SPORTS
WEDNESDAY, MAY 3, 2006
WWW.KANSAN.COM
PAGE 1B
BASEBALL
International man of baseball
Travel gives assistant coach edge
BY SHAWN SHROYER
sshroyer@kansan.com
KANSAN SPORTWRITER
STATISTICS
In the dugout, Kevin Tucker isn't the type of baseball coach who lets his ego get in the way of how he works with players. Instead, he said he often brainstormed with players and, with his guidance, his players were able to make adjustments and improve themselves.
Sophomore third baseman Erik Morrison's 2005 season stats, compared to 2006 (before Tuesday's game and with 11 games still in regular season):
Tucker is currently an assistant coach for the Kansas baseball team, but his background in coaching can be traced back to Sweden, where he was a player and a coach. He also spent three summers overseas as a Major League Baseball Envoy Coach in Africa, France and Germany.
"I got to see different cultures, views, people and be around baseball. It's fun to network with people all over the world that just have one thing in common - baseball." Tucker said. "It was a great experience. I wouldn't change it for the world."
Away from the diamond, Tucker is a beach boy surrounded by an ocean of wheat and sunflowers. Tucker, a San Luis Obispo, Calif., native, would love nothing more than to return to coastal California someday as a head coach at the collegiate level.
Source: kuathletics.com
Stats 2005 2006
At-bats 204 179
Batting Avg. .221 .285
Hits 45 51
Doubles 9 12
Home Runs 3 11
RBI 36 38
Total Bases 65 96
Slugging % .319 .536
On-base % .296 .144
Tucker's coaching career began before his playing days ended. While at California Polytechnic State University in 1994, Tucker found out from his roommate that a player/coach position was available in Escosura, Sweden.
Tucker realized he needed to become a coach if he was to remain involved in baseball. He said he took the job without hesitation.
SEE TUCKER ON PAGE 3B
Assistant coach Kevin Tucker, center, stands with senior infielder Jared Schweitzer at first base in the eighth inning of the second game against Oklahoma at Hoglund Ballpark Sunday. In addition to serving as the team's first base coach, Tucker also serves as the team's hitting and outfield coach.
Randall Sanders/KANSAN
BUNT 'EM OVER
Kansas: Watch NHL playoffs
MATT WILSON
mwilson@kansan.com
Now that the NFL draft is over after three months of dead-horse abuse, sports fans can focus on the most entertaining two months in professional competition.
Of course, I'm talking about the NHL playoffs.
Before you quit reading, think about this: the Edmonton Oilers, the Western Conference's eighth seed, eliminated the Detroit Red Wings
On top of that, the West's No. 2 seed also lost when the Dallas Stars were bounced by the Colorado Avalanche in five games.
eight seed, eliminate the Boston red wings — the best team in the regular season — in a best-of-seven series. The series marked the seventh time in the past 13 years that a No. 8 beat a No. 1.
Hockey also has sudden-death overtime in playoff games that can, and often does, go on until the wee hours of the morning. You'd be surprised at how fun it is to be gooey-tired with a few buddies because the game that started at 8 p.m. continued into your politics class the next day.
Where else can you find that kind of parity and excitement? Certainly not in the NBA. Well, maybe in the past, but the days of Dikembe Mutombo and the Denver Nuggets beating the mighty Seattle SuperSonics are over, thanks to the league making the first round a seven-game series rather than a five-gamer in 2003.
The NFL has the best situation for upsets with its one-game format, but home-field advantage is so influential to the outcome of a game in football that it rarely happens. That is, of course, unless you're the Kansas City Chiefs, and going 13-3 in the regular season seems to guarantee a home loss to a lower-seeded team in the playoffs.
Baseball? Forget about it. Only four teams from each league reach the postseason, so all of the teams are closely matched at that point. Even a five-game first round has trouble producing a big surprise in that situation.
