Sports
Jayhawks grab NCAA title from Sooners
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Danny Man
ning scored 31 points and grabbed 18 rebounds
as unranked Kansas won its second national
championship with an 83-79 victory over No. 4
Oklahoma Monday night to become the los
ingest champion in NCAA history.
The Jayhawks, 26-11, played fast and slow
and withstood a record-setting 3-point per
formance from Oklahoma’s Dave Sieger to
avenge two losses to the Sooners, 35-4, during
the regular season. Oklahoma had beaten
Kansas twice during the season, 73-65 and 95
87.
This was the third championship game
played between two teams from the same con
ference and it was the third this decade in which
a heavy underdog managed to win the title.
Kansas was an 8-point underdog but in the
first half the Jayhawks ran the with the Sooners,
the nation’s second-leading scoring team and
the regular-season and tournament champions
in the Big Eight. The first half was played at
Oklahoma’s tempo as the teams finished tied at
50-50.
Then they showed patience in the second
half, running down the 45-second clock before
taking good percentage shots. The Jayhawks
shot 64 percent for the game, 35 of 55, and then
cooled off after a first half in which they made
17 of 20 at one point.
But for all the strategy of Coach Larry
Brown it was Manning, the two-time All
America who carried the Jayhawks to the title
in a year in which they overcame injuries and
academic problems.
Milt Newton added 15 points for Kansas,
while Kevin Pritchard had 13. Sieger led Okla
homa with 22 points, while Stacey King had 17
and Harvey Grant and Mookie Blaylock added
14 each. But King and Grant, the two leading
scorers, had just four each in the second half.
Kansas took the lead for good at 69-68 on a
hook shot by Manning with 8:50 left in the
game. It was the last of seven straight Kansas
points scored by the 6-foot-10 Kansas center
and the play staked with Manning standing at
midcourt with the ball waiting for Oklahoma to
come out and apply pressure.
Manning handed the ball off, cut to the
basket and hit the hook.
Chris Piper then hit a jumper to give Kansas
a four-point lead. The Sooners tied the score on
a free throw by Sieger and a turnaround jumper
by Grant with 5:55 left.
Pritchard hit a baseline drive with 5:34 left
and the Jayhawks were on the way to the first
national championship for a team from west of
the Mississippi River since UCLA won in 1975.
Manning sealed the victory with four free
throws in the final 14 seconds. He gave Kansas
an 81-77 lead with the first two. Scooter Barry
had missed the second free throw of a 1-and-l
but Manning tapped the rebound and was
fouled by King.
The game was played in Kemper Arena, the
site of die Big Eight tournament and just 35
miles form the Kansas campus.
N U will try to eliminate bitter taste against Creighton
n.. u:i,n VI../.L __l A • . . ..... ... . _ . .
Staff Reporter
Although the Nebraska softball
team has already defeated Creighton
once this season, a bitter taste still
lingers in the Comhuskers’ mouths.
But today at the Nebraska Softball
Complex, the Huskers will have a
chance to numb the two-year bitter
ness when they face Creighton in a
doubleheader at 3 p.m.
Nebraska coach Ron Wolforth
said the bitter taste comes from an
NCAA ruling that declared the Husk
ers ineligible just before they were to
face Creighton in the 1986 Midwest
Regional.
The winner of the regional tourna
ment receives an automatic berth to
the College World Series.
The NCAA disqualified Nebraska
because, the report staled, the Husk
via u.iwj mu intugiuic piaycrs WHO
“materially contributed” to winning
the Big Eight tournament and earning
an automatic regional berth. The
players were identified as former in
fielder Amy Love and current short
stop Jane Kremer.
The NCAA ruled that Love rode
the team bus during her redshirt sea
son in 1985 and that former Nebraska
coach Wayne Daigel paid for a meal
for Kremer and her family while he
was recruiting her.
“A few years ago was supposed to
be our year winning the series before
we were disqualified to play in the
regional,” left fielder Janclle Frcse
said. “This year is the first time we get
them again.”
Wolforth, whose team beat
Creighton 5-0 in the Bud Light Invi
tational in San Jose, Cal if., earlier this
season, saiu ne is trying 10 eliminate
the negative rivalry between the two
schools and make the contest posi
tive.
“I like to downplay any negative
feelings toward Creighton,”
Wolforth said. ‘‘We certainly have no
ill feelings toward them. I like playing
and I like beating Creighton/’
Wolforth said he enjoys playing
the Bluejays because they are usually
one of the top 10 teams in the nation.
He said Creighton is a definite top-20
team this year.
Wolforth said the 18-7 Bluejays
are “red hot” because they have won
nine straight games after losing to
Nebraska.
