Omaha World-Herald from Omaha, Nebraska • 41

Sports 3)crald Thursday April 6 1989 41 Stu Pospisil Tom a Rookie? Only at Augusta Augusta Ga Nowhere but at the Augusta National Golf Club would Tom Sieckmann be considered a rookie The Omahan whose 13 year profes sional career has taken him around the world is one of 13 first timers tn the field for the 53rd Masters Sieckmann has plenty of company as he tees it up for the first time today on the ultraplush fairways of America's most famous course One Masters rookie is his playing partner Jim Benepe whose victory at the 1988 Western Open came in his first Professional Association Tour event Another is Iowan Dave Rum mells who has Mark Lynam of Papil lion as his caddie Masters rookies rarely are thought of as championship material rank Urban Zoeller uzzy to you me and everyone else was the last rookie winner in 1979 One must go back to the first two years for first time winners Horton Smith in 1934 and Gene Sarazen in 1935 Never Like This Sieckmann has played the par 72 Augusta National course prior to this tournament but never under Masters conditions Nowhere but at Augusta National are there fairways that compare to the greens on your typical public course and greens that are smoother greener and slicker than the finest billiard tables "1 have to go out and strike the ball Sieckmann said after walking off the practice green Wednesday after noon makes it a little tougher that I played the course under exactly these conditions I know for instance how the ball will bounce every time "How I score depends on a few breaks either An under par round today would be a good start for Sieckmann who started well this season 117th on the money list making money in only two tournaments and missing eight cuts Here Two of his mentors Dave Pelz for the short game and David Ledbetter for driving are here to help Sieckmann out of his slump Also here are parents Highland Country Club professional Steve Shanahan and Phil Bruning one of financial backers is here except my Sieckmann says I wish they could be Jim is playing on the ar East tour and Paul is in medical school and get Sieckmann played in par 3 tournament the final moment of levity before the serious stuff begins His partners were two golfers also seeking a first Masters title names of Tom Kite and Chip Beck Just a couple of multimillionaires Those two with their experience stand a better chance than Sieckmann of wearing the green jacket come Sunday evening But a top 24 finish which would eam him a spot in next Masters is an attainable goal for Sieckmann One who would look good in green is Mark Calcavecchia the other golfer in the field with ties to Nebraska The 28 year old native of Laurel Neb lost to Scotsman Sandy Lyle by one stroke last year when Lyle hit his memorable 7 iron from the sand trap on the uphill par 4 18th hole and made a birdie putt Interview Calcavecchia is on everybody's inter view list this week because of last near miss and because he won two tournaments in three weeks during late January and early ebruary He missed the cut at two tourna ments in March and took two weeks off to recover from the attention he was receiving and to prepare for another attack on Augusta Neither Calcavecchia nor Sieckmann will let the scenery distract him from his appointed rounds the next four days (provided each makes the cut after round) but the atmosphere is awe inspiring Painstakingly Perfect Nowhere but at Augusta National is a course as painstakingly manicured Every blade of grass in place every azalea bush in full bloom Combine the natural beauty with the memory of the great shots played there and I dare anyone not to get goose bumps when they view Amen Comer where the 11th 12th and 13th holes meet course is Jack Nick laus said as he gave interviews on the clubhouse porch as good as I've seen If things nature's colors at Augusta then painted green Green is everywhere from the televi sion towers on the 18th hole to the opaque paper wrappers for the ham and cheese and pimento cheese sand wiches in the Quonset hut used as headquarters for the golf writ ers and broadcasters Tradition Nowhere but at Augusta National Awaits the Masters This Year Augusta Ga (AP) Tom Kite says the site for the 53rd Masters is a "different course this But the first of annual four major tournaments hasn't moved from the Augusta National Golf Club It's just that the splendid old place the same at least not in view The difference is on the greens he said fast fast as Kite said a little softer Not soft very firm But they as hard as they have been in the last couple of And that could make a major differ ence in the tournament that begins today suggested the tough little man who has come so close so often here among the azaleas and dogwood the wisteria and redbud that color the course built by the legendary Bobby Jones "The last couple of years the leaders have just been trying not to Kite said the greens softer more recep tive to a shot now there's the possibility of somebody making a charge over the last nine holes coming out of the pack and winning the Rain? The greens could be even softer if the threat of rain becomes real The forecast calls for the possibility of heavy rain and thunderstorms riday and again Sunday the day the tourna ment is set to end could be here Monday" Masters chairman Hord Hardin said "If we are