Starkville, Miss. ? Four games in three days are on tap for Kansas University’s baseball team this weekend at the NBC Classic on the Mississippi State University campus.
The Jayhawks (12-5) will meet Austin Peay at 11 a.m. today, play two games Saturday — against Austin Peay at 11 a.m. and host MSU at 3 p.m. — then wrap up with a 1:30 p.m. game Sunday against MSU.
KU coach Ritch Price will start senior Clint Schambach (2-1, 2.28 earned-run average) on the mound in today’s opener.
Sophomore Sean Land (1-1, 4.43) and senior Mike Zagurski (3-1, 2.28) will start Saturday’s games. Zagurski leads Big 12 Conference pitchers in strikeouts with 39.
Junior Kodiak Quick will hurl in Sunday’s finale. Quick, a transfer from Stanford, has started three games and appeared out of the KU bullpen twice to compile a 4-0 record and a 1.11 ERA in 241/3 innings pitched.
The Jayhawks have a team batting average of .295 and have outscored opponents, 143-71. KU pitching has amassed a 2.68 team ERA and is holding opposing hitters to just a .222 batting average.
Mississippi State is ranked 17th in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Assn. poll and 19th in the Collegiate Baseball poll. The Bulldogs are 3-0.
After bolting to a 6-0 start with a sweep of an extended series against Hawaii-Hilo, the Jayhawks have stayed solid, though they’ve lost two of their last three games. In an 8-4 loss to Southwest Missouri State on Wednesday, KU committed six errors in a performance Price called “embarassing.”
Overall, KU has single losses to SMS and Northern Colorado and suffered a three-game sweep at the hands of Top 25 mainstay Stanford on the road.
A student group formed from Ralph Nader’s 2000 run for the U.S. presidency will have its national convention Aug. 8-11 at the Kansas Union.
The Campus Greens event is expected to draw more than 400 high school and college students from across the nation.
An Aug. 9 rally at the Lied Center called “Justice Across Generations” will feature speakers from social movements of the past several decades. They will include Vernon Bellecourt, co-founder of the American Indian Movement, and Michael Bronski, author and gay rights activist.
Campus Greens had its first convention last year in Chicago, where the group is based. It wants to build progressive student movements at high schools and college campuses.
Lawrence was chosen for this year’s convention because of its central location and the enthusiasm of the KU Greens, officials said Tuesday.
“A lot of conferences tend to be on the East or West coasts. Here we had a very organized group in Kansas that was willing to take on the task of organizing the convention,” said Carolyn Danckaert, national director of the Campus Greens.
“And Lawrence has a tremendous reputation of being a progressive community,” she added.
Sarah Hoskinson a KU graduate from Lawrence, one of the founders of KU Greens, said the Lawrence organization had about 40 active members. Nationally, the group has about 2,500 members in 150 chapters, which is up from about 15 chapters last year.
Hoskinson said the convention would focus on ways to prevent increasing corporate influences on public education.
The event will feature numerous workshops and discussions on globalization, the environment, politics, fund raising, labor, trade, social justice and issues facing indigenous people.
Event organizers said they were trying to get Nader to speak to the convention, but they hadn’t been able to confirm whether he could make it.
In 2000, Nader received 10 percent of the vote in Douglas County, one of his highest countywide percentages in the nation.
Registration for the convention is available online at www.campusgreens.org. Individuals who are not members are welcome to attend. Registration runs from $20 to $40, depending on affiliation with a campus chapter or individual.
A student group formed from Ralph Nader’s 2000 run for the U.S. presidency will have its national convention Aug. 8-11 at the Kansas Union.
The Campus Greens event is expected to draw more than 400 high school and college students from across the nation.
An Aug. 9 rally at the Lied Center called “Justice Across Generations” will feature speakers from social movements of the past several decades. They will include Vernon Bellecourt, co-founder of the American Indian Movement, and Michael Bronski, author and gay rights activist.
Campus Greens had its first convention last year in Chicago, where the group is based. It wants to build progressive student movements at high schools and college campuses.
Lawrence was chosen for this year’s convention because of its central location and the enthusiasm of the KU Greens, officials said Tuesday.
