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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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SPORTS
FEI
五四青年
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BASEBALL
Rylan Howe/KANSAN
Jayhawks take 2 of 3 in series
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2005
Games against Northern Colorado include grand slam and near no-hitter for Kansas
Senior pitcher Mike Zagurski hurls the ball toward home plate. Zagurski allowed no hits through seven innings and recorded a career high 13 strikeouts during the Jayhawks 11-1 victory against Northern Colorado Friday at Hoglund Ballpark.
BY ALISSA BAUER
abauer@hansam.com
KANSAN SPORTWRITER
In a series that produced two home runs, a grand slam and a near no-hit pitching performance all in the Jayhawks' favor, it seemed unfitting that Kansas only won two of the three games. The three-game series against the Northern Colorado Bears produced two victories, 11-1 and 9-8, and one defeat, 2-3.
Sophomore left-hander Sean Land started on the mound for Kansas, but he surrendered four runs in the top of the fourth. Land had six strikeouts, the high for Kansas on Saturday. No Kansas pitcher pitched more than 3.2 innings in the final game.
An 11-1 blowout in game one in Hoglund Ballpark gave the impression that the Jayhawks had an easy series ahead. Two extra-inning games later, the team found itself in an offensive battle with the Division I Bears. A walk-off home run by Kansas junior outfielder A.J. Van Slyke during game three highlighted the day and saved the Jayhawks series victory.
In the deciding game of the series, both teams put up more offensive threats than the previous two games. Although the Bears out-hit the Jayhawks in both games of the doubleheader. Kansas found a way to win.
the three-game series spread throughout two days witnessed two different Ivahawk teams.
Junior right-hander Kodiak Quick grabbed the win for the Jayhaws. Northern Colorado's Tyler Pearson was handed the series-ending loss.
While Friday displayed a stellar performance by Kansas pitcher Mike Zagurski and dominance at the plate. Saturday was a constant offensive battle combined with choppy defense and 11 total pitching changes.
"I think the first game was an example of how hard baseball is to play some days," Kansas coach Ritch Price said. "I almost feel like we won the game we should've lost and lost the game we should've won."
Right fielder Brad Beaman led the Bears offensively, going 4-6 at the plate. Designated hitter Brennan Garr went 2-5 and second baseman Brad Baker hit 3-5 in to post a strong offensive force in game three.
"The first three innings were all right. The fourth inning I started losing some control and it ended up being a very good outing." Land said. "This is nothing to be concerned about. Anyone can win in baseball."
But the real offensive story came from the home team. Van Slyke did his damage on Friday night when he belted out an eighth inning grand slam. Van Slyke was not satisfied, and as his father and former major league ballplayer Andy Van Slyke watched from the stands, he went yard for the second time of the series. Only this trip around the bases was a walk-off solo home run, putting the lavihayks ahead of the Bears, 9-8.
scoreboard and he said it went out by three inches," Van Slyke said of his Friday night grand slam. But because of his father, the story was different on Saturday. "It felt great. I've never hit a walk-off homer before. It was the first game he's seen this year, so it was a coincidence, but it was pretty great."
Northern Colorado struck first, however, on Saturday in the first game of the doubleheader. After starting right-handed pitcher Clint Schambach threw up three scoreless innings, the Bears connected on two doubles and a Jayhawk error for two runs. The senior hung on until the top of the sixth until a stand-up double took him off the mound. Schambach
gave up two runs and struck out only one in his 5.2 innings of work.
"I asked the guy working the
Kansas did not answer back offensively until the bottom of the sixth. In a sloppy Northern Colorado effort, a grounder by senior outfielder Gus Milner to shortstop turned into two errors and gave Kansas freshman outfielder John Allman room to score. Allman also scored the tying run of the game in the bottom of the ninth on a sacrifice fly ball off the bat of freshman second baseman Ryne Price.
Left-handed senior Zagurski threw a career-high 13 strikeouts against the Bears. As the pitchers in the Kansas bullpen constructed a 'Z' with a paper cups, one for each strikeout, Zagurski kept a no-hitter alive into the seven inning.
Besides Van Slyke's grand slam, the game-one 11-run effort was led by junior outfielder Matt Baty and designated hitting junior Jared Schweitzer. Each had two hits, including a solo Schweitzer home run.
"We have the power but we are not really a home run hitting kind of team," Schweitzer said. Despite the loss, Price is not upset at the results of the series and looks forward to the continuing improvement of his team.
Allman's game-tying run was enough to propel Kansas into extra innings, but not enough to pull out a victory. Northern Colorado left fielder Ryan Symons hit the game-winning RBI against junior righthanded closer Don Czyz. Czyz took the first home loss of the season for the Jayhawks while Brennan Garr picked up his first win of the season.
"I think the great thing was that we got out of some jams late with Quick and Czyz." Price said. "There's five new players playing so we're still trying to piece it together. We're only about a month away from being a really good team."
Kansas will face Southwest Missouri State at 3 p.m. tomorrow at home.
"You try and keep the same mentality every day," Czyz said. "That way you're not wavering too much between good and bad. Times like these it's hard to do but you have to tough through it."
WOMEN'S GOLF
— Edited by Austin Caster
Golf team to play on new course in Texas
BY TRAVIS ROBINETT
trobinet@kansan.com
KANSAN SPORTSWRIVER
The women's golf team will begin its spring season today at the Texas A&M "Mo"morial invitational in College Station, Texas. Although the team has competed in this event in the past, this year the course will be different.
Coach Erin O'Neil said Amanda Costner, Tiffany Woods, Chelsey Pryor, Jill Womble and M er d i t h Winkelman would play The Traditions Club, a brand new course just built for Texas A&M. The Traditions Club opened in June 2004, and was designed by Jack Nicklaus and his son Jack Nicklaus II.
The Jayhawks will compete against 13 other teams, including schools Baylor and K.
"Illinois State Northwestern and Kansas State are the ones we want to finish ahead of to help our regional bid."
Erin O'Neil Women's golf coach
compete against 13 other teams, including fellow Big 12 Conference schools Baylor and Kansas State.
O'Neil said that the biggest competition would come from Baylor, Texas A&M, Texas Christian and Southern Methodist. She said she would keep her eye on a few others as well.
"Illinois State, Northwestern and Kansas State are the ones we want to finish ahead of to help our regional bid," O'Neil said.
The players are prepared, having played a practice round at the course yesterday. The team was also lucky that the weather has been cooperative in Lawrence.
"We've been out three or four times each week to play," junior Chelsey Pryor said. "It was a little cold, but we bundled up and went out there."
In their practice round, the Jayhawks paid attention to a few different things, so that they could prepare as best they could. Pryor said the players wanted to figure out the best course strategies. She said the team would be looking for targets to aim at for the best ball placement, and would focus on the greens to see where they break.
The Texas A&M "Mo"morial invitational is the first of five tournaments the Jayhawks will play in before the Big 12 Conference Championship, which will begin April 22 in Austin, Texas.
— Edited by Jesse Truesdale
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