unable to complete play riday and make the cut we could be in Jack Nicklaus says maturity has made Mark Calcavecchia a better golf er Page 46 trouble" Hardin said just have to and So will the starting field of 85 of the world's finest players and a gallery of about 40000 Kite is on the short list of players most likely to be in title contention over those last nine holes So are defending titleholder Sandy Lyle of Scotland British Open cham pion Seve Ballesteros of Spain a re vived Greg Norman of Australia and American hopes Curtis Strange and Mark Calcavecchia "My game is better now than it has been in a long said Kite winner of two out of his last three starts and the American PGA Tour's leader in win nings at $365179 certainly expect it to be a good week for Lyle Norman Ballesteros and Cal cavecchia a native of Laurel Neb all have games that traditional wisdom says are ideally suited to Augusta National Calcavecchia Slips Some Calcavecchia a brash young man second to Lyle in the 1988 Masters was the sensation of the early season He won two tournaments on the western swing and had a chance to win two more Calcavecchia though has missed the cut in in three of his last five starts Some other major contenders are former champion Ben Crenshaw Bruce Lietzke Hal Sutton Craig Stadler Paul Azinger David rost and Payne Stewart Much of the early crowd however may flock to the gallery of 59 year old Arnold Palmer making his 35th Mas ters start Jack Nicklaus the only six time Mas ters winner and slump ridden Tom Watson will be attempting to recapture some of the flair and flavor of the years when they ranked as the world's pre mier performer The purse traditionally an nounced until the weekend Last year it was $1 million with $183800 to the winner The USA cable network will provide live television coverage of portions of the first two rounds today and riday CBS will televise the final two rounds NU Defense Is Dominant In Scrimmage By Doug Thomas WORLD HERALD BUREAU Lincoln Defense dominated Wednesday in first scrim mage of spring football practice The 1 hour 15 minute scrimmage produced just two scores a 49 yard field goal by Chris Drennan and a 50 yard pass from Keithen McCant to Mark Dowse think the hitting was pretty good and I think there was anybody hurt bad That was the good NU Coach Tom Osborne said defense was fairly dominant which is fairly normal after two days of practice I think they have a little bit better chance to haul off and do things touchdown pass to Dowse a sophomore from Broken Bow Neb came late in the scrimmage when the No 2 offense was working against the No 2 defense The No 1 offense faced the top defense for 23 plays early in the scrim mage The first teamers started six series at the 50 yard line and the only score was field goal Drennan also missed from 35 and 47 yards His top competitor at place kicker Gregg Barrios sat out Wednes day with a sore leg Osborne said still seeking help for returning starters Jake Young and Doug Glaser on the offensive line "We need to look hard at our people up front on that first unit and find some guys that are strong enough physically to block some he said I was a little disappointed in some of the coordination on the first unit getting things executed properly "But I think anything we iron out" Quarterback Gerry Gdowski played the first three series with the top unit completing his only pass for 7 yards to Ken Clark and gaining 5 yards on six carries Mickey Joseph took over on the next three series He too hit his only pass a 19 yarder to Chip Bahe and he ran five times for 11 yards including a 19 ya rd scramble McCant a redshirted sophomore from Grand Prairie Texas completed 3 of 6 passes for 60 yards Mike Grant a sophomore to be from Brandon la was 2 for 4 for 23 yards the quarterbacks kind of had some good plays and some bad Osborne said "As I've said before I think there's some talent there I think going to eventually work itself Nate Turner last No 2 split end played at wingback Wednesday Osborne said the sophomore to be prob ably will stay there "I think he can really be a good player the coach said "He can do some things we need to have done at that HUSKER NOTES: Nebraska takes today off works riday in sweat clothes and scrimmages again Saturday Osborne said lineman Erik Wiegert a sophomore lineman from remont (Neb) Bergan has switched from guard back to tackle his position the past two years 4L3 Jr by xr I 7 Bill Batson 'World Herald Nebraska shortstop Ken Sirak leaps over sliding Bobby Langer to complete a third inning double play in the first game of a doubleheader Creighton won 4 2 to snap nine game home winning streak Pitcher Gains Revenge Jays Take Pair rom NU By Lee Barfknecht WORLD HERALD BUREAU Lincoln Creighton pitcher Dan Smith settled a score Wednesday Last year in Omaha against Nebras ka the 6 foot 5 left hander gave up five hits four walks and four runs as the starter in a 12 run loss to the Huskers "I think I pretty much walked the Whole park that said the sopho more from Apple Valley Minn I had a little revenge going this He got even in the first game of a doubleheader striking out 10 and walk ing no one in Creighton's 4 2 seven inning victore The solid pitching contin ued in the nine innmg second game before 175 fans at Buck Beltzer ield Senior Russ Menczywor struck out eight in seven innings and junior reliev er