SPORTS
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 29, 2006
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN 3B
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Baseball
Sublett also serves as a relief pitcher and has been equally lethal in that role. On the mound, he leads the staff with five saves and a perfect 0.00 ERA. He has not allowed a run, earned or not, in his career as a Shocker.
"It's a huge series for us and I think it always will be," Price said. "And I have incredible respect for what Gene Stephenson's done in his 30 years at Wichita. He's the first coach to take a cold weather team and make them a national power."
Wichita State has slowed signs of weakness, however. It dropped its opening Missouri Valley series to Southern Illinois last weekend. Nonetheless, the Shockers, led by coach Gene Stephenson, are a force to be reckoned with.
For Kansas, the absence of starters Ryne Price and senior
outfielder Matt Baty has forced the Jayhawks to find replacements. Simpson and freshman first baseman Preston Land led the offense last weekend in Nebraska.
Land was the only hitter to get a hit in every game of the series, while Simpson was the catalyst behind the Jayhawks 7-6 victory on Sunday, going 4-for-5 with a triple.
"I've been seeing the ball well even though I seem to get down 0-2 in every at bat," Land said. "When you're seeing the ball well, you're hitting the ball well."
Tonight's game, the first of two this season between the teams, will have the feeling of a Big 12 game, but with a little instate pride on the line.
"We're trying to get to their level," Price said. "We want to be the best team in the state just like they do."
Edited by Matt Wilson
Injuries
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Although Kansas won all three games in the Nashville, Tenn., tournament, the loss of Ryne Price and Baty was much more important. In 12 games, Price had already blasted three home runs and tallied 13 RBI. At the leadoff spot for 13 games, Baty was hitting .300 with four doubles and three stolen bases.
"I would imagine it would be next week," coach Ritch Price said of the return of the two starters. "We're going to take it easy on them practice-wise and make sure we don't have any setbacks. If we can get them back on the field by next week, it would be outstanding."
But both players are expecting a quicker return. Ryne Price talked of possibly returning for this weekend's series against Missouri, while Baty discussed being tonight's designated hitter against Wichita State.
Baty's doctor will determine, and tonight's lineup will reveal
whether the senior's optimistic predictions were correct. Baty said on Tuesday that his recovery was three to four weeks ahead of schedule.
"It's just been prayer after prayer for me," Baty said. "I serve a God that can heal me just like that. I just give him all the glory for healing me."
Baty's positive outlook and unwavering faith may be the magic behind his speedy recovery. Ritch Price's respect for his center fielder is obvious, as he played with a badly hurt knee for much of the 2005 season.
"He has incredible faith." Price said of the senior who's been with him each of his four years at Kansas. "He's one of the strongest individuals I have ever been associated with."
It's more than possible the pair of starters will return to the team together.
"We'll see how it goes today," Ryne Price said. "It should be pretty cool."
Coaches
Huggins said he was excited to be a part of the Kansas State program and felt that the situation was very similar to when he took over at Cincinnati. Considering the success he had with the Bearcats, Wildcat fans should be very excited about that statement.
— Edited by Matt Wilson
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Kansas will always have the premier basketball program among the three schools in this area — no question about it. Kansas's tradition is far greater than that of either Missouri or Kansas State. With these new coaches roaming the sidelines in Columbia and Manhattan, however, the match-ups between the schools will certainly have a more exciting flavor than in recent years. Before you know it, all three teams will be regulars in the NCAA tournament and will be battling each other for the Big 12 title year in and year out.
- Wilson is a Windsor, Mo. senior in journalism.
Fieldhouse
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"We are quicker than most teams, so we score a lot off of fast breaks and get easy points," Iverson said.
This should be an interesting facet of the game to keep an eye on, with Phi Psi OHB's efficient outside shooting game.
An attention-grabbing individual match-up will be between Phi Psi OHB'S Harms and Delta Chi's Grant Creighton, Englewood, Colo., senior. They both lead their teams on the floor by setting the pace offensively and playing a hard-nosed style of defense.
Creighton said he has had the pleasure of playing in Allen Fieldhouse three or four times before.
Harms said his team's main goal since the beginning of the season was to get to play in the fieldhouse. Tonight these teams will get the chance to play under one of the most storied basketball venues in the nation.
MLB
— Edited by Lindsey St. Clair
James A. Finlov/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Baltimore Orioles' Brian Roberts is safe at third with a triple as the ball bounces away from the tag of St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Aaron Miles in their spring training baseball game in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., on Tuesday.
St. Louis pitcher improving throw
BY DAVID GINSBURG THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.
After throwing five effective innings against the Baltimore Orioles, Jeff Suppan still had one item of business to tend to.
With his upper body virtually encased in ice, the right-hander slipped on a warmup jacket and gave his parents a hug before they headed to the airport for a flight back to California.
In his fifth start this spring, Suppan allowed one run and five hits in five innings. He struck out five and walked none.
"My whole thing was staying in the bottom part of the strike zone, even though the wind's
It was a good day for Suppan,
even if the St. Louis Cardinals
ended up losing 3-2 Tuesday.
blowing in," he said. "These guys are a very good hitting team. I got in some jams but was able to minimize the damage, so it felt really good."
He left the game with a 2-1 lead, and his parents ended their three-week visit before the Cardinals gave away the lead.
Fortunately for Suppan, his folks weren't in Florida during his first spring training start — a disaster against the New York Mets in which he gave up nine runs and nine hits in 1 1-3 innings.
"Basically I was throwing fastballs and changeups, and I left the ball up and they did what good hitters do," he said. "Every game you look for improvement, and from that first game I had a lot to improve on."
His performance against the Orioles was his best one yet.
which really helped," Suppan said. "I still have one more start, a minor league start. I'm still building. The main thing is getting mentally and physically ready for the season, and I'm close."
"I finally had a good cutter,
Suppan outpitched Orioles starter Bruce Chen, who allowed two runs and four hits in six innings.
Baltimore pulled ahead with a two-run eighth. Brian Roberts hit a leadoff triple and scored on a single by Luis Matos. Cardinals second baseman Junior Spivey then booted a potential double-play grounder, and Miguel Tejada followed with a grouder to second that Spivey picked up and threw wildly to first, allowing Matos to score the go-ahead run. Juan Encarnacion hit a two-run homer for the Cardinals, who managed only five hits off four Baltimore pitchers.
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