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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (April 24, 1990)
Nebraskan Tuesday, April 24,1990 ....maiMMii ~ Four Cornhuskers chosen for NFL draft By Jeff Ape! Senior Editor Nebraska All-America center Jake Young expressed mixed emotions Monday when he 1c been selected in the National Football League draft. But four of his former teammates were in good spir its, as they were selected by various NFL teams. Young Those players were outside line backer Jeff Mills, defensive tackle Kent Wells, I-back Ken Clark and quarterback Gerry Gdowski. Young, an academic All-Ameri can, said he was not disappointed that he was not selected. ESPN draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. predicted Young would not be se lected, as he said the 6-foot-4, 270 pounder from Midland, Texas, was “totally overrated.’’ Young earned All-America hon ors in 1988, and also was an All-Big Eight selection. Young offered only one statement when asked whether he was surprised. “Easy come, easy go,’’ he said. Young declined to say whether he would try out as a free agent. Mills was the first Nebraska player taken, as he was selected by the San Diego Chargers in the third round. The first five rounds of the draft were conducted Sunday. Wells was drafted by the Wash ington Redskins in the sixth round, while Clark and Gdowski were taken by the Indianapolis Colts and New Orleans Saints, respectively. The only other player selected with Nebraska ties was Wesleyan offen sive tackle Shawn Bouwens, who was taken by the New England Patriots in the ninth round. The first player selected in this year’s draft was Illinois quarterback Jeff George, whoalso was selected by Indianapolis. The second player taken was Penn State running back Blair Thomas (New York Jets), followed by defensive tackle Cortez Kennedy of Miami (Seattle Scahawks) and linebacker Keith McCants of Ala bama (Tampa Bay Buccaneers). Mills told The Associated Press he was happy to be chosen by San Di ego. He was the 57th player selected, and was the Chargers’ second choice behind Southern Cal’s Junior Seau. San Diego traded its second-round pick. *‘I was picked,” Mills said. ‘T have a chance to play some more football.” Mills’ third-round selection marked the first time since 1967 that the Big Eight did not have a first-round pick. The highest-picked player from the conference was Keith Sims, a 310 pound offensive tackle from Iowa State, who was taken by the Miami Dolphins in the second round. Mills admitted he was nervous when he didn’t hear his name called along with Sims’. “I was getting pretty anxious after the second round was over and I hadn’t heard the phone ring,” he said. “Wnen (Chargers’ general manager) Bobby Bcalhard called, I was still pretty calm, but happy. I told my mother, and she was ecstatic.” There’s no place like home for the NU softball team By Darran Fowler Staff Reporter After playing 39 of its 41 games away from home, Nebraska’s softball team will complete the regular sea son with an eight-game homestand. It starts today with a 5 p.m. dou blcheadcr against Wichita State at the NU Softball Complex, and continues Thursday when the 24-17 Comhuskers play a doublcheader against Creighton. This weekend, Iowa Slate and Okla homa State will come to play a scries of doubleheadcrs. The Big Eight tournament is May 3-6 in Oklahoma City. All home games are free to Uni versity of Ncbraska-Lincoln students who show their student ID cards. “We’re really happy to be finish ing here at home,’ ’ Husker coach Ron Wolforth said. “I’m really looking forward to this week, and I know the kids arc.” Wichita State has yet to score against Nebraska this season, losing 6-0 and 2-0 on April 11 in Wichita, Kan. In those games, Wolforth said, the Huskers “really look it to them’’ in the first game, but eased up in the second. Wolforth said that while Wichita State’s pitching and hitting is average and the defense is sound, the Huskers play at a higher level. However, that situation docs not assure victory with this year’s team. Nebraska has lost to teams it shouldn’t have this season, he said. “With this group, 1 don’t know what’s going to happen,” he said. According to Wolforth, the Husk ers should rally for five lo six runs in both games. In other words, he said, the Huskers would have to stop them selves to lose. “For Wichita State to win, we would have to have a breakdown in our defense or in