THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN SPORTS
COLLEGE BASKETBALL |7A Kansas State knocks off Texas
Kansas regained control of the Big 12 after No.7 Texas' loss to Kansas State, 70-75
TUESDAY, MARCH 1, 2011
WWW.KANSAN.COM
PAGE 10A
TAKING CONTROL
Senior outfielder Casey Lytle is thrown out at second base after attempting to steal the base during the bottom of the third inning Monday afternoon at Hoglund Ballpark. Lytle went 0-4 with a walk in the Jayhawks 5-2 win over Iowa.
Jayhawks bouncing back with big victory
BY MIKE VERNON
mvernon@kansan.com
The Kansas baseball team took a small step toward getting back on track, improving to 2-3 with Monday afternoon's 5-2 victory over Iowa at Hoglund Ballpark.
Starting pitcher and anchor of the roation, senior T.J. Walz, took the mound for the third time this season. The senior hurler came into today's game with an underwhelming 0-2 record and an unusually high ERA of 12.71. Walz had also given up an alarming eight earned runs through his first 5.2 innings pitched on the season.
For Walz, the third time was the charm, as he pitched six strong innings, giving up only one run
off of two Hawkeye hits. He also struck out eight Hawkeyes, dropping his ERA down to 6.94.
"I felt a lot more comfortable coming out of the stretch today." Walz said.
While most of his numbers were strong, Walz still continued to struggle with his control. He walked five batters in six innings, and most of his control issues were early in the game as four of those walks came in the first four innings.
"Obviously I'm concerned about the number of walks he's had in two straight outings" coach Ritch Price said. "Certainly his strength has been his ability to locate his fastball and right now he's a little bit elevated in the zone."
With the game tied at 1-1 in
the fourth inning, Walz had to do something to correct his shaky control that was plaguing his performance.
It took a bullpen session while the Jayhawks were batting in the fourth for Walz to get his timing down pitches back over the plate. After the bullpen session, Walz seemed to piece it together and didn't allow a hit while giving up one walk.
The Jayhawks' bats were also able to show their first breath of life in Monday's game. The team had been struggling at the plate batting a collective .146 in its first
"I went and worked on something down in the bullpen in the fourth inning and it seemed to work." Walz said. "It was just a timing issue."
four games while averaging 2.5 runs a game.
Kansas managed to piece together six hits, all singles, to finish with five runs. The Kansas offense got its spark from the bottom of the order, with junior outfielder Jason Brunansky and sophomore catcher Alex DeLeon each getting two hits with one RBI and one run scored.
DeLeon's first hit of the season came at a crucial time in the sixth inning with the Jayhawks looking to add a cushion to their 3-1 lead. He had an RBI single that knocked in junior first baseman Zac Elgie.
"I was just trying to get a fastball up in the zone," DeLeon said. "I just put a good swing on it."
Kansas will try to take its
momentum gathered from Monday's victory to its Tuesday afternoon doubleheader against Southern Utah at Hoglund Ballpark.
Senior Wally Marciel will take the mound in the first game, at 3 p.m. and sophomore Thomas Taylor will be the Jayhawks starter in the second meeting, played 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first.
The Jayhawks, who are beginning a stretch of eight games in ning days, have started their demanding schedule off on the right foot after Monday's victory over Iowa.
"Everyone looks pretty good now; getting it together," DeLeon said.
Edited by Tali David
BASKETBALL
Seniors' impact on the team will be missed
BILL SELF ON THE THREE GRADUATING SENIORS
BY MIKE LAVIERI
mlavieri@kansan.com
twitter.com/kansnball
Three seniors, arriving in Kansas at three different times, will play their final game together at Allen Fieldhouse on Wednesday night against Texas A&M.
"I think with Mario, this guy came in as a very heralded player. Then he had to have a rod put in his leg and fight through injuries and some obstacles. He's a team guy. He's my kind of guy. Mario is a tough winner."
Brady Morningstar arrived in 2006 after two years at New Hampton Prep in New Hampshire and Tyrel Reed came a year later from Burlington High School. They are the only two members of this team that were a part of the 2008 National Championship team. In fall 2009, Mario Little joined the Jayhawks after two years at Chipola College in Marianna, Fla.
"He has basically been, even though he has been a sixth man, a three year starter for us. He started all the games as a sophomore and some as a junior and senior, so he's been great."
"Tyrel came in as a nervous kid. Really nervous around me and didn't get me at all for awhile. As he's matured and developed I think he's one of the most fun kids to be around."
"To me senior night is a celebration of three guys' careers," Self said. "One game does not capture what their careers have been. At Kansas that's one of the great things we have here and one of the great things we do tradition-wise."
All three players have different roles, and the contributions they made in their time will certainly be missed. Self said that Morningstar has been great, and even though he is the sixth man, he has essentially been a three-year starter.
"We're not going to look at it negatively, we're going to look at it as, 'senior night is going to give us an extra boost,' rather than let it take away from anything."
"I'll miss Brady a ton because he's as much as the personality of the team as anyone is." Self said.
Self never thought that Morningstar and Reed would be this good.
