. You're looking for a way to land that perfect job. Maybe you're wanting to find a great internship but don't know where to start. It's March and you're nervous about getting that job or internship.
We have an easy, fun way to accomplish your career goals - attend the 2008 Journalism Career Fair. It's a user-friendly place to network with professionals in journalism-related fields such as public relations, newspaper, broadcast, magazine, advertising and publishing. These professionals are taking time out of their busy schedules to come see you. That's because they always find top candidates and excellent journalism students here at KU. Don't miss out on this opportunity to start planning for your bright future!
Thursday, March 6
10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Kansas Room, Sixth Floor, Kansas Union
All students welcome
Professional attire recommended
>> SWIMMING AND DIVING
Wading past the competition Jayhawks place fourth at Big 12 Championships
BY TAYLOR NYE
tnye@kansan.com
"It was very exciting to look up at the scoreboard and see an NCAA
Herrmann set three school records during meet in Austin, Texas. One in the 200-yard individual medley, and two more with her second-place finishes in the 100-yard and 200-yard butterfly events.
Junior co-captain Danielle Herrmann was the story of the Big 12 Championships for the Jayhawks this past weekend as she earned a trip to the NCAA Championships with her third-place finish in the 200-yard individual medley.
Hermann
automatic qualifying mark," Herrmann said. "I have been shooting for it all year, so to finally get it felt amazing"
This is the second straight
year Herrmann will go to the NCAA Championships.
The Kansas swimming and diving team completed the four-day meet with a fourth place finish.
Texas A&M won the tournament for the second straight year with Texas in second place.
shattered records
T h e Jayhawks were in a battle with archrival Missouri for third place, but ultimately came up short with 505.5 points to Missouri's 519.5 points.
Event Swimmer(s) Time
200-yard IM Danielle Herrmann 2:00.21
100-yard breast Danielle Herrmann 1:02.13
200-yard breast Danielle Herrmann 2:15.30
200-yard medley relay Lauren Bonfe, Danielle Herrmann,
Ashley Leidigh, Maria Mayrovich 1:40.44
400-yard medley relay Terri Schramka, Danielle Herrmann,
Ashley Leidigh, Maria Mayrovich 3:40.19
The Jayhawk swimming team broke five school records last weekend at the Big 12 Championships in Austin, Texas.
"Our conference has gotten faster from top to bottom, which
taste from top is great for the conference," Campbell said. "We have to continually rise to the level of the conference"
T h e Jayhawks started day one with strong performances in the
"They realized they had the potential to score points and they stepped up to the plate."
various relay races. The team of Herrmann, senior Lauren Bonfe, junior Ashley Leidigh and junior Maria Mayrovich set a school record with their second-place finish in the 200-vard medley relay.
Coach Clark
Campbell said ___
the competition
didn't make things easier for the Jayhawks.
"Our conference has gotten faster from top to bottom. We have to continually rise to the level of the conference."
In all, the Jayhawks broke a total of five school records on their way
CLARK CAMPBELL Head coach
ERIC ELLIOTT Diving coach
Freshman Joy Bunting earnededa NCAA provisional time in the 200-yard individual medley, meaning she could be invited to nationals.
with their second-place finish in the 400-yard medley relay.
T he Jayhawks also broke a school record time
to the fourth place finish.
C o a c h Campbell was positive about his team's performance.
"We are very happy to have accomplished one of our team goals to score over 500
points," Campbell said. "We haven't done that in four years."
Kansas divers were strong as sophomore Meghan Proehl, freshman Erin Mertz and senior Jenny Roberts all finished in the top eight of the three-meter board. Proehl and junior Hannah McMacken finished in the top eight in the one-meter board.
"They realized they had the potential to score points and they stepped up to plate," diving coach Eric Elliott said. "They each took turns leading the group. Having all five divers score has helped the team as a whole."
After his team's strong performance, Elliot was named Big 12 Diving Coach of the Meet.
—Edited by Madeline Hyden
A POWERHOUSE OF EXCELLENCE. FOUNDED AS THE NATION'S FIRST JEWISH FRATERNITY.
ZBT has been invited by the University of Kansas to start a new chapter on campus. Come to our upcoming informational session to learn more.
Sunday, March 9, 2008 at 7pm Naismith Hall Movie Theatre
Contact Laurence A. Bolotin at 760-586-3434 If you have any questions.