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Volume 128 Issue 116
kansan.com
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
FACE OF THE STREAK
TODAY'S MATCHUP
WAYNE SIMIEN
PPG: 15
RPG: 8.3
FGP: 56%
JEFF WITHEY
PPG: 8
RPG: 5.4
BPG: 2.7
Kansas hosts Arkansas-Pine Bluff for mid-week matchup
KYLAN WHITMER
@KRWhitmer
Kansas baseball will take on the Arkansas-Pine Bluff Golden Lions tonight for a single-game series at Hoglund Ballpark.
This matchup will be the first ever meeting between the Jayhawks (19-25) and the Golden Lions (22-16). Although the Golden Lions boast a better record on the season, the Jayhawks rank 99 spots ahead of their opponent in the NCAA's RPI rankings.
The Jayhawks will take the mid-week nonconference contest as an opportunity to give freshman Brandon Johnson starting experience on the mound. The righthander out of Las Vegas has made two starts this season out of his eight total appearances and has held opponent batters to just a .194 batting average.
"Our pitching has made progress in the last few weeks and different guys are making progress," coach Ritch Price said, "It's been a tough year for those freshmen. They're
grinding and getting better, coach [Ryan] Graves is working with them every day and obviously for us to continue to get better the last month of the season that has to take place."
The Jayhawks traveled to Morgantown, W. Va., last weekend and came away with two wins to take the series behind great pitching, especially from junior pitcher Ben Krauth. The pitcher earned league recognition on Monday for his performance against the Mountaineers in which he only allowed one run and three hits, the least amount of runs allowed by the Jayhawks this year.
That development has been apparent as the season comes to an end. The Jayhawks are coming off of their second series win in Big 12 play.
"It was huge, there's no doubt about it." Price said. "It was a great performance by our guys. [West Virginia's] pitching was really good, but we kept grinding, and you've got to give a lot of credit to Ben Krauth."
While the Jayhawks seem to have momentum after winning a league series, the Golden Lions are riding momentum of their own.
The Golden Lions are on a three-game winning streak after taking three of the four games from conference foe Grambling State. In their wins over this past weekend, the Golden Lions outscored their opponent 22-10.
An opposing player for Johnson and the rest of the Jayhawk bullpen to look out for is junior Andre Davis. The Golden Lions' pitcher/first baseman/outfielder is in the top five of multiple Southwestern Athletic Conference hitting statistics. Davis ranks third in the conference with a .378 batting average while also ranking highly in on-base percentage, hits and RBIs.
This will be the second to last mid-week series for the Jayhawks this season with only a two-game series with Northwestern remaining on May 5-6.
Edited by Jordan Fox
ANNA WENNER/KANSAN
Anna WENNER/KANSAN Outfielder Joe Moroney attempts tc hit the ball against WSU on April 21. Kansas will play Arkansas-Pine Bluff tonight for a one-game series at Hoglund Ballpark in Lawrence.
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