“A lot of conferences tend to be on the East or West coasts. Here we had a very organized group in Kansas that was willing to take on the task of organizing the convention,” said Carolyn Danckaert, national director of the Campus Greens.
“And Lawrence has a tremendous reputation of being a progressive community,” she added.
Sarah Hoskinson a KU graduate from Lawrence, one of the founders of KU Greens, said the Lawrence organization had about 40 active members. Nationally, the group has about 2,500 members in 150 chapters, which is up from about 15 chapters last year.
Hoskinson said the convention would focus on ways to prevent increasing corporate influences on public education.
The event will feature numerous workshops and discussions on globalization, the environment, politics, fund raising, labor, trade, social justice and issues facing indigenous people.
Event organizers said they were trying to get Nader to speak to the convention, but they hadn’t been able to confirm whether he could make it.
In 2000, Nader received 10 percent of the vote in Douglas County, one of his highest countywide percentages in the nation.
Registration for the convention is available online at www.campusgreens.org. Individuals who are not members are welcome to attend. Registration runs from $20 to $40, depending on affiliation with a campus chapter or individual.
A student group formed from Ralph Nader’s 2000 run for the U.S. presidency will have its national convention Aug. 8-11 at the Kansas Union.
The Campus Greens event is expected to draw more than 400 high school and college students from across the nation.
An Aug. 9 rally at the Lied Center called “Justice Across Generations” will feature speakers from social movements of the past several decades. They will include Vernon Bellecourt, co-founder of the American Indian Movement, and Michael Bronski, author and gay rights activist.
Campus Greens had its first convention last year in Chicago, where the group is based. It wants to build progressive student movements at high schools and college campuses.
Lawrence was chosen for this year’s convention because of its central location and the enthusiasm of the KU Greens, officials said Tuesday.
“A lot of conferences tend to be on the East or West coasts. Here we had a very organized group in Kansas that was willing to take on the task of organizing the convention,” said Carolyn Danckaert, national director of the Campus Greens.
“And Lawrence has a tremendous reputation of being a progressive community,” she added.
Sarah Hoskinson a KU graduate from Lawrence, one of the founders of KU Greens, said the Lawrence organization had about 40 active members. Nationally, the group has about 2,500 members in 150 chapters, which is up from about 15 chapters last year.
Hoskinson said the convention would focus on ways to prevent increasing corporate influences on public education.
The event will feature numerous workshops and discussions on globalization, the environment, politics, fund raising, labor, trade, social justice and issues facing indigenous people.
Event organizers said they were trying to get Nader to speak to the convention, but they hadn’t been able to confirm whether he could make it.
In 2000, Nader received 10 percent of the vote in Douglas County, one of his highest countywide percentages in the nation.
Registration for the convention is available online at www.campusgreens.org. Individuals who are not members are welcome to attend. Registration runs from $20 to $40, depending on affiliation with a campus chapter or individual.
A student group formed from Ralph Nader’s 2000 run for the U.S. presidency will have its national convention Aug. 8-11 at the Kansas Union.
The Campus Greens event is expected to draw more than 400 high school and college students from across the nation.
An Aug. 9 rally at the Lied Center called “Justice Across Generations” will feature speakers from social movements of the past several decades. They will include Vernon Bellecourt, co-founder of the American Indian Movement, and Michael Bronski, author and gay rights activist.
Campus Greens had its first convention last year in Chicago, where the group is based. It wants to build progressive student movements at high schools and college campuses.
Lawrence was chosen for this year’s convention because of its central location and the enthusiasm of the KU Greens, officials said Tuesday.
“A lot of conferences tend to be on the East or West coasts. Here we had a very organized group in Kansas that was willing to take on the task of organizing the convention,” said Carolyn Danckaert, national director of the Campus Greens.
“And Lawrence has a tremendous reputation of being a progressive community,” she added.
Sarah Hoskinson a KU graduate from Lawrence, one of the founders of KU Greens, said the Lawrence organization had about 40 active members. Nationally, the group has about 2,500 members in 150 chapters, which is up from about 15 chapters last year.