‘‘If we jump out ahead of a team,
we will win 99 percent of our games,”
Wolforth said. “Our pitching and
defense is always strong and good.
w ncn wegei a ieaa on a team, we taxe
a lot away from them and they have to
string together five or six hits, and
both our pitchers will not allow them
to.”
Frese said she knows pitching will
be important against Creighton. She
said the Huskers also have to be in the
game mentally by attacking the ball
and being alert when they play de
fense.
“I know they’re out to get us,”
Frese said. “They are going to have a
lot of motivation behind their play,
but Nebraska is going to be ready to
play. We need to tune up for the Big
Eight, and we can’t afford to lose. A
split to us would be considered an
unsuccess.”
Frese said she hopes Nebraska is
able to put together a complete game
and play up to its potential against
^reignion.
Wolforth said the Huskers need to
play every inning of both games hard.
He said that during Nebraska’s 2-1
and 4-2 victories against Eastern Illi
nois Saturday, the Huskers only
played hard during the first three
innings of each game.
“If we are going to challenge for
the national championship we need to
play every inning at a high level of
intensity,” Wolforth said. “The dif
ference between good and great
teams are they have very few lapses in
intensity. We lost three ball games in
one inning because we lost our inten
sity. We need to play the full seven or
14 innings.”
Wolforth said he expects Kremer,
who missed Saturday’s games be
cause of an illness in her family, to
play today. He said Kremer will bring
stability back to the Husker lineup.
3-1 Iowa State series disappoints Nebraska’s Sanders
By Steve Sipple
Senior Reporter
Many college baseball teams
would be satisfied with winning three
of four games on the road against a
conference opponent.
But not the Nebraska Com
huskers.
Nebraska led 8-6 and was two
strikes away from sweeping a four
game scries against Iowa Stale in the
second game of Sunday’s double
header at Cap Timm Field in Ames,
Iowa. But Ed Riley launched a two
out, three-run home run to enable the
Cyclones to avoid the sweep with a 9
8 win.
Nebraska won Sunday’s first game
11-1. The Huslcers beat the Cyclones
14-5 and 6-1 on Saturday.
Nebraska coach John Sanders said
his team wanted a sweep.
“We’re not really happy,” Sanders
said, “mainly because we were two
strikes away from winning the game.
When you put yourself in that posi
tion, you want to take advantage of it.
Our goal was to go down there and
sweep, not win three of four.”
The weekend series raised
Nebraska’s record to 23-7 overall and
3-1 in the Big Eight. Iowa State’s
record fell to 12-14 and 1-3.
Nebraska dropped from seventh to
No. 13 in the Collegiate Baseball
ESPN national Top 30, which was
released Monday.
Sanders said Riley grooved
Husker relief pitcher McGraw
Milhaven’s fastball. He said the pitch
Milhaven threw was a good one.
“It was a fastball that was down in
the strike zone," he said.
Sanders said the focus of the loss
shouldn’t be placed on Milhaven’s
home-run pitch. He said Nebraska’s
fielding errors caused the loss. The
Huskcrs committed three errors in the
final game, including two key ones in
the last inning, Sanders said.
Pat Heiderscheit opened the sev
enth with a single and advanced to
second on the first error. After Mil
haven got an out on a grounder back to
the mound, Reggie Stalzcr reached on
an error by shortstop Ken Sirak to put
runners on second and third base,
setting the stage for Heiderscheit’s
game-winning home run.
Sanders said Nebraska’s shabby
defense set up the home run.
“The defense wasn’t stable,”
Sanders said. “As a result, they got
back into it. If we had played solid
defense, the homer would have been
a so-what type deal.”
Sanders refused to blame the er
rors on fatigue, despite a Huskei
schedule that required the team tc
play its last 16 games on the road.
“There’s no reason the errors
should happen,” he said. “We’re nol
going to cut any slack for our guys.
The bottom line is we expect to play
good defense. That’s something we
can control.”
Milhaven’s record dropped to 1-1
with the loss. Heiderscheit, who
moved from first base to the mound in
the fifth inning, picked up the win.
He’s also 1-1.
In Sunday’s first game, designated
hitter Joe Federico hit two home runs
— his fourth and fifth of the series —
to lead Nebraska to an 11-1 win.
Federico, a senior from Temple
City, Calif., had two hits in three at
bats and had four runs batted in. His
.397 batting average is second-best on
the team.
Pat Leinen, a sophomore from
Ralston, raised his record to 5-1 by
throwing seven complete innings and
allowing one run. He gave up five
hits, three walks and struck out three.
Nebraska continues its extended
road swing tonight with a nine-inning
game against Creighton at 7 in
Omaha’s Rosenblatt Stadium. The
Bluejays, 19-7, were nationally
ranked last week, but dropped from
this week’s poll.
Nebraska travels to Wichita, Kan.,
Wednesday for a nine-inning game
against No. 15-ranked Wichita State.