So why is the NHL so upset-friendly? Goaltending. A team can ride a hot goalie all the way to the Stanley Cup. The last finals featured the sixth-seeded Calgary Flames against the top seed in the East, the Tampa Bay Lightning. Calgary had red-hot Mikka Kiprusoff in net, and he pushed them past the top three teams in the West. Despite the difference in regular-season performance, the Flames forced seven games before bowing to the Lightning. Only Nikolai Khabibulin, the hotter of the two goalies, stopped Kiprusoff and the Flames from hoisting the Cup.
SEE COLUMN ON PAGE 4B
SOFTBALL
Junior pitcher Kassie Humphreys throws against Texas offense on the March 26 game in Arrocha Ball Park. Humphreys and the Jayhawks take on the Wichita State Shockers in a doubleheader today at 3 p.m. and 5 p.m.
David Noffsinger:KANSAN
Kansas to face in-state rival
BY MARK DENT
mdent@kansan.com
KANSAN SPORTWRITER
Plato, Aristotle, Socrates and softball? While historical Greek thinkers usually don't go hand in hand with the ball
diamond, Tracy Bunge
pondered some philosophical beliefs to describe her team's hitting troubles.
"Whatever philosopher said everything is 90 percent mental, was right," the Kansas coach said. "Our kids are frustrated at the
In that same five-game period, the Jayhawks managed to eke out just 10 hits. To make matters more complicated, this hitting funk came after Kansas toasted Creighton for 20 hits in a doubleheader before the Texas series.
"There's no time for lapses or poor play. We have to get the sticks going."
plate — they're struggling on the mental side."
Tracy Bunge Kansas softball coach
Philosophical contemplations aside, there is no doubt that Kansas has had trouble offensively. In the past five games, the Jayhawks have put only two runners across the plate. After Kansas scored the would-be game-winning run in the first inning against Texas on April 23, it went 26 innings before scoring again on a solo home run against Oklahoma Sunday in the final inning.
no time for lapses or poor play," Bunge said. "We have to get the sticks going."
Kansas' next opportunity to break out the wood will come today as they step out of conference to take on Wichita State at Arrocha Ballpark. The Jayhawks will play a double-header against the Shockers (32-19, 11-9), with the
first pitch scheduled for 3 p.m.
"We're definitely not going to overlook them," junior pitcher Kassie Humphreys said. "They're a regional opponent, and they beat us last year."
A year ago, Kansas was swept by a Wichita State team that was good enough to make the NCAA Regionals. This year's Shocker installment has last year's core of players intact, but with a new coach.
SEE SOFTBALL ON PAGE 4B
BASEBALL: 6-0
Kansas pounds NAIA opponent
BY ALISSA BAUER
abauer@kansan.com
KANSAN STAFF WRITER
His teammates joked around him. Some covered their faces with their shirts.
Freshman catcher Buck Afinir's case of the mumps weren't a laughing matter, but his fellow Jayhawks gave him grief on his first day back behind the plate.
Afenir led the Kansas offense, going 1-for-2 with a double and two RBI in a 6-0 victory against Saint Mary on Tuesday night.
"It felt real good," Aftenir said about his return performance.
"I was pretty tired when I got to second, you know, pretty low on energy right now."
A scoreless first inning opened the door for a two-run second for the Jayhawks. Saint Mary starter Derek Allison left the game after tossing only one inning.
Randall Sanders/KANSAN
Spires coach Rob Miller used a staff of pitchers on the mound because his team already clinched the Kansas Collegiate Athletics Conference title. He sent Brandon Dye (6-5) to the mound in the bottom of the second. Kansas got to him first, and he took the loss.
SEE BASEBALL ON PAGE 4B
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Sophomore third baseman Erik Morrison slides across the plate ahead of the tag from Saint Mary catcher Cody Newman in the second inning at Hogland Ballpark Tuesday evening. Morrison contributed an RBI and two runs scored to the Jayhawks' 6-0 defeat of the Spires.
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