Brennan Maley stopped an NU threat in the eighth to presen'e 9 4 wan The sweep boosted Creighton's rec ord to 21 10 Nebraska fell to 13 11 losing for the first time at home this season after nine straight victones "Give them credit" NU Coach John Sanders said not here to make excuses "They got two well pitched games played good defense and had timely hitting That usually wins" The pitching has been a season long source of pnde for Creighton "Our pitching has been tough the first 30 CU Coach Jim Hendry said "Other than one day against pitched well enough to win every game" or that he credits pitching coach Todd Wenberg "There are not a lot of drafted arms around here" Hendry said our staff ERA is about 300 right now I'm getting all the credit but Todd's doing all the Creighton's pitchers were at their best against best hitters Center fielder Ken Ramos leading hitter the past three seasons was 0 for 7 ith three strikeouts Left fielder Bobby Benjamin who set an NU school record with 21 home runs last year was 0 for 8 with three strikeouts has caused us fits in the past" Hendry said "And Benjamin is a great player We were just lucky enough to get them out With a little more luck Smith might Please turn to Page 45 Col 1 Over Out Off: Orel Loses Streak Cincinnati (AP) The magic disap peared right away So did the streak And finally Orel Hershiser lost the game too be any arguments about it extending Hershiser said Wednesday night after his record shutout string ended in his first inning of the season The streak stayed at 59 and stopped when Todd Benzinger hit an RBI single with two outs Hershiser gave up a single to start the game and hurt himself with two throwing errors as the Reds beat Los Angeles 4 3 kinds of things didn't happen last Hershiser said calm and composed as always the streak I get Benzinger out But given up a lot of runs since then so I thinking about Hershiser did not give up a run in his final six starts in the regular season The New York Mets and Oakland nicked him in the postseason but not much Benzinger who had never faced Her shiser made it official with a solid single to right field Hershiser did not have one of his now famous To sheets on Benzinger and his computer information bank went blank on him Benzinger a hometown player ac quired from Boston in the off season knew all about Hershiser Maybe too much "With all the talk the articles and the commercials think he was un Benzinger said just a pitcher with good stuff Any pitcher who gets behind in the count is going to get hit" Dodgers Manager Tom Lasorda knew Hershiser's streak had to end sometime one can expect him to throw like he finished last year That was one in a lifetime" Lasorda said pitched a good game It was a couple of bad throws to the bases not to the batter that beat Barry Larkin opened the bottom of the first with a single up the middle and advanced when Hershiser made a wild pickoff throw The crowd of 20964 its numbers kept down by temperatures in the upper 40s responded with a standing ovation for both Hershiser and Benzinger More than 55000 saw Cincinnati beat the Dodgers at Riverfront Stadium on Opening Day but Hershiser did not pitch because of the flu Hershiser working quickly on the chilly night got nicked again in the third on hard singles by Davis Benzinger and Paul O'Neill If Hershiser has a weakness his fielding He made six errors last season no other Los Angeles pitcher made more than two and his career fielding percentage is a poor 928 Hershiser 3 1 with a 367 eamed run average during spring training had not lost in the regular season since last Aug 24 against the New York Mets He had not given up a run in a regular season game since Aug 30 against Montreal Inside Sports Kansas City Rallies In 9th to Edge Jays Kansas City rallies with two out in the ninthtobeatToronto2 Page45 VALVANO SPEAKS: North Carolina State basketball coach Jim Valvano says that most coaches paid enough Page 43 Appier Learns A Hard Lesson Omaha alls 7 1 By Steve Pivovar World Herald Staff Writer Denver Kevin Appier and the Omaha Royals got off to a rough start Wednesday night Appier the No 1 pitching prospect in Kansas minor league system lasted just 2'3 innings in his Class AAA debut long enough to allow six Denver runs in a 7 1 Omaha loss at Mile High Stadium "I was rushing too much at times trying to be too fine at other said Appier who gave up five hits and walked four was a tad night straight Omaha Manager Sal Rende argue with Appier's assessment took advantage Rende said "It came down to pitching They pitched pretty well and we They did the right things and they won the game did some things right We played good defense and I thought we had some guys get some good swings Some times a game like this is magnified because it's opening night just one of many and I think be Wednesday the Royals got early The Mile High Stadium crowd of 10876 still was getting settled when the Zephyrs combined two infield hits a walk a sacrifice fly and a single to take a 2 0 first inning lead off Appier The 21 year old right hander pitched a perfect second but ran into trouble quickly in the third He lost lead off hitter Darryl Hamilton walk ing the Denver center fielder after putting him behind in the count 1 2 Darryel Walters forced Hamilton at second but Appier loaded the bases with walks to Greg Vaughn and George Canale Joe Mitchell