University Daily Kansan / Thursday, March 10, 1988
Sports
9
Doubleheader split yields hot offense, chilly defense
By Tom Stinson
Kansan sports writer
The Kansas baseball team played its best game of the season in game one of yesterday's doubleheader against Northwest Missouri State, winning 18-5.
The Jayhawks exploded offensively for 13 hats, and they committed no defensive errors for the first time this season.
But their concentration lapsed as the afternoon turned to evening.
Kansas committed four errors in the second game, the last one allowing Northwest Missouri State to score in the seventh win and win 7-6.
"I didn't think we sustained our concentration," said coach Dave Bingham. "We went from our best game of the season to our worst. We had the chance to win the second game, but we didn't execute in the seventh."
With the bases loaded and the score 5-5, sophomore Craig Stoppel's wild pitch let one run score. The ensuing throw at home plate was mishandled, allowing another run.
"In the end, we have to pitch and play defense." Bingham said. "They were very aggressive."
Northwest Missouri State led 7-5 going into the bottom of the seventh.
and we gave up two runs. We've got inexperience on the mound, but I'm getting sick of saying that."
After junior Steve Dowling's one-run home run with two outs, senior Rocky Helm singled and junior Dan Benninghoff walked. The stage was set for sophomore Jeff Spencer.
But Spencer struck out swinging on a fastball for the game's final out.
Stopper was the losing pitcher. He relieved freshman Darrin Harris in the top of the sixth after Harris pitched five and one-third innings.
"Harris pitched a good game, and I didn't come in and do the job I should have." Stoplad said. "I felt fine in the office, but I used this as a learning experience."
pitchers. Harris recorded eight strikeouts and allowed five earned runs. The winning pitcher, Monte Johnson, pitched a complete game for Northwest Missouri State.
Junior Tom Buchanan led the Jayhawk offense in the second game, hitting two home runs and collected five RBI.
"We just weren't getting base runners on late in the game," Buchanan
said. "We were hitting his pitches early, but we didn't get the pitches we wanted late. We weren't too disciplined at the plate."
Power hitting highlighted yesterday's first game, when Kansas hit four home runs and scored 15 earned runs.
KANSAS 18 NW Missouri State 5
NWSUM 202 100 0-5 7
MUSCAL 202 100 0-5 7
Kansas 115 1010 x-18 13 0 NW Missouri State: Kregel, Wolters (4), Nagano (6) and Goeken; Kansas: McLeod, Shaw (7) and Menter. W-Lecord (2-0), L-Kregel (1-1). SV-None. 2Bs-Kansas: Dowling, Helm, Bengoffen and Menter; 3Bs-NW Missouri State: Segel. HFS-NW Missouri State: Spurgeon (1) and Wilkofsk (2); Kansas: Benghouth (2), Ruelas (1), Mentzer (1) and Simmerson (2)
KANAS 6, NW Missouri State 7
NMWSU
100 001 2-7 5
NWUW
100 001 2-7 5
NW Missouri State; Johnson and Spurgeon;
Kansas; Harper, Stoppe (6) and Boesen, W-
Johnson (10), L-Stoppel (0-1), SV-None, 2Bs-
NW Missouri State; Czanski-Kansas; Kansas;
Heim, 3Bs-Bone; HRs-Kansas; Buchanan 2
(2), Dowling (9)
Janine Swiatkowski/KANSAN
Kansas center fielder Rocky Helm dives safely into home plate as Northwest Missouri State catcher Kevin Goeken prepares to apply a late tag.
Violence disrupts N.J. prep basketball
The Associated Press
WOODBURY, N.J. - Officials blamed gang members and non-students yesterday for violence at high school basketball games in New Jersey, where a 16-year-old boy was fatally shot after one contest and another match was played in secret to avoid threatened trouble.
"Parents shouldn't have to worry about their kids being beaten up or stabbed or shot at a basketball game," said Richard Luttrell, former president of the state athletic directors association.
On Tuesday, a former student at
Patterson's Kennedy High School was fatally shot after a regional championship game at Hackensack High School between Kennedy and Passaic County Technical and Vocational High School of Wayne.
A 19-year-old Hacksens man was charged with the killing, police said.
The shooting followed a disagreement in the school parking lot between boys from Paterson and Hacksacken about a girl, said Hacksacken Police Lt. Anthony Leggieri.
Robert Lindsey of Paterson, who was stranded with three other youths after the game without a ride back to Paterson, was killed by a shot in his
face from a .22-caliber gun as he walked along the street five blocks from the school, Leggieri said.
Also on Tuesday, the threat of gang violence forced officials to move a game between longtime rivals Atlantic City High School and Camden High School to a location 30 miles away.
Lutrell, who also is athletic director for Willingboro schools, said authorities moved the game from Willingboro High School after receiving word that non-students from Atlantic City and Camden planned a fight with automatic weapons about a shooting several months ago.
