D D O O I I G A B A I C Y Z N
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
WWW.KANSAN.COM
THURSDAY, APRIL 27, 2006
BASEBALL: 9-1
A one-hit wonder
Randall Sanders/KANSAN
Sophomore outfielder John Allman slides home in the fourth inning against Creighton at Community America Ballpark in Kansas City, Kan. Wednesday afternoon. Allman contributed two RBI and three runs scored to the Jayhawks' 9-1 victory over the Blueiacs.
PAGE 12A
BY SHAWN SHROYER
sshroyer@kansan.com
KANSAN SPORTSWRITER
Starting his first game for Kansas, Andrew Spitzfaden had to do a double-take of Creighton lefty pitcher Pat Venditte in the top of the sixth. For the two previous batters, Vendtte pitched right-handed.
Venditte, as it turned out, was a switch pitcher. Once he saw the switch-hitting Spitzfaden approach the plate to bat from the left side, Vendite placed his reversible glove on his right hand so he could pitch left-handed.
"Well, that was the first time that I'd ever seen that and I've been playing baseball for my whole life." Spitzfaden said.
The freshman catcher Spitzfade eventually grounded out in the at-bat, but it was one of only a few hiccups for Spitzfade and the Jayhawks as Kansas — ranked No. 30 in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association poll — rolled to a 9-1 victory against Creighton.
The runs came early and often for Kansas (31-16) on Wednesday, beginning in the first. Sophomore designated hitter Brock Simpson and senior shortstop Ritchie Price led the game off with a pair of walks. Both players moved up a base after a sacrifice bunt by senior outfielder Matt Baty.
A double by senior outfielder Gus Milner off the left-field wall drove in Simpson and Price for the first two runs of the game. The Kansas offense took it easy on Creighton (22-15) for the next few innings, but the Blue-jays offense was stagnant all game.
Freshman lefty Nick Czyz
gave Creighton some hope inits half of the first inning with a leadoff walk to junior infielder Chad Ogden. That hope was torn away from the Bluejays after a strikeout and double play.
Czyz faced the minimum in the first and followed with two straight three-up, three down innings. Not until Creighton's 13th batter came to the plate did Czyz surrender a hit. Senior infielder Zach Daeges singled to
center field with two out in the bottom of the fourth. It would be Creighton's only hit of the game.
"It's just being about to go out there and, like my brother says, strike fear in the hitter's eyes," Czyz said. "My brother been the key to my success."
Czyz (3-1) went on to throw seven innings - his longest outing of the year - allowing just one hit, one walk and one unearned run while striking out six Bluejay hitters. Freshman right-hander Paul Smyth and sophomore right-hander Matt Lane came in to throw a perfect inning apiece in relief of Czyz.
Along with being pleased with his performance, Czyz said he was ecstatc about the play of his new catcher.
SEE BASEBALL ON PAGE 7A
SOFTBALL: 1-0
Another heartbreaker
BY RYAN SCHNEIDER
rschneider@kansan.com
KANSAN SENIOR SPORTSWRIETER
Another one-run game, another loss for the Kansas softball team.
Kansas lost to No. 15 Nebraska Wednesday night 1-0 in Lincoln, Neb., dropping its 14th one-run game of the season.
Nebraska pitcher Ashley DeBuhr pitched a no-hitter and struck out 16 Jayhawk batters in the complete-game effort. Kansas managed just three base runners, and none reached past first base.
Junior pitcher Kassie Humphreys (12-15) lasted three and one-third innings. She struck out four batters, but allowed three hits and one run.
"They just hit the ball really well off me and started hitting balls I left over the plate," Humphreys said. "It is frustrating, my performance was as good as I wanted."
Nebraska scored its lone run in the bottom of the fourth inning. First baseman Crystal Carwile led off the inning with a single to center field. She moved to third base after shortstop Devin Porter's single. After Humphreys was replaced by senior pitcher Serena Settlemier, designated player Katie Linke's single to left field scored Carwile.
Settlemier ended the inning by striking out Carmen Kier, but the damage had already been done. The co-national player of the week would finish the night pitching two and two-thirds innings, striking out five and allowing three hits.
DeBuhr cruised to start the game, striking out the first seven Jayhawks she faced. Kansas didn't record its first base runner until
"We always enjoy facing Oklahoma because we have a pretty good rivalry with them. We want to do well and ensure a spot in the postseason"
Kassie Humphreys
Junior pitcher
the fifth inning, when Settlemier walked to lead off the inning. She was replaced by pinch runner senior Heather Stanley, but Stanley was thrown out at second after senior shortstop Destiny Frankenstein hit into a fielder's choice.
Kansas stranded Frankenstein in the fifth inning and Settlemier in the seventh, with strikeouts to end both innings. It marked the first time the Jayhawks have been no-hit this season.
The loss dropped Kansas to 27-22 and 6-8 in the Big 12 Conference.
Kansas will travel to Norman, Okla. for a weekend series with No. 21 Oklahoma Saturday and Sunday.
"We always enjoy facing Oklahoma because we have a pretty good rivalry with them," Humphreys said. "We want to do well and ensure a spot in the postseason."
Notes:
Kansas dropped to 0-2 in Big 12 play against Nebraska and 1-2 on the season. The Jahayhaks defeated the Cornhuskers in non-conference play 4-0 at the Best Western Airport Festival in Tulsa, Okla.
DANCING NACHOS
Edited by Meghan Miller
You won't find these at the KU Bookstores
Like most of you, when I heard that the Athletics Department was offering $500 to the student who created next year's football Gameday T-shirt, I
jumped at the opportunity.
The only problem was that the slogan, "Where will you be on Gameday?" was much too restrictive.
So I came up with new slogans. Better slogans. Slogans that students could be proud to wear on a T-shirt.
Initially I planned on keeping these to myself until I accepted the giant $500 novelty check sometime in Mav.
However, as a writer for The Uni
versity Daily Kansan, I decided this was an excellent opportunity to share my artwork with the student body. That, and I have to write three stories per week.
So enjoy, and visit kuathletics.com for full details on the contest if you think you can do better.
And I'll see you on gameday.
Michael Phillips is a Wichita junior in journalism.
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