our pitching,” he said. “I hope that’s not going to hap pen. “It’s going to take a solid, work manship-iike performance to gel us through.” Nebraska continued to build on the sch(X)l’s base-stealing record by gelling the 104th stolen base in Co lumbia, Mo., last weekend. The Huskers raised their record to 4-2 in the Big Eight by sweeping Oklahoma and splitting with No. 12 ranked Missouri. Wolforth said the Huskers must continue momentum gained over the weekend in today’s games. “It’ll be very interesting,” he said. “We need to take charge because a sweep would really give us a boost against Creighton and serve as a spring board into the weekend.” NU baseball team seeking redemption in Kearney State, Creighton games By Jeff Apel Senior Editor __ Two teams that the Nebraska base ball team knows all about might pro vide the perfect remedy for the Com huskers. Nebraska coach John Sanders said the Huskers arc anxious to face Kear ney State today and Creighton on Wednesday because they want to redeem themselves from a weekend series against Oklahoma State. Nebraska lost three of four games last weekend. The Huskers will try to recover from those setbacks when they face Kearney State - a NAIA opponent they blasted earlier this season - in a 4 p.m. doublchcadcr at Buck Beltzer Field. The games will be broadcast by KRNU (90.3 FM), and students who present their University of Nebraska Lincoln ID cards will be admitted free. Nebraska, 31-17, also will travel to Omaha to face Creighton on Wednesday. That game begins at 7 p.m. at Rosenblatt Stadium. Sanders said the Huskers arc anx ious to prove they are a better team than they showed against 13th-ranked Oklahoma State. He said offensive performance in particular hurt Ne braska against the Cow boys. Nebraska finished ihc Oklahoma State series with 19 hits while scoring eight runs. The lone Husker victory occurred Saturday, when they defeated the Cowboys 5-4 in the first game of a doubleheader. Sanders said the Oklahoma State series was not a cause for alarm. “Obviously, from the outside, we could be saying, ‘Gosh, we’re con cerned,’’’ he said. “But it’s more of a situation where we need to analyze what happened. “Offensively, we were pretty lame. We need to get some more offensive punch.’’ Sanders said two factors contrib uted to Nebraska’s offensive woes. “There were opportunities where we could have done belter,” he said. “Likewise, they pitched good in spots. Give them credit -- they pitched good in some spots.” Sanders said the Huskers must generate more offensive production, to defeat Kearney State and Creighton. The Huskers opened their season Feb. 11 by downing Kearney State 18-4, and dropped a 6-0 decision to Creighton on April 4 in Omaha. Sanders said Nebraska knows all about Kearney State and Creighton. Kearney State, 19-17, is coming off a two-game split with Wayne Stale, while Creighton took a pair of games from Missouri Valley Conference rival Illinois State on Sunday. “We’re fairly familiar with both of them,” he said. “But 1 think it’s more a situation of going out and playing the game. “We’re interested in getting back to a rhythm, a flow, a Big Eight mentality.” Sanders said he is not trying to pump up his team by building up the rivalry that exists between the three teams. Rivalries, he said, arc hard to maintain in baseball. “I suppose the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants were ri vals,” Sanders said, “but we don’t try and build them up. In baseball, you’ve got to play 60 games day in and day out, so you’ve got to play nine innings every lime.” Note: • Sanders said he has been pleased with his recruiting efforts this season. He said he has been splitting his lime between preparing for opponents, playing and talking with prospective recruits. Sanders declined to say if any recruits had signed yet, saying only that he would announce all of them later this summer. Intramural softball regulations clarified Q: On a play at the plate, the catcher, who is on his knees, is about to receive a throw from the center fielder. The base runner charging from third decides to hurdle the catcher instead of sliding around him. The catcher misses the tag. What's the call? A: The runner is out. A runner is entitled to slide or attempt to get around a fielder who has the ball waiting to make the lag. Going over the lop of ihe fielder, such as hurdling or jumping feel first is dangerous, and is therefore illegal. Q: With two