what we heard
"I want to congratulate coach Self and our men's basketball team for a great year... I think we're all very proud of the Huskies and the job that coach Self did. Lew Perkins, accidentally referring to his former athletics program, the UConn Huskies, at the press conference announcing Bonne Henrickson as the new women's head basketball coach.
2B the university daily kansan
off the bench
Baseball team making strides on offense
By Shane Kucera
skucera@kansan.com
Kansan sportswriter
In the midst of March Madness, Kansas baseball may have received less attention than it deserved.
The 'Hawks offense is making a run to be the all-time best at Kansas. The Jayhawks have shattered, or are on pace to shatter, multiple hitting records.
In 34 games this season, the Jayhawks have hit 40 home runs. At the current pace, the single-season record of 63 home runs will easily be broken.
tuesday, march 30, 2004
Sophomore infielders Ritehie Price and Matt Baty have been clutch at the plate. This season Price broke the Kansas record for most hits in a game with six, and Baty entered last weekend's series against Nebraska leading the Big 12 Conference with a .432 average.
ference with a Asa team, the Hawks also led the Big 12 in batting average, .346, entering the series with Nebraska. The conference-leading team batting average is a result of the Jayhawks' consistency at the plate. Five players have had hit streaks of 12 or more games.
After falling to the 'Huskers 3-2 on Friday and being rained out on Saturday, the Hawks came out swinging in the first game of Sunday's doubleheader.
The bats also helped the team to a win against the No.20 Nebraska Cornhuskers.
Junior outfielder Sean Richardson and senior infielder Ryan Baty opened up the game with back-to-back home runs
in the first inning. The Jayhawks followed up with a five-run third inning and a four-run fourth to go up 12-2 on the 'Huskers. Nebraska rallied late in the game, but the Kansas lead was enough to give it a 12-9 victory and move starting pitcher junior Clint Schambach to 3-0. The win snapped the 'Huskers' eight-game winning streak.
Nebraska came back in the second game of the doubleheader to beat Kansas 13-3.
Matt Tribble, senior outfielder, put down a bunt during a game earlier this month. The Kansas baseball team split a doubleheader with the 20th-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers on Sunday at Haymarket Park in Lincoln, Neb.
"Obviously we prepared properly," said coach Ritch Price. "Our goal was to win the series and we almost did that."
Kansas jumped out to an early lead with two runs in the first, but rallies by Nebraska in the third and fifth innings combined for eight runs that were enough to take the lead. The Jayhawk offense was shut down by Nebraska's starting pitcher Phil Shirek. The right-handed junior posted a career-high 10 strikeouts and moved to 4-0 for the season. The loss was the first of the season for lefty junior Mike Zagurski (3-1).
can definitely play wrestlers in Kansas' record is now 22-11-1 and 1-2 in conference play. The next Big 12 match-up will be a three-game series beginning Friday at 6 p.m. against Oklahoma. Friday night at Hoglund Ballpark fans will be rewarded with hot dogs for a quarter.
"This weekend we saw a step up in pitching, but this whole series, we swung the bat really well," Matt Baty said. "We can definitely play with anybody."
Kansan File Photo
- Edited by Collin LaJoie
Kansas athletics calendar
TODAY
Men's Golf at Colorado-Stevinson Ranch Intercollegiate, all day
TOMORROW
Softball vs. Nebraska at Arrocha Ballpark, 4 p.m.
MLB
Royals get 14-3 thrashing by Chicago White Sox
TUCSON, Ariz. — There was one positive for Kansas City manager Tony Pena after a 14-3 thrashing yesterday by the Chicago White: It wasn't a week later.
The Sox and Royals play opening day in Kansas City.
But Kansas City pitchers Junior Herndon and Les Walrond got a good look at Sox hitters.
To their spring game, Kansas City brought a squad of only four regular starters in the lineup, while the Sox hid scheduled starting pitcher Jon Garland in a Triple-A game with Colorado.
The White Sox (13-13) got three runs off Herndon (0-1) in the first inning, with Jose Valentin getting an RBI single, followed by a two-run homer by Maggio Ordonez. The Sox made it a 3-0 game in the third when Carlos Lee picked up a sacrifice fly.
With Herndon out of the game, it was in the fourth inning when the floodgates opened. The Sox hit around and scored seven runs off Walrond, including a sacrifice fly by Juan Uribe, a solo home run by Aaron Rowand and RBI doubles by Willie Harris and Ordonez.
That was more than enough for starter Neal Cotts (1-1), who went three
innings and allowed just one hit, while striking out one and walking one. The Associated Press
The Associated P.
San Francisco gets 17 hits in 12-1 routing of Colorado
TUCSON, Ariz. — Dustin Hermanson was encouraged by his latest outing, even if he wasn't especially sharp.
