Don’t know if you caught my Jayhawk Conference previews, but in case you didn’t … here’s my men’s story on Garden City Community College coach Kris Baumann, and here’s my women’s story on Hutch shooting guard Heather Robben.
Impressions? Both came off well. Of course, if you’re ending up as our season preview story it usually means you’ve had some type of success. And with both subjects, they’re coming off Region VI titles … you get the point. And as for Baumann’s knickname, Bucket? He’s still not saying how he got it. Just the generic “my teammates and coaches gave it to me” line. Aside from that, I was happy with the story.
Friends redshirt freshman center Zak Vanlooy — a 7-footer from Michigan — is the subject of Tuesday’s KCAC men’s preview and UMKC transfer Jessica Halsig, who should be the man for Friends this year — is the women’s subject. Newman on Thursday.
So yesterday was a furlough day for me — which means a day off and also means no checking e-mail, no nothing as far as work. So I get home circa 2 a.m. and I log onto good ole Kansas.com and … I probably re-read the score twice to make sure I wasn’t seeing things.
I knew it was going to be a little rocky for the Falcons with the transition to a new QB — but this one is on the defense and on the o-line, I think. Friends only ran for 67 yards. This is a team that always leads the conference in rushing and they got smoked. And the D? Holy cow. On paper this team looked really good. Still shocked.
As far as the Bulldogs, the win brought me back to a conversation I had with head coach Brian Ward at Media Day. We were going over their recruits and who they had coming back and I said something to the effect of “hey, you guys might sneak up on people,” and it seemed like it was all part of his bigger plan. Like no big deal. Like he was surprised more people didn’t think that. And now he’s got a star QB in Shane Mascarenas (338 yards, 4 Tds) and they’re ready to roll.
Remember, dynasties start with little seeds. Victories like this can be the catalyst for something … bigger. Do I think McPherson is going to run the table in the KCAC? No way. But if you say you know who is going to win the whole thing right now, well … like Joe Wilson said, YOU LIE.
(On that note — Wilson is a jerk. So is Kanye West. Being impolite never flies)
Just got off the phone with Friends men’s basketball coach Dale Faber, who confirmed that former Bishop Carroll standout Brett Steven is headed to play for the Falcons after one year as a walk-on at WSU. That’s big for Friends and Faber, who weren’t in the KCAC picture last year after a nice run (they finished tied for sixth). I’m sure you see the connection here, with Faber the boys coach at BC back in the day and the Stevens one of the great athletic legacies at that school. Steven — 6-foot-2, 170 pounds — will add immediate depth to their backcourt and … just putting this one out there … isn’t he already as good as any QB on Monty Lewis’ roster?
I’m just saying. Check Friday’s Eagle for the whole story.
Friends has got a new women’s soccer coach, reaching across Kellogg to grab Newman men’s assistant Victor Garcia-Bebek. What’s it mean? It means that Alan Shepherd, while still the busiest dude around, can take a deep breath. Here’s the release below, from Scott Robinson.
Feel free to weigh in on this … but the NAIA All-American teams came out today without a single KCAC player. That means that Friends, with a national ranking, with a win at the NAIA Tournament, and with KCAC player of the year Megan VinZant and pitcher of the year Brandi Leeker, didn’t get a spot. One or the other would have been great, but nothing. How did this happen? I’ve got a theory — the KCAC, as a league, gets zero respect on the national level in almost all sports they compete in. The exception is probably women’s basketball. Is this fair? Not really, but it usually derives from performance at national tournaments. In that aspect, the KCAC comes up short. The amount of teams waters down the competition level and doesn’t prepare them adequately for the national tournaments in most sports — although there are some exceptions, like I said. Not many.
But as far as VinZant and Leeker … they got robbed. I had one of them pegged as a first team picked and the other as an honorable mention. I’m not saying which. Here’s a link to their stats. Feel free to peruse and let me know what you think.
Here’s the situation: Up 1-0 in the bottom of the sixth, five outs from setting up a winner-take-all game against No. 1 Cal Baptist on Saturday, Friends gives up 2 runs and is batting in the top of the seventh. Runners on second and third with two outs and the Falcons couldn’t come up with a run. That’s the short of it.They also outhit Hastings 10-4. They’ll still play CB Saturday at 1. Tough loss.
In Normal, Ill., at the NJCAA Division II Tournament, Cowley beat Illinois Central 4-0 behind sophomore Jacey Juden’s 13 strikeouts and saw its second game against Blackhawk Community College suspended in the top of the second with the scored tied 0-0. They’ll finish that one Saturday.
Three of our area teams were in play today at national tournaments, and two came off with big wins, including Friends University picking up its first national tournament win, 6-5 over Park (Mo.) in Decatur, Ala. More on that later because I just got off the phone with some guy who was impersonating the SID at Friends, and wanted to call the score in. Except for Friends doesn’t have an SID. And he didn’t know much about the game, so he wasn’t doing a good job of faking it.
As for ESU … The No. 17 Hornets beat No. 16 Angelo State 23-0 in the first round of NCAA Division II Tournament South Central Regional in Warrensburg, Mo. No typo. They’re really having it in Warrensburg. Just kidding … yes, that was Twenty-three to nothing. A couple of Hornets had really big days in this berserker outing, with Kevin Wempe and Kenny Burkhead both going 5 for 5 with one home run apiece and 7 RBIs apiece. MIAA player of the year Conner Crumbliss was 4 for 6 with 3 RBIs and 5 runs. They’ll play Nebraska-Omaha Friday at 7.
Thought I’d just throw this up there — Kollen Long broke the story for us in today’s paper — that’s a big step for Alex Melugin, who got where he is today via Sunrise Christian Academy-Dodge City Community College-Friends University-Wichita Wild. Melugin was the KCAC offensive player of the year last season and helped lead the Falcons to two league titles in his two seasons. Melugin travels to Sioux City for his first start, where the 1-3 Wild should have a shot at a winless team. Oh, and he likes to tell people he was on the Dodge City CC team that beat Butler back in the day. Roll Call on the way.
My state/juco notes for today focused on the Friends softball team, something I was leading up to for a couple weeks but hadn’t pulled the trigger on the story because I was waiting for them to make a move in the standings, which they did. If you don’t know the backstory, here it is in a nutshell: Two-time defending KCAC champs have 31-game league winning streak broken, fall into second place then regroup to peel off six straight wins including a sweep of the first place team and take back the league lead.
Garden City Community College’s epic postseason run ended Thursday night with a loss to Connors State in the quarterfinals of the NJCAA Tournament.
The Broncbusters have put on a heck of a show, and because of my fondness for this team … I’m going to honor them with the first annual Sunflower Slate Johnny Drama Award.