who singled in Denver's second run made it 4 0 with a two run single Matias single drove in the fifth run and Please turn to Page 47 Col 1 Barone Challenges Bluejays To Repeat Their 1989 eat By Steve Sinclair World Herald Staff Writer Coach Tony Barone challenged the Creighton basketball team Wednesday night to become the first squad ever to repeat as Missouri Valley tourney champion and the first repeat regular season champ since ex member Louisville (1973 74 and 1974 75) "The immense challenge you have ahead of you as a basketball team is going to take an unbeliev able commitment on your part to Barone told the players at the Jaybacker of the Year banquet About 200 attended the dinner at the Holiday Inn Central "We can Barone said "We told the people we were going to win the championship this year and we were going to win 20 games I walked into the locker room every day and saw on (junior guard) Porter Moser's mirror Every day I said 'I don't know how we're going to do that I know how we can get to that "But somehow you did it Pm amazed by what you did You should be richly commended for your ef forts Now you've got to somehow do it again And going to be tough But the thrill of cutting the nets down in Wichita will not rival the thrill of cutting the net down at Illinois State next year" Creighton won the postseason tournament this season at Wichita State Next tourney will be at Normal 111 Whether considered the top candidate for the coaching job at Marquette will coach the Blue jays next season remains a question He said before the banquet that he would make no comment In a development Wednesday Marquette announced that Toledo Coach Jay Eck had withdrawn his name from consideration Barone Eck Iowa assistant Rudy Washing ton and Arizona assistant Kevin are the four coaches who have interviewed for the job Coaches presented several awards: Most Valuable Player Senior guard James arr Most Improved Player Soph omore center Chad Gallagher Most Inspirational Player Sophomore guard Todd Eisner Outstanding Defensive Player Sophomore forward Bob Harstad Most Improved Academically arr CU athletic director Don Leahy honored booster Len Leavitt as the Jaybacker of the Year The Bluejays return all players except arr next season Coach Counting on Gym Tradition To Help Huskers Hang On to Title By Lee Barfknecht WORLD HERALD BUREAU Lincoln In what could be the tightest NCAA gymnastics championship in years Nebraska Coach rancis Allen is counting on tradition and the home court advantage to help bring the defending national champion Huskers a seventh title things will give us a boost and we need it" Allen said Wednesday' at a press conference to announce the 10 team National Collegiate Athletic Association field team is not as strong as in years past don't have seven gymnasts got six and we need every one of them toperform" Nebraska ranked seventh nationally earned an at large bid to defend its title April 13 15 at the Bob Devaney Sports Center in Lincoln No 1 Houston Baptist (Midwest) No 2 UCLA (West) No 3 Illinois (Mi deast) and No 9 Penn State (East) earned automatic regional bids to the meet Other at large berths went to No 4 Ohio State No 5 Stanford No 6 Minnesota No 8 Iowa and No 10 Ari zona State Tight could be one of the most closely contested championships we have ever said Iowa State Coach Dave Mickelson chairman of the se Top 10 1 Houston Baptist 28121 2 UCLA 28075 3 Illinois 280 63 4 Ohio State 28009 5 Stanford 27990 6 Minnesota 27966 7 Nebraska 27951 8 Iowa 27623 9 Penn State 27258 10 Arizona State 27491 Note: Penn State earned a higher rank ing than Arizona State even with a lower average because the Nittany Lions were the top team from the East Regional lection committee top eight teams are really a pretty tight group I look for it to be a tremendous competi So does Allen have my final three list and it has five teams on it which is how close it Allen said "I pick Nebraska Illi nois UCLA Houston Baptist and Stan ford" The 10 teams battle April 13 (Thurs day) to make the top three which qualifies them for the April 14 team championships we perform Thursday night we might as well buy tickets for ri Allen said if we make the finals we can Nebraska broke its own national scoring record last year in winning with a 28815 an average of 961 per routine Watching Out for Illini a team gets Allen said could break our scoring record And if I had to tat on a team to do it it would be Illinois they are hot they can run away with it But at Nebraska and I think psychologically and physically ready toperform" The Huskers are coming off of a season high score of 28215 (941) which they posted in winning the Big Eight title two weeks ago GYMNASTICS NOTES: Nebraska decided just this week to bid for the 1990 national championships "But we need to take a serious look at the crowd this year" Allen said not going to stick our necks out and lose money We know next year is going to be a tough year for us The NU athlet ic department is wormed about a budget deficit for next year because of revenue lost from other Big Eight schools being placed on NCAA probation Senior Mike Epperson of Bartlesville Okla is candidate for the Nissen Award considered the Heisman Trophy of gymnastics NU gymnasts have won the award three times in the past seven years Jim Hartung in 1982 Wes Suter in 1986 and Tom Schlesinger in 1988.