The game was played under police guard at Overbrook High School. Coaches learned of the location only when they boarded team buses and were handed envelopes with directions to the school.
On Dec. 27, a woman was shot and four men were slashed or stabbed during a fight in the crowd at a tournament in Absecon, disrupting a game and forcing the last two days of the tournament to be canceled.
17 compete for spots on KU football team; participate in off-season workout program
By Keith Stroker
Kansan sports writer
Myrick, Chicago freshman, said he was excited at the thought of playing college football. He is one of 17 KU men selected to participate in the Kansas football off-season workout program.
When Byron Myrick watched members of the Kansas football team last week during its workouts, he pictured himself out there with them.
"I get pumped up watching the team work out, and I hope to be out there with them soon," Myrick said. "I get a little nervous seeing what they have to do and how big they are, but it is something that eventually will go away."
Myrick said he wanted to be a wide receiver. Before the open tryouts Feb. 26 at Anschutz Sports Pavilion, he was on a very physical workout program was in good condition for the tryouts. He likes to jog, lift weights and swim to keep in shape.
Myrick said a big reason why he decided to try out was his sister's influence.
"my sister Rhonda has been encouraging me to try out ever since I came to KU," Myrick said. "She is a dance major at KU and is very athletic. I respect her ideas a lot, and I think with her encouragement, I have a good chance of making it."
The 17 men have been on the
workout program, which continues until tomorrow, since Feb. 29. The program includes running and agility drills, but not weightlifting.
During the workout, the men sprint from one drill to another, with the coaching staff enthusiastically shouting at them.
"I am real impressed with the new coaching staff," Myrick said. "I think they are well organized and very energetic. I am confident things are going to work out for me."
Myrick said that although the 17 men each were trying to secure a spot on the football team, there was a spirit of friendship developing among them.
"We all want to be out there with them, representing this school," Myrick said. "We have pep talks in the locker room to try to get each other fired up. There is a good rivalry developing among us, and we are pushing each other to do our best."
Kansas offensive coordinator Pat Ruel said that after spring break the team would begin spring practices and that if the men could make it through the off-season program, they would have a chance of making the team.
Myrick, out of breath after a workout, said the toughest thing he would have to deal with during spring break was trying not to relax too much.
Byron Myrick works out with other KU students competing for positions on the Kansas football team.
"I'm going home for spring break, and I have to be careful not to forget about my big challenge
when I come back. I really want to do well, and I am confident that I will."
Lady Broncos, 0-26, upbeat despite losses
The Associated Press
EDINBURG, Texas — This team must really love basketball.
It has been more than a year since Pan American's Lady Broncs won a game, and their reputation as the worst team in the nation follows them everywhere.
Players say some teams don't even bother to warm up before playing the Lady Broncs, who ended their regular season at 0-26 and 0-9 in American South Conference play.
Despite their six-place ranking in a field of six, they get a shot at the conference title tonight against third place Southwestern Louisiana, 17-10 and 5-4. Louisiana Tech hosts the tournament in Ruston, La.
the outstretched
Statistically, it should be the Lady
Broncs' last gasp of the year. Yet
something other than the thrill of
victory kept them picking themselves up.
"If they weren't so feisty, we probably would have folded a long time ago," said Becky De Los Santos, a volleyball coach who inherited the team last summer after the coach quit. "They're a proud group."
One of their most humiliating losses came Feb. 22 at Louisiana Tech. Without ever playing their five starters, the Lady Techsters defeated Pan Am 98-21.
Lady Techsters coach Leon Barmore's decision not to use his starters moved Pan American Sports Information Director Jim McKone to write a letter to Barmore thanking him for the act of mercy.
"You could have run up 200 points on us," McKone wrote. "You could have gained a national record. You could have netted a lot of ink nationally. Instead, you did the absolutely right thing.
"I have written sports for daily papers since 1949, and we have the worst team I have ever covered, in any sport, at any level. But they are human beings, trapped by unfair circumstances."
The Lady Broncs were not prepared for what awaited them this season, when Pan American joined the newly formed ASC in NCAA Division I.
Suddenly the Lady Broncs contended not only with nationally ranked teams in the conference but also faced four Southwest Conference
schools with six-figure budgets backing their women's basketball programs.
Pan American, with a women's basketball budget of $52,118, just couldn't compete in the new conference, particularly in the area of scholarships.
When De Los Santos took over, she learned that no one had been recruited. By the time De Los Santos was able to call high schools around the state, all of the potential players had signed with other teams.
"i opened the equipment room, and he didn't have any equipment, no shoes, no shorts, no tops, no socks," she said.
An extra $15,000 added to the scholarship budget last summer was too
The team also lacks height. The tallest player is 6 feet and the shortest player is 5-3.
