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SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY. MARCH 4, 2008
》 BASEBALL
Leadoff hitter helps team tie for first at tournament
BY SHAWN SHROYER shrover@kansan.com
shroyer@kansan.com
In the fourth inning of Kansas' game at the Music City Classic on Sunday, Nick Fauce hit a fly ball down the right field line as Iowa's right fielder dived for the ball and missed it. Fauce, thinking the ball
was foul, paused coming out of the batter's box.
The umpire closest to the ball called it fair and Faunce, junior center fielder, had to settle for a double, rather than the sure triple he
would have had if hed sprinted from the start. The Jayhawks tied for first in the three-day Music City Classic
Last season in the rubber match against Missouri, the Jayhawks' starting right fielder, Brock Simpson, couldn't muster the enthusiasm to run out a first-inning, infield popup.
Infuriated
"The umpire gave me some leniency", Faurie said.
every day", Price said. "He's an engineering major and he's a really good student. We hope he'll learn from those kind of mistakes and see if he can eliminate them."
The truth is, even though Faunce had a Simpsonian slipup Sunday, he's doing what Simpson failed to do for Kansas last season.
Inflated by Simpson's lack of hustle, Kansas coach Ritch Price told Simpson he could stay on the bench for the rest of the game and sent then-sophomore Faunce in to replace Simpson.
In 2007, Price gave Simpson every opportunity to be Kansas' leadoff hit, but Simpson seemed content at just being a regular starter. Starting all but two games for Kansas, he posted a .256 batting average, .382 slugging percentage and .346 on-base percentage.
In Faunce's defense, he still wasn't sure the ball was foul after the game because he wasn't sure the umpire had made the right call.
"I just feel like I'm trying to be a role player for this team. My goal every time I get to the plate is trying to start off an inning for us."
But, unlike that situation, Faune wasn't relegated to the pine. During his four years at Kansas, Faune has earned the benefit of the doubt from his coach. Price knows the mistakes Faune makes aren't a result of indifference.
"He continues to make some mental mistakes. The thing about it, he gives you everything he's got
NICK FAUNCE Center fielder
In Simpson's absence, Faunce has stepped up as a dependable outfielder and leadoff hitter for the Jayhawks and is already becoming a sparkplug for the team by getting on base and getting the rally started.
"I'm really happy for him," Price said. "He's one of the hardest workers on my team. He's deserved an opportunity to play and he's making the most of it. He's waited four years, you know."
After taking a redshirt his first year at Kansas and appearing mostly as a defensive replacement and pinch runner his last two seasons. Faunce has flourished thus far as a full-time starter.
Through seven games at the start of the season, Faunce's 11 hits. 440 average and 548 on-base percentage
are the best on the team. And it's probably no coincidence the Kansas offense has looked impressive when he's at his best.
In the last two games of the Music City Classic, Faunce went a combined 5-for-9 with a walk, five runs and two RBI. The Jayhawks followed suit, scoring a total of 21 runs in those games.
"I just feel like I'm trying to be a role player for this team," Faunce said. "My goal every time I get to the plate is trying to start off an inning for us."
But Faune doesn't make a big deal out of it.
That's just what Faunce did on Sunday. Of his career-high four hits, three came when he was leading off an innning. His fourth, a bunt single, showed his versatility.
But, again, they were nothing special to Faunce.
"You can never really expect to get four hits, so I was just trying to put better swings together, limit my strikeouts, stay inside the ball and hit some balls to the right," Faune said. "I didn't get great swings on them, but I put them in play and good things happen when I do that."
Edited by Mandy Earles
highlights
2008 Music City Classic All-Tournament Team
Three Jayhawks were named to the All-Tournament team. They were:
Preston Land, first base
Casey Larson, outfield
Shaffer Hall, pitcher
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Teams scramble toward postseason
TUCSON, Ariz. — In many years, Arizona, Kentucky, Maryland and Syracuse would be a strong Final Four.
This year, it might be the NIT Final Four.
