Sports
University Daily Kansan / Friday, April 12, 1991
11
'Hawks break losing streak, beat Shockers
By Mark Spencer
Kansan sportswriter
The Kansas baseball team broke out of a five-game losing streak in grand style last night with a 6.2 upset of the seventh-ranked Wichita State Shockers at Hoglund-Maupin Stadium.
"We had reached that point in the middle of the season where we lost our direction a bit," Kansas coach Dave Bingham said. "This one builds some confidence. Hopefully, we'll come back this weekend and get ourselves back on the right track for the Oklahoma series."
Before their recent five-game swoon, the Jayhawks had won seven straight and were on top of the Big Eight Conference.
However, the Jayhawks slumped at the plate and in the field, dropping four games to Oklahoma State and one to Northern Iowa.
Bingham said he had seen enough.
"We came back from Iowa and practiced for two hours today and talked about some things," he said. "We were very busy, so it as a challenge and not a negative."
Negativity for the Jayhawks was in short supply against the highly-touted Shockers.
hand shan Dennis for three runs and three hits in three innings, and Kansas right hand Curts Schmidt right hand the first 12 Shocker batters in order.
Schmidt's perfect game was broken up in the fifth by a base-empty home run by Wichita State catcher Doug Mirabelli.
Kansas roughed up Shocker right
With the Jayhawks lead 3-1.
Kansas catcher Garry Schmidt led
off the bottom of the fifth with
a double down the left field line.
Schmidt moved to third off a throwing error by Shocker shortstop Chris Wimmer and was sarcastiched on him. He finished off Monroe, putting the Hawks ahead 4-1.
Kansas' Schmidt regained his pose after Mirabelli's blast, mowing down 9 of the next 10 Shockers he faced.
Schmidt said he was more worried about pitching a victory than a no-hitter.
"I don't have the stuff to throw nohitters," he said. "If I threw 90 (mph), maybe, but no, I don't have that stuff."
Schmidt struck out only three Shockers in his complete game victory, but he said that fit his style.
"That's all I do," he said. "I throw it down and let them make the
Kansas centerfielder Chris Moore slides safely back to first and beats a pickoff throw.
plays."
The Shockers touched Schmidt for an unearned run in the eighth, but Kansas countered with two runs of its own in the bottom half of the inning.
accounting for the 6-2 final score
in the Big Eight, will play host to Hardin-Simmons University at 7 tonight and 1 p.m. tomorrow. Grace Crawford will play on the stadium at 5 p.m. Stadium at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
"This game is something we needed," Schmidt said. "It's about time we started playing ball again." The Javahawks 21-12 overall and 6.6
Wadkins leads at Masters; Nicklaus is close
The Associated Press
AUGUSTA, Ga. - It's still Jack's tournament.
Jack Nicklaus led the list of golfing old folks who rose to challenge Nick Faldo's march to Masters history yesterday.
Nicklaus, 51, the only six-time Masters champion, was joined by Tom Watson, Lanny Wadkins and Japan's Jumbo Ozaki among the leaders in the first round of the 55th Masters.
Nicklaus, coming off a victory last week on the Senior Tour, birdied all of the '4-5' on Augusta National and shot a '4-under-par 68.
Wadkins and Watson, each 41, also became potential roadblocks on Faldo's road to an unprecedented third consecutive Masters title.
Wadkins, the first man off the tee,
painted one-11 times in his round of 67
five ahead of Faldos's par round of
72. He had a new putter and his old stroke for a 68.
Wadkins, the 1977 PGA champion,
romped around the course in 3 hours,
25 minutes, compiling the best score
he has ever had in this tournament
It also is one stroke better than the closing 68 he had here a year ago and prompted the junty Wadkins to comment;
"If I can keep on improving a shot a day, I won't have any trouble."
Wadkins said he was putting better than he ever had since he had been on the tour.
"It's nice to get off to a good start. It usually don't." said Wadkins, who has a history of trustrination in this situation. "I would see to it. I can do something with it."
Nicklaus also had his best start in nine years. It was the first time since 1982 he had a round in the 60s in a Masters first round.
Watson, who has two Masters championships to go with his five British Open titles, used a zebra
putter for only the third or fourth time in his career in an attempt to cure the putting miseries that have plagued his comeback try.
And the comeback, he said, is nearly complete.
"I feel like I just get back in the winning frame of mind"
"I haven't really felt like this since '18 when I nabiso Bass," his last victory
Joining those veterans at the top of the leaderboard were Jim Gallagher, Fred Couples and 20-year old left-chief amateur sensation Phil McKelson.
