PAGE 4B
THURSDAY, APRIL 26, 2012
THE UNIVERSI
KANSAS 8
SCORE BY INNINGS
Runs Hits Errors
Kansas 7 14 0
Kansas State 8 12 1
JAYHAWK STAT LEADERS
Runs
Hits
Elgie 2
RBI's
Tharp 4
Elgie
Marasco
2
KANSAS
Player AB R H RBI BB
Tucker Tharp cf 6 1 4 1 0
Kevin Kuntz ss 5 1 2 0 1
Chris Manship dh 3 1 1 0 1
Jordan Dreiling if 1 0 0 0 1
Alex DeLeon c 4 0 1 0 0
James Stanfield c 1 0 0 0 1
Zac Elgie 3b 4 2 2 2 1
Jake Marasco 1b 4 1 2 1 1
Michael Suiter if 4 1 0 0 1
Connor McKay rf 4 1 1 2 1
Kaliana Eldredge 2b 5 0 1 1 0
Totals 41 8 14 7 8
KANSAS STATE STARTERS
Player AB R H RBI BB
Ross Kivett 2b 4 1 1 0 1
Jon Davis lf 4 1 2 0 1
Jared King cf 5 1 2 1 1
Wade Hinkle 1b 5 2 2 3 1
Blair DeBord c 3 0 0 0 2
Mike Kindel rf 5 1 2 2 1
Matt Giller 3b 4 0 0 0 0
Kyle Speer dh 4 0 2 1 1
Austin Fisher ss 2 0 0 0 2
Totals 40 7 12 7 10
GAMÉ TO REMEMBER
Senior third baseman Zac Elgie
Elgie went 2-for-4 on the night with a walk, two runs and two RBIs. Most importantly, he ripped a walk-off homer in the bottom of the 11th inning to cap his solid offensive night. He also hit the team's only double of the night.
Elgie
GAME TO FORGET
Senior closer Tanner Poppe
Poppe came into the game with a three-run lead and only needed three outs to earn the save. Instead, he gave up a two-run homer and a game-tying single to send the game into extra innings. He gave up two hits, two walks and three runs. He needed 37 pitches to get through just one inning of work.
Poppe
QUOTE OF THE GAME
"Any time you beat another Big 12 or BCS team, it's great. The fact that it's K-State just makes it better."
Junior third baseman Jake Marasco on the victory
Marasco
Hitting improvements leads Jayhawks to victory at home
BASEBALL
MAX LUSH
mlush@kansan.com
The Jayhawks have been playing their stretch of baseball in the last two weeks. With Wednesday's 8-7 victory in 11 innings over the Kansas State Wildcats, the Jayhawks improve to 5-2 in their last seven games and 17-25 on the season.
Pitching wasn't the problem for Kansas when the team was struggling earlier in the season. Kansas pitchers have posted a solid 4.27 ERA. However, consistent hitting has been the problem. They Jayhawks rank last in the Big 12 in batting average, hitting just .247 as a club — 23 points lower than the next team.
Junior first baseman jake Marasco singled and scored in the first inning. Marasco had been struggling lately, going 5-for-32 (1.16) in his last 10 games before going 2-for-4 with a walk against the Wildcats.
On Wednesday night, the Kansas offense delivered as Jayhawk hitters spread 14 hits, including two homers and a double, over 11 innings. Every offensive player got on base at least once.
"I thought they really did a good job of staying back behind the ball," coach Ritch Price said of the offense. "We put some really good swings on the ball early."
scored eight runs in the second at Minnesota on March 10.
Kansas left 12 men on base, including three different innings when they left the bases loaded.
"Things got rolling in the first inning," Marasco said. "You got guys from the top of the lineup to the bottom contributing, and that's the ideal scenario."
Wednesday's hero,
senior third baseman Zac
and it's ended poorly. It's about time."
Elgie, said the team is finally starting to come together at the plate.
"It's great, we finally caught a break," Tharp said. "We've been there before
"We're finally starting to gel," Elgie said. "We had guys who would have real good months, and we would have some guys who would have sub-par months. Now we're starting to get some hits together as a group."
The increase in production starts with the team's upperclassmen. Batters like Elgie and Marasco have struggled with consistency throughout the season. On Wednesday upperclassmen combined to go 8-for-22 (.364) with six walks, five runs and three RBIs.
"You can see the difference in the number of runs we're putting up." Price said. "It's almost doubled since we're starting to get some production out of Elgie, Marasco, Alex DeLeon and Chris Manship."
After allowing a run in the top of the first inning, sophomore outfielder Tucker Tharp leveled the score immediately, belting a leadoff homer to center field. His blast prompted an inning in which the Jayhawks scored six runs and sent 11 batters to the plate.
It was the Jayhawks' biggest inning since they
Edited by Bre Roach
ASHLEIGH LEE/KANSAN
Assistant coach Ryan Graves talks with junior catcher Alex DeLeon and freshman pitcher Drew Morovick on the pitchers mound.
Senior infielder Chris Manship and sophomore infielder Ka'iana Eldi
Senior infielder Chris Manship gets ready to bunt the ball during Wednesday nights game against K-State at Hoglund Ballpark
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