UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Friday. February 14, 1997
7B
KU's baseball team heads to Las Vegas to start 1997 season
'Hawks will play 3-game series against UNLV
By Harley Ratliff
Kansan sportswriter
Las Vegas is the home of showgirls, slot machines and, at least for this weekend, Kansas baseball.
No, the Jayhawk baseball players aren't heading west for a few days of casino life and Elvis impersonators. They arrived in the desert yesterday with one goal in mind.
Winning.
The Jayhawks will open the 1997 season this afternoon with a three-game weekend series against the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. Kansas finished last season with a 26-30 record.
After nearly a month of indoor practicing and bowing to the cold Kansas weather, head coach Bobby Randall said the team was more than ready to get out on the field and enjoy the warm Nevada sun.
"We've been indoors long enough," Randall said. "We've waited a long time for this. The last couple of days, everyone has had their eyes fixed on playing baseball."
While the Jayhawks arrive in Las Vegas with a clean record, their opponent, UNLV, will be playing its third series of the season.
The Rebels are 2-4. They already have faced two nationally-ranked opponents, No. 2 UCLA and No. 2 Washington. Although the Rebels have a losing record, Randall knows that UNLV's added experience could work against the Jayhawks.
"Getting a few games under your belt always makes a difference," Randall said. "I'm sure the bookmakers in Vegas will probably make us heavy underdogs."
The lack of on-field experience means Randall will spend the series rotating pitchers and possibly juggling lineups. To keep everyone fresh, Randall will make sure that no pitcher is overworked during the first series of the season. Although Aric Peters, Tim Lyons and Josh Bailey are slated to start, none are expected to pitch an entire game.
"We'll probably pitch nine guys," Randall said. "We're hoping to get three to four innings out of every guy. If we can get a pitcher to put in five innings, that would be fantastic."
The Jayhawks' success this weekend will hinge on playing solid defense and getting high-quality pitching, Randall said. He stressed the importance of keeping the opponent's score in single digits.
"The elevation is not like Boulder, Colo., but the ball is to go fly out of there," Ran-
"I'msure the
bookmakers in
Vegas will
probably makeus
underdogs."
Bobby Randall Kansas baseball coach
dall said. "We'll have our hands full keeping the score down."
Doing that will mean keeping the ball away from the Rebels' two star players, first baseman Kevin Eberwein and third baseman Ryan Hankins.
Eberwein, a 1996 freshman All-American, and Hankins, a three-time All-American, are the workhorses behind the UNLV offense. Eberwein already is batting .368 this season, while Hankins has a lifetime average of .370.
"They're tough at the corners," Randall said. "UNLV returns a lot of good position players, but their pitching staff is inexperienced."
While the Jayhawks may lack experience, pitcher Josh Wingerd said the team was ready to get things rolling.
The Jayhawks now are hiring a message center operator and are looking for someone to run the scoreboard. Both positions will be paid per game. If interested, contact Jeanie Wulfkhue at 864-4210.
Tournament canceled, but teams still will play
Dedicated softball players will go to makeshift contest
Nothing will stop the Kansas softball team from playing this weekend.
By Matt Woodruff
Kansan sportswriter
The team originally was scheduled to compete at the University of Texas at Arlington in the Pepsi Cola Intercollegiate Softball Championship this weekend.
The event was canceled because of heavy rain in Arlington, but several of the teams scheduled to compete got together and came up with
pete got together and came up with a solution.
"We had enough teams that still wanted to play," Kansas assistant coach Marla Looper said. "(Oklahoma coach) Patty Gasso threw together some teams and called around to get the facilities. She really just threw together this makeshift tournament."
Tracy Bunge
So now Kansas will travel to Oklahoma.
The tournament, which will be
Kansas' first of the 1907 season
"Everybody's dying to play, and they're tired of playing each other," Gasso said. "We had a lot of teams that had flown in already, so we just tried to find the first eight teams that were willing to play."
under new coach Tracy Bunge, will take place at Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City, Okla., tomorrow and Sunday.
The teams competing are Kansas, New Mexico, University of Illinois at Chicago, Alabama, Southwest Missouri State, University of Tulsa, Oklahoma State and the host. Oklahoma.
Alabama is coached by Kalum Haack, who coached at Kansas from 1988-1995.
Tomorrow Kansas will play three games. Its first opponent will be the University of Illinois at Chicago at 9 a.m. They will play New Mexico at 1 p.m. and Big 12 rival Oklahoma State at 5 p.m.
On Sunday, single-elimination bracket play will begin with the championship game at 3 p.m.
The softball players said they were ready to get outdoors and compete against new faces.
"I think we're tired of being inside," said senior
Heather Richins, Kansas' second baseman. "I'm really excited to play, and I think we'll do really well this weekend."
1997 Kansas Softball Schedule
DATENAME/OPPONENTLOCATION
2/27 Hillenbrand Invitational Tucson, Ariz.
3/7 Hall of Fame Tournament Oklahoma City, Okla.
03/14 OSU Cowid Classic Stillwater, Okla.
3/20 Aram Capital Group
3/25 Iowa Sacramento, Calif
3/14 OSU Cowgirl Classic Stillwater, Okla.
3/25 Iowa Sacramento, Cali
3/28 *Baylor* Texas
4/15 Wichita State Wichita, KS
PRECISION TECH
4/8 Ogrishen State Stillwater, Okla.
4/12 *Oklahoma State Stillwater, Okla.
4/13 Oklahoma City, OK
4/15 Wichita State, Wichita, OK
4/19 *IOWA STATE Lawrence, Kan.
4/26 *MissouriColombia, Mo.
4/26 NEBRASKA
4/23 Southwest Missouri State Springfield, Mo.
4/29 *NebraskaLincoln, Neb.
5/2 Big 12 Tournament Oklahoma City, Okla.
K12 GROUP TEAMS
5/21 NCAA College World Series Oklahoma City Okla.
HOME GAMES IN CAPS
- Denotes Big 12 Conference opponents
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