outs, the bases loaded and the count full, the batter sw ings and misses the ball, which gets past the catcher and lodges in the mask of the umpire. Before the ball can be extracted, all three base runners advance to home. Does each run count? A: The ball is dead as soon as it , lodges in the umpire’s mask. Each base runner is awarded one base including the batter. Had there been less than two out with first base occupied, the batter would have been out, and each base runner would advance one base. Q: The pitcher, w ho was a base runner in his half of the inning, is slow in coming out to take his warm up pitches. The umpire refuses to permit him a warmup, stating he has used up his one-minute allotted time. Is the umpire correct or is he/ she overstepping his/her bounds? A: The umpire is correct. The one-minute lime limit begins at the conclusion of the final out of the previous half inning. However, in this situation, the umpire should use good judgment in enforcing this rule. This rule usually is not applied so strictly. Questions or comments pertain ing to any sport may be sent to Jim Vranicar, a senior advertising major who has worked as an OCR basket ball official for the last three years. Vranicar's mailing address is 34 Nebraska Union, 1400 R street, Lincoln, 68588-0448. m-RBIb Bryant wins vault title at NCAAs Michele Bryant did what the Comhusker women’s gymnastics team was unable to do: win an NCAA championship. Bryant, a senior, won the vault title at the NCAA championships last weekend at Corvallis, Ore., with a score of 9.85. Bryant fin ished tied for 13th in the all-around competition with a score of 38.40. Bryani’s score in the vault tied her career-high score. Nebraska coach Rick Walton said Bryant’s championship spoke well of both her and the Husker program. ‘it feels good to finally have an NCAA championship,’’ Walton said. “The championship caps off a good year for us. We’ve trained good athletes all year, and to have Michele win the vault title gives us more credibility.” Walton said he was pleased w ith the overall performance of his team, which finished fifth in the nation with a team score of 192.225. Utah, which won the national championship for the seventh time since 1981, scored a 194.90 to outdistance runner-up Alabama, which scored 194.575. Georgia was third with 193.225, and UCLA finished fourth with 193.10. Walion said the meet was a dif ficult one. “This was the strongest field ever at the NCA As, and to come in and stay close proves that wc have a very good team,** he said. “We hit more routines this weekend than wc’vc hit all year.” Walion said the Huskcrs had some execut ion problems through out the meet and that the little mistakes were a big factor. “Wc had three misses in the meet, but they all turned out to be crucial,” he said. “But 1 thought the girls performed well and did a nice job despite that. ’ * * Angie Burdette missed All America status by finishing ninth in the all-around competition. The top-eight finishers earn All-Amer ica status, and Burdette’s score of 38.85 wasn’t enough. Tami Bair finished 18th in the all-around with a 38.30, while Lisa McCrady finished 22nd and Jane Clemons was 25 th. Walton said that while tlx: Husk crs were disappointed, they should be proud of the past season. *Tm proud of the way we’ve performed,’ ’ Walton said. “We've had an outstanding year.” Deadline today for softball, frisbee golf The Office of Campus Recrea tion has set today as the deadline for men’s and women’s 16-inch softball and co-rcc frisbcc golf tournaments. Teams interested in entering the 16-inch softball competition must supply a S15 forfeit fee. The com petition is based on the Texas-league concept, which means each batter receives one pitch every time they step to the plate. The baiter must either swing or be called out. The softball competition begins Friday. Today also is the deadline for frisbee golf, which begins on May 1. Tcc limes will be available in OCR room 55 at 3 p.m. Thursday. No entry fee will be charged for frisbec golf. The defending cham pions in the event arc Bill Spulak in the men’s portion, Lori Jost in the women’s and Jost and Byron D’Amico in the co-rec division. In other OCR news, the Roscoe Pounders claimed the all-univer sity men’s indoor soccer title by downing Delta Upsilon 2-1 on Sunday night. Rassem Dabhas scored the only £oal for Delta Upsilon, while Mike Thompson and Clay Binkley scored lor the Roscoe Pounders.
