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PAGE 8
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 22, 2014
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
BASEBALL
Piche continues success into 2014 season
BEN FELDERSTEIN sports@kansan.com
Certain players surprise their teams, even more surprise their coaches, rarely do athletes surprise themselves. Jordan Piche is rare.
Piche is one guy on a roster filled with Division I baseball players, but he just might be the most important. A solid closer is one of the most vital positions on the field. Being
able to come into the ninth inning and get three outs to end the game takes a lot of mental preparation.
Senior closer Jordan Piche recorded 12 saves in 32 appearances, posted a 1.68 ERA and was placed on the All Big 12 first team. "I'm kind of laid back until the ninth inning rolls around," Piche said. "Then I become much more intense. It adds to the fun."
"I'm kind of laid back until the ninth inning rolls around."
and off the field. Such things are expected when you're a senior, no matter how new you are to the team.
GEORGE MULLINIX/KANSAN
"It's nice when a lot of guys look up to you." Piche said. "We have a lot of great guys on the team with a lot of senior leadership."
Piche said. "Then I become much more intense. It adds to the fun."
That's not to say leadership was handed down to him. Piche had to play his way up through the junior college level to gain the experience and
"I want to get stronger and be more aggressive. I want to be able to mix in my change-up on 3-2 counts."
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Last season alone, Piche recorded 12 saves in 32 appearances, posted a 1.68 ERA and was placed on the All Big 12 first team. As a junior college transfer, Piche made his presence felt immediately on
credibility
he now
owns.
Piche's
college career began
at Indian
Hills
Community College in Iowa,
where the
Warriors
JORDAN PICHE senior closer
gave him a spot in the starting rotation. In his final season of junior college baseball, Piche posted a 7-2 record with a 2.21 ERA in 89 innings pitched.
“[Junior college] is different baseball.” Piche said. “It was a great opportunity and prepared me better for Division I baseball.”
When Division I schools came calling, Piche found himself signing with the Jay-hawks. Kansas was in need of a closer and Piche had the arm strength and tools for the job.
Kansas baseball is coming off a strong season last year, posting a 31-18 record. Piche had a strong hand in more than half
of last season's victories.
"I never thought I'd be able to have this much success," Piche said. "It's been incredibly humbling and has meant a lot to me and my family."
After Piche's initial success, he began to strive for more and knew just what he needed to do to achieve it.
"I want to get stronger and be more aggressive," Piche said. "I want to be able to mix in my change-up on 3-2 counts."
Piche a strike thrower and will become even more valuable if he can throw his change-up for strikes in a 3-ball count.
Piche and the rest of the
Kansas baseball team hope to carry over last year's success and contend for a Big 12 title this spring.
“It's fun to look back on things and see where I've been,” Piche said. “Success comes with hard work.”
Edited by Cara Winkley
CORAL GABLES, Fla. — Donnavan Kirk watched Miami's 90-63 home drubbing of Duke last January from his dorm room at DePaul and was so amazed by, and excited for, his former teammates that it motivated him.
MCCLATCHY-TRIBUNE
NCAA
Kirk, back for his second stint at UM, and the 'Canes (10-7, 2-3) hope to manufacture another home upset against the Blue Devils (14-4, 3-2) on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m on ESPN2. They've won two of the three matchups in Coach Jim Larranaga's tenure, including two years ago at Cameron Indoor Stadium, after losing 15 of the previous 17.
Miami hopes to re-create last year's magic against Duke
In front of a sell-out crowd at Bank United Center, No.25 Miami dealt Duke the worst loss for an Associated Press No.1 team since 1968 and third-worst of all time.
As much as last year's annihilation — UM's largest lead was 34 points — meant for UM's program, it "didn't really do anything" to remove any of Duke's mystique, senior guard Rion Brown said.
"You still have the same excitement playing them," he noted. "They're still Duke. They still get the best recruits
every year."
The No. 18 Blue Devils remain a widely-hated, yet successful, program.
But with two ACC losses already, they aren't as imposing this season. And while they rank 19th in the nation in points per game (82.6), they're 225th in rebounding (34.3). It's got comparable talent to last year's Duke team, Brown noted.
But the Blue Devils' smaller, quick lineup — led by 6-foot-8, 235-pound freshman labari Parker (19.1 ppg., 7.3 rpg), Mississippi State transfer Rodney Hood (17.9 ppg.) and junior guard Quinn Cook (13.1 ppg., 5.7 apg.) — more resembles the North Carolina team that Miami beat in last year's ACC Tournament Championship than the 2012-13 Duke team with frontcourt forces Mason Plumlee and Ryan Kelly, Larranaga noted. Of course, this Miami team is much different, too.
An entirely new starting lineup features last year's seventh-leading scorer, Brown, as its top scorer (13.6 ppg.).
"It's not like we are where we were last year at this time, fighting for national recognition." Larranaga said. "We're kind of fighting for survival."
Wednesday's game, combined with Saturday's home game against No. 2 Syracuse, will reveal a lot about Miami's postseason fate.
"It's a great challenge for us and our program to play against them," Larranaga said of facing Duke. "But I will say this — we're in the same league. We're in the ACC. It's not like we're intimidated or in awe of anybody that we might play, because we've been playing at the highest level."
average more per game). The double team in the post tends to flummx the forwards, and the pick and roll defense has been subpar. However, Kansas still has five games remaining against current Top 25 teams to improve in these areas, and that isn't including the potential opponents in the Bir 12 Tournament.
COLUMN FROM PAGE 10
Kansas will enter the NCAA tournament battle-tested, experienced and confident. The schedule that so many decried as too daunting may be the reason why.
Edited by Jamie Koziol
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