Hoskinson said the convention would focus on ways to prevent increasing corporate influences on public education.
The event will feature numerous workshops and discussions on globalization, the environment, politics, fund raising, labor, trade, social justice and issues facing indigenous people.
Event organizers said they were trying to get Nader to speak to the convention, but they hadn’t been able to confirm whether he could make it.
In 2000, Nader received 10 percent of the vote in Douglas County, one of his highest countywide percentages in the nation.
Registration for the convention is available online at www.campusgreens.org. Individuals who are not members are welcome to attend. Registration runs from $20 to $40, depending on affiliation with a campus chapter or individual.
Roy Williams had a lot of complaints about his Kansas basketball team Sunday. He had no beefs about the Jayhawks’ No. 4 seeding in the Midwest Regional of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament.
“You play yourself into the spot where they put you. We played ourselves into that spot,” said Williams, mighty disappointed in KU’s play and the in-house bickering of his own players in Saturday’s Big 12 semifinal loss to Oklahoma at Kemper Arena.
The Jayhawks, who finished the regular season 24-6, barked at each other on the court during the second half of the game.
After the contest, senior Kenny Gregory said publicly the Jayhawk players were guilty of “selfishness.”
So instead of winning the tournament and perhaps landing a No. 2 seed in the Midwest Regional at Kansas City’s Kemper Arena, the Jayhawks were shipped to Dayton, Ohio, for a 6:40 p.m. Friday battle against No. 13 seed Cal State Northridge (22-9) of the Big Sky Conference.
The winner will meet either No. 5 seed Syracuse (24-8) or No. 12 Hawaii (17-13) on Sunday in a second-round game. Winner of that contest heads to the Round of 16 in San Antonio.
No. 1-seed Illinois or former KU assistant Jerry Green’s Tennessee team are potential third-round foes with No. 2 Arizona and No. 3 Mississippi on the bottom half of the Midwest Regional bracket.
“It would have been nice to be a 2, but the reason it would have been nicer is it means we would have won another game or two in Kansas City,” said Williams.
Williams held a team meeting Sunday at Allen Fieldhouse in which he said some “harsh” things.
Later, the KU players ate dessert at Williams’ house and watched the NCAA Tournament Selection Show on CBS.
“I do think if we’d played better we’d have gone there,” Williams said of the Kansas City regional. “It would have been great for our fans. They wouldn’t have had to drive as far. Dayton is 643 miles or something. Kemper is a little closer.”
Williams knows Dayton well. His 1995 KU team beat Colgate and Western Kentucky and advanced to a regional semifinal in Kansas City where the Jayhawks lost to Virginia. In 1992, KU beat Howard and lost to UTEP in a second-round battle in Dayton.
“I always said I wanted to go somewhere warm this time of year. When I go on my morning jog I don’t have to wear six suits of clothes and mittens and things on my ears,” Williams said.
“It doesn’t work out that way very often so they’re sending me to a place I’m familiar. Kenny wanted to go to Dayton. It’s close to home (Columbus, Ohio). Eric Chenowith wanted San Diego,” he said of the Californian. “Once the game starts it doesn’t matter if it’s Kansas City, San Diego or Dayton.”
KU’s coach promises some rigorous practices heading into the NCAAs in response to sloppy play and bickering on the team that apparently took place during and after the Oklahoma game.
Nobody is talking specifics, but at one point in the second half it appeared Drew Gooden and Chenowith may have had words.
“I think it’s more postgame frustration than anything,” Williams said of Gregory’s assertion of team selfishness. “There was some talking going on the court I’ve never seen in one of my teams and will never see again.
“The easiest way to stop that is for me to make a commitment it’ll stop and it better stop.
“Eric and Nick just listen to what I just said,” Williams ordered Jayhawks Chenowith and Nick Collison, who were sitting in the back of KU’s interview room Sunday. “It (bickering) better stop right there. If you guys want to perceive that as a threat, it’s your prerogative,” he added.
Chances are the Jayhawks will do some extra running in preparation for the NCAAs.