"They've been great," Self said. "When you recruit, it's such an
inexact science."
"The story been told, he decided to go to prep-school and then I tried and got with his family and I said, 'You sure you want to go to prep-school? Can't you just come now?' after studying him some more." Self said. And look where he is now.
During the recruitment process, Morningstar lived down the street from Self, but never received a house visit from the coach. Self said he was being recruited by a lot of mid-maidens.
Reed had offers from Missouri, Kansas State and Oklahoma. Self said he hesitated in offering Reed a scholarship but finally decided to go for it because "ne's such a good kid and hed be great for the program."
Self has seen huge improvements in their development since Reed
Self said that Reed was a nervous freshman when he first arrived in Lawrence. Reed agreed, saying that he didn't know how to approach or joke with coach. Self said that as Reed has matured, he has become one of the most fun people to be around.
and Morningstar first got here. He said that it is at the point where if Morningstar and Reed don't perform well, the team doesn't win
"Growing up as a coach's son, I'd always faced a little yelling in my life," Reed said. "It never really affected me, I was always used to it. When I got here, I wouldn't say that the yelling got to me too much. I didn't know how to respond to it as much, not being my dad. I couldn't take it with a grain of salt; I held on to things. Coach Self doesn't hang
Neither Morningstar nor Reed would change a thing about the decision to come to Kansas. For Morningstar, he grew up in this town and always wanted to play for the Jayhawks. He said he is excited for Wednesday; he's been waiting for it.
Little, too, is excited for senior night.
Little came from Chipola as a highly touted scorer. He faced adversity from injuries to the suspension in December, but Self likes Little and says that he is a team player.
on to things. He'll say what he wants
to say and then it's over with. He can
joke with you the next play."
"Mario's role is to give us a boost off the bench, and to score if need be. He will certainly try his hardest to oblige. He also gives us an
element of toughness too," he said.
Little doesn't know what his emotions will be Wednesday night. He said he might be happy or sad, he doesn't know, but he is going to embrace it.
For Morningstar, it'll definitely be an emotional experience.
Self has joked about Little "clipping" off shots whenever he touches the ball, but that was his mentality for so long. Little says he doesn't focus on scoring any more; he just worries about playing hard on the defensive end and getting his teammates open looks.
"You should be sad," Morningstar said. "All good things must come to an end. This one's coming to an end."
Edited by Tali David
COMMENTARY
1
Senior night memories endure
BY GEOFFERY CALVERT gcalvert@kansan.com
Senior night is the best regular season game of the year, because it's our last chance to show the senior class how much we appreciate all they have done for Jayhawk basketball. It's a poignant night because the focus is not on the seniors earning another victory, but instead it's about the fans giving the seniors a proper send-off, showing their gratitude and love for the players and all they've done.
This year is memorable because two of the seniors are from Kansas: Tyrel Reed, from Burlington, and Brady Morningstar, from Lawrence.
But senior night is more than just a game. Senior night is the pregame and postgame. Two senior nights in particular stand out. The first is 2005, the class that included Michael Lee, Keith Langford, Aaron Miles, and Wayne Simien, the lifelong Jayhawk fan from Leavenworth.
The speeches that night were special as well. Darnell Jackson spoke about his family members who had died while he was at KU, and how Bill Self was the one who got him through that tough time and convinced him that Jayhawk Nation loved him and was there to support him. Robinson is appreciated for the maturation he underwent in his four years at KU. As a freshman, Robinson hated Lawrence and wanted to transfer back home to New York. But he obviously stuck it out, and came to regard Lawrence as a second home.
In this instance the game was as memorable as the celebration of the night. Case entered the game, missed a couple of three-pointers, and decided not to shoot anymore. Well, all of the other seniors had scored and no one was going to have Case end his final home game scoreless. As the second half clock wound down, Case's teammates and the 16,300 fans packing the Fieldhouse kept imploring Case to shoot. He finally did, unleashing a three-pointer that was good. Case then made two more three-pointers to the delight of the crowd.
It was unforgettable how Simien took the microphone and said, "I'm going to go ahead and apologize right now. Get comfortable, because I've been waiting for this my whole life"
He then proceeded to talk for 25 minutes, and fans hung on every word he said.
As Mario Little, Brady Morningstar and Tyrel Reed prepare to play their final home game, the truth is that no matter where they were born or raised, there's no place like home, and that house is Lawrence.
Although Lee and Miles were from Portland, and Langford was from Fort Worth, Texas, by the time senior night came, the foursome was beloved by Jayhawk Nation like they were all homegrown products. That's what makes senior night at Kansas truly special — each member of a senior class is cheered for as if he was born and raised in Allen Fieldhouse.
The other memorable senior class is the class of 2008. Yes, they won the NCAA title, but that's not the only reason to remember them. The 2008 class consisted of Jeremy Case, Darnell Jackson, Sasha Kaun, Russell Robinson, Rodrick Stewart and Brad Witherspoon. Case, Jackson, Kaun and Robinson stood out in particular. They had all been at KU for four years, and Case had been here for five.
Edited by Dave Boyd
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