The Week in Review, 4/29

All kinds of news in Wildcatland this week.

Baseball

Sunday was a big salvage day in an otherwise thoroughly disappointing weekend for Brad Hill's ballclub. It appeared the Cats would lose another disappointing game after getting buzzed by NU's Luke Wertz (10 strikeouts on the day, wow). But the Cats fought back and pushed a run across in the 8th inning to tie the game, 1-1. After surviving a bases-loaded scare in the bottom of the 9th, the Cats exploded for seven runs in the 10th inning to blow the game open and salvage a victory, the team's first ever at Nebraska's Haymarket Park (beautiful facility, by the way).

Nebraska killed K-State with clutch hitting in the first two games. On Friday, the Cats led 3-2 before ace Brad Hutt made a really bad pitch at a really bad time. Hutt had NU's Jake Opitz down 0-2, leaving him one strike away from getting out of a bases-loaded, two-out jam. Unfortunately, Hutt caught a lot of plate and Opitz ripped a 2 RBI double, providing the winning margin of 4-3.

Saturday was a scoreless pitcher's duel before NU's Andy Brown hit one "two miles" (in Brian Smoller's description) over the left field wall for a three-run home run. The Cats battled back to 3-2, but NU plated three more runs and the Cats could only push across one in the top of the ninth.

Given the weekend's activities, the conference standings look like this...

1. Texas 17-4 (Swept previously #2 Oklahoma State)
2. Missouri 12-6 (Swept Texas Tech)
3. Oklahoma State 10-8 (Swept by Texas)
4. Texas A&M 11-9 (Beat Baylor, 2-1)
5. Nebraska 10-11 (Beat K-State, 2-1)
6. Oklahoma 8-10 (Lost to KU, 1-2)
7. K-State 7-11 (Lost to Nebraska, 1-2)
T8. Baylor 8-13 (Lost to Texas A&M, 1-2) (Own tiebreaker on KU)
T8. KU 8-13 (Beat Oklahoma, 2-1)
10. Texas Tech 7-13 (Swept by Missouri)

Ok. We're getting down to the nitty-gritty of the season at this point. The Cats have three conference series left. Next weekend, they take on KU, one at home, two in Lawrence. After that, Texas A&M comes to Manhattan. The final weekend, the team travels to Waco to take on Baylor.

Thanks to Missouri's sweep of Tech, we have moved into seventh place in the conference, a 1.5 games ahead of the Red Raiders, and half a game ahead of both Baylor and KU. Our spot in Oklahoma City, which is obviously the first priority, is looking a little more secure, although it's hardly a guarantee yet.

As far as making the NCAA tournament, this guy thinks we're in as of last week (prior to our win over Wichita State and the series with Nebraska). He had us fourth in line in the conference, a status that will probably change with this weekend's series loss to Nebraska. However, we have a golden opportunity coming down the stretch. Two of our three remaining series are against the two teams tied for last place in the conference. If we take both of those series, we ought to be a lock for OKC and a regional. Not getting swept by A&M would be a plus, as well.

Men's Golf

As covered previously, the men's golf team made a decent first-day showing at the conference championships in Hutchinson, before slipping to a ninth-place finish Tuesday. Not a bad overall showing by the team, considering how poorly they played most of the year (Golfweek consistently ranked them at the bottom of the conference). A better season could be in the works next year as the Cats lose nobody off the regular traveling squad.

Track and Field

This weekend saw the 98th running of the Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa. The Cats had what I would consider a great weekend, scoring two individual titles in the historic meet.

Kaylene Wagner won yet another title in the women's high jump, defeating Olympian Amy Acuff. Wagner went to the top of Drake Stadium's record books with her winning height of 6'2.25".

The Track Cats' other event champion was Donniece Parrish in the women's 100 meter. Video replay had to be used to determine Parrish had won the race, by a mere .002 seconds.

Marianne Schlachter finished second in the women's triple-jump. She is highly ranked in the Big 12 and nationally in that event.



NFL Draft

Three Wildcats have been picked so far in the NFL draft. They include Yamon Figurs (3rd round, Baltimore), Thomas Clayton (6th round, San Francisco), and Zach Diles, who will be joining me in Houston (8th round). I'm very surprised that Brandon Archer hasn't been picked yet. Of course, I was a little surprised (though I think it was justified) that Brady Quinn fell to #22 yesterday. What do I know, I don't run an NFL team.

Have a great week. I'll keep updating, but finals week has begun and I won't have a lot of time for very long posts. Thanks for reading.