“We are going to have three great practices. I mean great practices. I can spell with capital letters because it’s going to be one frickin’ great three days of practice,” Williams said. “If it’s not there are some people who are going to want to transfer on Thursday morning.”
Williams said the Jayhawks must put what happened at Kemper Arena behind them.
“I want us to learn from it,” he said. “We made some serious, serious mistakes. Saying that, we have to move on. We will try to get our team better from here on out.
“If we get things rolling we can have some big-time fun. The only way you can have big-time fun is to play well.”
Williams said KU will have to play well to beat CS Northridge. The Matadors are coached by Bobby Braswell, who was ex-Jayhawk point guard Adonis Jordan’s high school coach in Reseda, Calif.
“I’ve known Bobby for 13 years. His teams with Adonis were coached as well as you can be coached,” Williams said. “They beat UCLA. They play extremely hard and aggressive.
“Bobby was (former KU assistant) Jerry Green’s assistant at Oregon before he went to Cal State Northridge. We’ll face a team that’s really hungry and a team that will think, and rightfully so, that they can make a name for themselves by beating Kansas.”
Kansas University has added a baseball game against Baker to replace last Tuesday’s game against Rockhurst that was weathered out. KU and Baker will meet at 3 p.m. next Wednesday at Hoglund Ballpark.
Pitcher Pete Smart will start Kansas University’s first baseball game of the season today.
Beyond that, the rotation is far from settled.
“We’ll probably start Justin Wilcher on Saturday,” KU coach Bobby Randall said. “So we’ll have two left-handed starters. After that well, hopefully we’ll establish a couple of starters and our bullpen.”
Smart was an easy pick for Randall. A 6-foot-7 senior, Smart led the Jayhawks last season in wins (seven), losses (nine), starts (17), complete games (four), innings pitched (1132/3) and earned run average (4.59).
The rest of the returning pitchers made just nine starts combined, and Jeff Davis (4-3, 7.32 ERA) accounted for eight of the nine.
“It’s not all on me,” Smart said. “I don’t look at it like that. I can pitch one game, one game a series. The way I look at it, I should go all nine innings and be the winner in that one game, but that’s it.”
Smart will throw the season’s first pitch at 6 tonight against Texas Christian in the Express College Classic in Round Rock, Texas.
Wilcher, a junior transfer from Garden City Community College, tentatively is slated to start Saturday’s 2 p.m. game against Southwest Texas. Wilcher was 5-2 with a 2.50 ERA at Garden City last season.
The starter for Game Three at noon Sunday against North Carolina-Charlotte hasn’t been determined. The candidates include Davis, Dan Olson (1-1, 4.50 ERA, one start last year) and junior Jake Wright, who red-shirted last season.
KU’s bullpen a weak spot last season is similarly unsettled.
“We need to find somebody who can hold the score,” Randall said, mentioning newcomer Doug Lantz and veterans Sam Gish (24 appearances, 5.88 ERA last season) and Eric Thompson (18.00 ERA).
Kansas’ position starters are a different story. KU returns nine players who had some starting experience last season, including Brent Del Chiaro at catcher, Casey Spanish at second, John Nelson at short, Ryan Klocksien at third, Jesse Gremminger in right field and Kevin Wheeler at DH.
And then there’s Doug Dreher, a senior who hit .315 with 48 RBIs last season.
Dreher started all 55 games last season Klocksien was the only other player who made every start and saw most action at second. He likely will move to centerfield this season.
“That’s one reason I’m so optimistic about this year,” Smart said. “Last year, we had to play some guys some places because we had to, like Doug. What does that say about how much better we’ll be that we can start him in the outfield this season?”
Kansas likely will start at least two newcomers today Justin Davis, a juco transfer first baseman who helped Grayson CC to the NJCAA World Series, and freshman Matt Tribble in left. Matt Van Alsburg, a sophomore who was a starter in 1999 before sitting out last season with an injury, also could figure into the outfield mix.
“It’s crowded out there,” Randall said, “but that’s a good problem to have.”
KU, 25-30 last season, will travel to the Rawlings tournament in Phoenix next Thursday through Sunday.
Weather permitting, the Jayhawks will entertain Rockhurst in their season opener on Feb. 20.