Ozaki, 44, also had a 68.
Gallagher, playing in his first Masters, was followed by his large, gold-oriented ring as he matched Wadkins' 67 with a bogy-effort.
The long-hitting Couples shot a 68, and Mickelson and the national amateur title-holder and a two-time national collegiate champion, became the first hitter to break 70 in Masters history. He shot 69 as Faldo's partner.
KU track teams visit Nebraska
By Rick C. Honish
Kansan sportswriter
Kansas coach Gary Schwartz said the meet was another stepping stone along the path to the Big Eight Conference championship meet.
The Kansas men's and women's track teams will leave this evening for Lincoln, Neb., where they will play tomorrow's Nebraska Quadrangular.
"We aren't doing anything differently in preparation for this meet than we have for the others," Schwartz said.
Kansas will face Nebraska. KState and Colorado State at the meet. The men's team also will compete against Minnesota.
Schwartz said the competition would be a challenge for the Kansas squads.
"Nebraska is the traditional Big Eight power. Schwartz said. "K-State is one of the top three now, and have some close meets with Missouri."
Schwartz said the only team he had not seen was Colorado State.
Freshman pole vaulter Brandon Blain said he was especially excited about this meet.
Blain said that at previous meets he also had competed in the hurdles and the long jump.
"Coach Schwartz thought I would be able to qualify for the Big Eight in those events," he said.
He said he had difficulty concentrating on each single event because he was always running from event to event.
"But after a while I got a little down on myself because I never really did well in one of the events." he said. "I am going to be able to concentrate only on the vault at this meet."
Blain said that he and the rest of the vaulting squad had spent the week concentrating on basic techniques.
"Vaulting is such a technical sport," he said. "I think working on the techniques has gotten me back up to where I should be."
Blaim said he thought the Kansas squad was better than the squads of other schools represented at the meet.
"If we get on the runway and put things together, we can sweep the meet," he said.
Philip Meiring/KANSAN
Lisa Pazdernik, Prairie Village junior, spots Sharon Zen during a gymnastics at Robinson Center.
Hang on tight
Tennis teams' Big-8 quests move to Ames and Lincoln
The KU men and women's tennis teams, both undefended in the Big Eight Conference, will continue their game. The title enforcement title on the road this weekend
The Jayhawks will play Iowa State in Ames tomorrow and Nebraska in St. Louis.
The men's team, 12-6 overall and
to beat in the conference, beat Colorado
10-9.
Kansan staff report
Kansas seniors Craig Wildey and Chris Walker are ranked ninth in the
"I feel we have one of the better teams around," Kansas men's tennis coach Perealman said. "If we take care of the team, they will handle teams will have to抱怨 about us."
country in doubles. The Jayhawks are ranked 14th as a team.
The Kansas women's team, 10-7 overall and 2-0 in the conference, were 8-1 victors against Colorado last weekend.
The Jayhawks are in first place in the Big Eight, with 15 points counting toward the conference title.
Team expects tough game against OU but hopes for strong weekend victories
By Lana Smith
Weather permitting, the Kansas softball team will have a full weekend of games this weekend at Jayhawk Field.
Kansan sportswrite
The Jayhawks will play host to Oklahoma for a doubleheader at 3 p.m. today and complete the three-game series with the Sooners at noon. Kansas will take on Kearney State at 1 a.m. tomorrow and at noon Sunday.
Junior catcher Erin Wahua said that despite the fact that Oklahoma did not play well during the weekend, she was not expecting an easy game.
Senior outfitier Jodi Hoyer said the Jayhawks were not impressed with the Sooners after watching them play during the weekend.
Softball
'I don't think many of the games
Oklahoma went 0-4 against Iowa
State (4-1, 10-5) and Missouri (7-6, 4-
1) on Saturday and Sunday.
The Jayhawks finished the weekend 1-3 in games against Iowa State and Missouri. Kansas defeated Iowa State 7,2; but then lost to the Cyclones 4-2 and to Missouri 1-0 and 2-1.
Haack said Kansas needed to beat Oklaahoma because he thought Kansas was the better team. He said the team had a plan to build up the Jawahirks, confidence.
"They swing the bats pretty well." Haack said. "I'll be disappointed if we don't sweep them, but we'll have to play well."