As the regular season winds down and conference tournaments tip off, the Terrapins, Orange and Wildcats — the Arizona and Kentucky varieties — are in bubble trouble.
If pedigree were all that matters, they'd have nothing to worry about on Selection Sunday. But while these powerhouses are long on tradition, at the moment they're short on victories.
Kentucky's Ramon Harris drives against Tennessee's Tyler Smith during the first half of a game Saturday in Knoxville, Tenn. Tennessee won. 63-60.
"We are in desperation mode now," Arizona forward Chase Budinger said.
Arizona has reached the NCAA tournament 23 straight years, the nation's longest active streak.
Kentucky has played in a record 48 NCAA tournaments, with seven titles and 13 Final Four appearances.
Maryland and Syracuse have each won national titles in this decade.
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They aren't the only big names sweating the stretch run. Florida (21-8, 8-6 SEC), the two-time defending national champion, has lost five of eight and has few notable victories.
Ohio State (17-12, 8-8 Big Ten), which reached the national final last spring, beat the Gators in December but has lost five of its last six.
"I just want to play through the rest of the season and see what they say," O'Neill said. "I doubt there are 64 teams better than us, but we will see."
Kentucky (16-11, 10-4 SEC) is going in the other direction. After a 7-9 start, including an unthinkable loss to Gardner-Webb, the Wildcats looked as if they had no prayer of making the tournament.
Even so, interim coach Kevin O'Neill believes his team deserves strong consideration from NCAA selectors.
The Wildcats will finish the regular season at lastplace Oregon State and Oregon this weekend. The Wildcats split with those teams in January.
"We know we've got to win some games to get in the tournament," Florida freshman forward Adam Allen said Monday. "Nobody wants to go to the NIT. It's like the champion of the losers if you win that."
Start with the Arizona Wildcats (17-12, 7-9 Pac-10), who have picked a bad time to hit the skids. They've lost six of their last seven and were swept over the weekend by USC and No. 4 UCLA at McKale Center, their once-impregnable home.
Allen was talking about the Gators, but he could have been speaking for all the elite teams scrambling to improve their tourney resumes.
But with nine wins in their last 11 games, they're closing with a rush, and on Saturday they threw a scare
Big East bully Villanova (17-12, 7-9 Big Eat) also has work to do.
into then-No. 1 Tennessee, losing
63-60 in Knoxville.
The last time the Wildcats were eligible and failed to qualify for the NCAAs was in 1988-89, when they went 13-19 in Eddie Sutton's last year.
To put that into perspective, Patterson was born on March 14, 1989, four days after Kentucky ended its season with a loss to Vanderbilt in the SEC tournament.
"I know they can win these games without me," Patterson said. "I know they can play because if they couldn't, they wouldn't be here. We have total confidence in ourselves and our teammates."
The Wildcats have lost freshman Patrick Patterson, their No. 2 scorer and leading rebounder, for the rest of the season with an ankle injury.
The Wildcats went 22-6 but stayed home because they were on NCAA probation.
Kentucky visits South Carolina on Wednesday and wraps up the regular season against Florida on Sunday.
Kentucky last missed the NCAA tournament in 1991, Rick Pitino's second season in Lexington — and it wasn't because of performance.
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If Syracuse and Maryland don't make the NCAA tourney, they will look back on last weekend with regret.
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Both blew double-digit leads and lost at home, and if there's one thing the selection committee doesn't like to see, it's home losses.
Syracuse (17-12, 7-9 Big East), the 2003 national champs, blew an 11-point second half lead to Pitt on Saturday and gave the game away with a turnover under their own basket in the final seconds.
It was the fifth loss in six games for Syracuse, which will try to bounce back at Seton Hall on Wednesday night.
Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim, a 32-year veteran who has led his alma mater to 25 NCAA tournaments, called it "the most disappointing game I've ever been involved with."
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The Orange finish the regular season against No. 21 Marquette on Saturday.
"It's going to be hard recovering from this," freshman point guard Jonny Flynn said.