Sanders said Nebraska’s road
schedule will help the Huskers pre
pare for the rest of the season.
“It helps us to get away from the
comfort zone of playing at home," he
said. “And it forces excellence in
tough situations. To play well on the
road, you really have to concentrate ”
Look for Oakland to capture the AL West pennant
It is because of names like Dave
Parker, Mark McGwire, Jose
Canseco and Don Baylor that many
preseason experts are picking the
Oakland Athletics to win the Ameri
can League’s West Division.
But if the A’s are to capture their
first legitimate title since 1974, they
need production out of catchers Terry
Stcinbach and Ron Hassey, shortstop
Walt Weiss and pitchers Dave Ste
wart, Dennis Eckerslcy, Storm Davis,
Rick Honeycutt and Bob Welch.
Steinbach, a rookie sensation last
year who is being touted along with
Parker, McGwire, Canseco and Bay
lor as part of Oakland’s “Murderer’s
Row, needs to display the same type
of consistency he showed last season
while proving himself as one of
baseball's top young hitters. His de
vclopment will be aided by the pres
ence of Hassey, who has proved
himself as a consistent performer that
can provide needed veteran leader
ship.
Weiss, a highly touted shortstop
who is being counted to replace Al
fredo Griffin, has to perform as he did
in a mop-up role at the end of last
season, while Stewart, Eckersley,
Davis, Honeycutt and Welch need to
shore up an inconsistent pitching staff
that is being touted as a strong point
this season.
Questions surrounding the pitch
ing staff will keep the Minnesota
Twins from repeating as division
champions this season.
The Twins, who somehow de
feated St. Louis to win the World
Series last year, did not make any
legitimate attempts to strengthen a
pitching staff that ranked among the
worst in baseball. The only pitching
additions Minnesota made during the
off-season were acquiring Tippy
Martinez and Charlie Lea, who have
combined to win one game in three
years.
An offensive arsenal that includes
Kent Hrbek, Tom Brunansky, Gary
Gaetti and Kirby Puckett will carry
Minnesota to a second-place finish in
the West, but don’t look for the Twins
to puli off any miracles like last year.
A minor miracle that will occur
this season is the resurgence of the
California Angels.
California, which finished tied for
sixth witha 75-87 record last year,has
added Johnny Ray and Chili Davis to
its already-talenled cast that includes
Wally Joyner, Devon White, De
Wayne Buice and Kirk McCaskill.
The only area that will keep the
Angels from winning the division is
defense, particularly with Ray and
Davis starling in right and left field.
Defense will also keep the Seattle
Mariners from doing any better than a
fourth-place finish this season.
Seattle, which made key acquisi
tions when it acquired pitcher Steve
Trout and outfielder Henry Cotto
from the New York Yankees, still has
a glaring defensive weakness at third
base, where Jim Presley committed
21 errors last season.
The bright spots for the Mariners
this season will be All-Star second
baseman Harold Reynolds, pitcher
Mike Langston, and veterans Alvin
Davis and Ken Phelps.
The Texas Rangers have quality
players in veteran pitcher Charlie
Hough, second-year player Ruben
Sierra and outfielder Larry Parrish,
but lack a catcher and any type of
consistent pitching to do any better
than fifth.
Another liability for the Rangers is
designated hitter and former Okla
homa State slugger Pete Incaviglia,
whose two-year totals include 353
strikeouts and a disappointing 57
home runs.
Power hitters won’t be a problem
for the Kansas City Royals, who pos
sess the likes of Danny Tartabull,
Frank White and the inconsistent Bo
Jackson.
What will keep the Royals from
finishing any better than sixth in the
West is a barren bullpen. Kansas City
manager John Wathan was faced with
a dilemma throughout spring training
and solved it by keeping veteran relief
pitchers Gene Garber and Dan Quis
enberry on the Royals’ roster. The
only problem is Garber and Quisen
bciTy arc way past their primes, and
neither is going to be able to provide
Kansas City with needed relief.
A lack of any type of pitching and
veteran leadership will keep the Chi
cago White Sox from finishing any
where but last in the West.
The White Sox, who finished a
surprising fifth last season with a 77
85 record, are in a transition stage that
will not begin to pay off until at least
two seasons from now.
Pitcher Jack McDowell; outfield
ers Lance Johnson, Gary Redus and
Dan Pasqua; catcher Ron Karkovice;
and shortstop Oz/.ie Guillen all show
promising talent, but the White Sox
have too many question marks to
prove themselves as a team to be
taken for real.
The predicted finish:
Team Record Games back
Oakland 103-59
Minnesota 92-70 11
California 86-76 17
Seattle 51-81 22
Texas 75-87 28
Kansas City 63- 99 40
Chicago 55-107 48
Apd is a junior news-editorial major
fTom Lincoln and Is the Daily Nebraskan
sports editor.