Hermanson, expected to be San Francisco's No. 4 starter, pitched six strong innings in the Giants' 12-1 rout of the Colorado Rockies yesterday. He allowed three hits and one run with no walks and two strikeouts.
"I had terrible stuff today," Hermanson said. "I just tried to concentrate on hitting my spots. I think just being under control and knowing you didn't have your best stuff, I was able to pitch.
"The balls were hard to grip. It was weird. They felt like they had powder on them," he said.
Preston Wilson, playing only his second game of the spring because of a sore left knee, hornered for the second straight day, accounting for the Rockies run.
Cody Ransom had four doubles and Tony Torcato drove in four runs for San Francisco. The Giants pounded out 17 hits, including nine doubles and three triples.
Ransom went 4-for-5, scoring twice. Yorvit Torrealba had two doubles and three RBI, and Pedro Feliz had three hits, including two doubles.
Colorado's Joe Kennedy pitched four scoreless innings but was roughed up in the fifth, giving up five runs. Kennedy,
Colorado's No. 3 starter, went 5-2-3
innings, allowing 10 hits and six runs.
innings, shooting
Ransom doubled leading off the fifth and scored on Neifi Perez's triple. Torcato added an RBI single, Feliz had a run-scoring double and Torrealba hit a
Torcato's RBI single in the sixth put the Giants ahead 6-1. Torcato had a two-run triple in the eighth, and Brian Dallimore added a two-run double in the ninth.
two-run double.
Cardinals' new players battle to secure roster spots in win
The Associated Press
JUPITER, Fla. — So Taguchi took a huge step toward securing a roster spot with the St. Louis Cardinals, going 4-for-4 yesterday in a 5-4 victory over the New York Mets.
After the game, the Cardinals traded Kerry Robinson to San Diego for Brian Hunter in a swap of speedy outfielders. Robinson had been one of several players, including Taguchi, competing for playing time in left field.
The 34-year-old outfielder from Japan raised his batting average to .354 and became the first Cardinals player to have a four-hit game this spring.
"So has been playing as good as anybody in camp," manager Tony La Russa said. "I would say he has a pretty good chance of making the club without making it official."
Hunter is a .264 lifetime hitter in 10 plus seasons with Houston, Detroit, Seattle, Colorado, Cincinnati and Philadelphia.
"He's been a good guy and a good player for us. But he has an opportunity there. And it is not like we are sending him some place for punishment. They should be a contender," he said.
"It was a situation where his playing time would be infrequent and inconsistent." the manager said.
La Russa said it was tough to let go of Robinson, a St. Louis native.
The Associated Press
NCAA
ST. LOUIS —The last of more than a dozen dress rehearsals, dating to 1998, is over at the Edward Jones Dome. The next time, it'll be the NCAA men's Final Four.
St. Louis Regional works out glitches for next tournament
The Missouri Valley Conference, the driving force behind the city's large NCAA presence, is sending a delegation to this year's event in San Antonio Texas, just to cover the bases. Organizers believe they're ready for next April now.
"We learn every time we conduct an event, regardless of the facility and regardless of the setup," MVC commissioner Doug Elgin said. "I think we've fixed on exactly where and how we want things to be."
The St. Louis Regional had a few glitches. The sound system was muddy for the opening two games before speakers were redirected, a technical mix-up led to reversed scores on one game for a short time and one of the large scoreboards went dark for a few seconds at the end of Georgia Tech's 79- 71 overtime victory over Kansas in the regional final on Sunday.
Attendance was a bit of a disappointment, falling well short of the NCAA record of 45,589 for the city's last regional final in 2001. Of course, that game featured Kentucky and its legion of fans.
The Wildcats' absence from this year's event after being the top overall seed served to hold the crowds down to 30,000 for both sessions. Still, the St. Louis event finished with the top two attendance figures for any regional.
- The Associated Press
Free for All
Call 864-0500
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Padgett, make your freaking layups. That's why you'll never be good at center at the University of Kansas. You're horrible.
I still love those damn Jayhawks
Aaron Miles, you need to thank J.R. Giddens because he just saved your ass.
We just lost in overtime and all I can say is guys, thanks for a great season. To Jeff Graves and Bryant Nash: Thanks for the years you've put in here. Rock Chalk Jayhawk, go KU.
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J. R. Giddens sure didn't look like a freshman today. Unfortunately our juniors looked like freshmen. What happened with the experience?
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Great season Bill and the Jayhawks We'll go all the way next year.
Mizzou lost in the NIT, but we went further than UNC. Jayhawks we are proud to be.
All I have to say is that we still got further than Roy. Good job boys.
What's a bee anyways? I'll punch every bee in the face.
If Georgia Tech was a country, it would be France.
It could be worse. I could be a Missouri fan right now.
Georgia Tech is the new Missouri
Georgia Tech is about as cool as wet toilet paper.
Does anyone else think that Georgia Tech's fight song sounds like The Itsy Bitsy Spider?
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