"They (Oklahoma) have a lot of wins right now, but they haven't
In the case of rain today or tomorrow, Haack said the games would be postponed. He said the teams would play the games early and playing early a day Sunday.
from here on out will be very easy,'' Wahaus said.
Kansas coach Kalum Haack said that the Jayhawks could beat the Sooners but that Kansas' victories might not be blow outs.
Haack said that Kansas had been working on batting to get ready for the weekend games.
He said that both teams had speed and that he was confident Kansas would have a good showing.
played a lot of strong teams." Haack said. "I know they're confident that they're a better ball club than they've been in the past. They'll be ready to play us, and we'll be ready to play them."
Will Spitz's comeback effort go swimmingly?
The Associated Press
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — The experiment that is Mark Spitz's comeback attempt is about to undergo its first lab test.
On Saturday, the 41-year-old winner of seven Olympic gold medals will race competitively for the first time in 18% years. His opponent in a 30-meter butterfly match race. Tom lacerated the world's fastest swimmer.
The 26-year-old Jager is the world champion and world record-holder in the 50 meter freestyle race.
Does Spitz really have any better chance than Jim Palmer did with the Orioles or George Foreman does with Evander Holfield?
After a year and a half spent training in an attempt to bring himself back up to Olympian caliber, he expected to expect Saturday at Mission Viejo.
"I'm very nervous and apprise
sive about trying to compete on a
level at which people may expect me
to compete." Spitz said yesterday.
"I've set my goal to at least try to do
the time I was at the 50-meter
mark in Munich, which was 25.38
seconds."
Spitz won his seven gold medals, including one in the 100-meter butterfly, in the Munich games of 1972. He said he hoped to compete in the
butterfly race again at the 1992 Olympics.
The 50-meter butterfly is not race competitively, but the distance was chosen for the match race in order to enhance the sport's appeal to television viewers, said Spitz's coach, Ron Ballatore.
Spitz is confident and has worked hard with Ballatore, the UCLA swimming coach said. But there are two other players on the team that can't win. His body and his start.
The problem with Spitz's body is not just that it is 41 years old. It has matured without the years of weight training that today's competitive swimmers undergo. Since Spitz began his comeback, he has incorporated weights into his training program.
“It’s a good thing we got a Flume to tell us Mark Spitz has a perfect stroke,” Jager said.
Jager hasn't swum the butterfly competition he since was at UCLA, where under Ballatore he set a school under the 108-meter race that still stands.
Last September, Spitz subjected his stroke to a high-ttech analysis in an underwater treadmill called the Flume, located at the U.S. Swimming Center at the University of Spring Colo. The verdict of the $1.6 million gizmo: Spitz still has a great stroke
New Jersey glides 4-2 past Pittsburgh
The Associated Press
The New Jersey Devils couldn't figure out how to win in Pittsburgh in four regular-season games, the playoffs are another matter.
The Devils won the opening game of their Patrick Division semifinal series at the Civic Arena, then stunned the Penguins again last night with a 4-2 victory in game five. Claude Lieuxmix's power-play goal with 7-10 left in the third period broke a 2-2 tie as the Devils moved to within a game of advancing to the division finals.
Pittsburgh missed several chances to take the lead before the
"They were coming at us in waves in the third period, and were getting all kinds of scoring chances," said Terreri, who made 39 saves. "We still know they have been playing our minutes. You can't test a second."
The Devils took a 2-0 lead on first-period power-play goals by John MacLean and Bruce Driver. Goaltender Chris Terris kept the Penguins off the scoreboard until the third period, when Ron Francis and Larry Murphy scored 2:47 apart.
Devils capitalized on a penalty to Penguins defenseman Randy Hillier. Kirk Muller directed the puck down the halfway line, and it behind a prone Trom Barrasso.
In the other Patrick Division semifinal series, Washington took a 3-2 lead with a 5-4 overtime against the New York Rangers.
Boston and Montreal moved one victory away from a meeting in the Adams Division finals. The Bruins scored six straight third-period goals for a 6-1 victory against Hartford and Rust Court, who were able to give the Canadians a 4-3 victory against the Buffalo Sabres.
The four Campbell Conference opening-round series resume tonight. In the Norris Division semifinals, Minnesota and Chicago are tied 2-2 going into game five at Chicago Stadium, and St. Louis plays host to Detroit, which leads the series 3-1.
In the Smythe Division, Los Angeles plays host to Vancouver after the teams split the first four games, and Edmonton takes a 3-1 series lead into game five at Calgary.