Players say that on the road they ignore the snide remarks and condescending attitudes of schools they face.
"A lot of times we'll look down at the other team, and they'll be laughing and stuff like, 'Pan Am. Big deal,' said junior forward and center Cheryl Boyle, the top scorer and one of five players who has been out with injuries lately on the 12-woman team.
Player Sharon Wiley said, "We've even seen players sitting in chairs during warm-ups. It takes a lot of guts to lose 26 games and still come back."
De Los Santos said spectators at Arkansas State in Jonesboro. Ark. started whistling "La Cucaracha," referring to the short, predominantly Hispanic Lady Broncs.
"There was a crowd telling us, 'Why don't you go back to Mexico where you came from?' De Los Santos said. "The kids were saying, 'Don't they know where Texas is?'?"
Wiley said she keeps playing because she knows that someday the team will win a game.
"I have fun," she said. "If I didn't have fun, I wouldn't be out here."
Gueldner, Newton made most of chances to salvage season
By Elaine Sung
Kansan sports writer
Kansas was holding on to a 64-63 lead with just seconds left in the game. When the final buzzer sounded, it was guard Jeff Guelder who prevented the Wildcats from scoring a last-second desperation shot. He stood in the middle of the court, clutching the ball to his chest after stealing it from Kansas State forward Fred McCoy.
It was a triumphant scene for the Jayhawks last month on the floor of Ahearn Field House.
KU coach Larry Brown had been juggling lineups all season, trying to find the combination that would work consistently. When he inserted Guelden into the lineup, moving sophomore Kevin Pritchard to the point guard position, it was the 10th different combination for the team.
It was only Gueldener's fifth start ever for Kansas, and already he was making an impact.
This one worked. "I 'always had confidence in Jeff,' Brown
This one worked.
said. "I never anticipated him stepping forward and being a starter now. But he always does exactly what you want him to do. The more kids you like that, the stronger your team will be."
Gueldner, a 6-foot-5-inch sophomore out of Charleston, Ill., was labeled the "sleeper" of his recruiting class. But as it turns out, he is becoming much more than the back-up guard he was last season.
"He never told me that I was going to start," Gueldner said of Brown. "Coming in, I was planning on being a back-up player and a role player. When he recruited me, that's more or less what I was going to be.
"The chance arose for me to play more, and I got a good opportunity against Okla
One primary role for Gueldner has been to make team leader Chris Piper's job a little easier.
"He tries to get people where they need to be, and I try to keep myself in a position where he doesn't have to yell at me and people don't have to worry about my position," Gueldner said
forward Milt Newton said, "Jeff is a big part of the team. He calms us down, and he's always in the right place at the right time."
Gueudner missed only one start out of the last nine games. He sat out the game against Oklahoma after he sprained his left ankle during practice the day before. It was his first injury ever, but after sitting out for only two practices, he was back in the lineup three days later for the game against Duke.
Out of the eight games he started, Kansas won seven. The chemistry is there, but Gueldner does not believe he is the reason why the Jayhawks finished so well at the end of the regular season.
"A lot of it is coincidence, you know, because a lot of things started happening well for us," Gueldner said. "Some of the players started gaining confidence in the way they were playing. When you add that to the way Danny's been playing, coincidentally we've been winning some games.
"I don't think I'm a major factor. I'd like to match Coach Brown can put me out there,"
and it won't hurt the team any, and I can play my position consistently so he doesn't have to worry about me."
Junior forward Milt Newton is the other current starter who played a lot off the bench last year. Before this season, he had started only three games in his career. After senior captain Jake Dugan out for the season in the last week of December, Newton got his chance to prove himself.
"When he got hurt, I just did the same things I did all season long." Newton said. "Every chance I got to go into a game, I'd come out with something positive. When Archie got hurt, I knew someone had to step forward."
Newton has weathered through most of the lineup changes, but there were tough times made tougher when K-State broke the 55-game home court winning streak which he had been so much a part of. Then the Jayhawks had to deal with a four-game losing streak.
"It was hard to adjust, not because of the lineau. but because the confidence was
lacking," Newton said. "I don't care how many lineups you have, having Danny on there counts for a lot.
"When we lost to K-State, even though we played pretty hard, the Streak was broken and that meant a lot to the guys. When we went through the losing streak, we didn't know how to deal with it.
"Before the Streak was broken, I wasn't really thinking much about it. I thought it would be no big deal. But when the Streak was broken, I wouldn't know what kind of an effect it would have on me."
Newton has turned out to be one of the team's best three-point shooters, launching crucial baskets that helped win some games toward the end of the season.
"When I started, I felt really comfortable," Newton said. "I felt like I belonged out there. I knew I had it in me all the time. It was just a case of going out in games and proving to Coach Brown that I could do what he wanted."
Editor's note: this is the third of a four-part series examining the 1987-88 Kansas men's basketball team.