THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, APRIL 23, 2012
PAGE 3B
BASEBALL
TVIER ROSTE/KANSAN FILE PHOTO
Infielder Ka'iana Eldridge bats against St. Mary's on April 18, Kansas (16-25, 4-11), now ranks seventh in the Big 12.
Texas bullpen shuts down early-inning hitting streak
ANDREW JOSEPH
ajoseph@kansan.com
With a series victory on the line Sunday afternoon, the Texas bullpen shut down the Jayhawks' upset bid.
The Kansas baseball team (16-25, 4-11 Big 12) dropped its secondstraight game to No. 23 Texas on Sunday, falling 7-2 in Austin.
After defeating Texas 7-2 in Friday's series opener, the Jayhawk offense went quiet for the remainder of the weekend. The season-high four-game winning streak came to an end Saturday evening in a 3-0 loss at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.
Kansas jumped to a 2-0 lead in the first inning against Texas pitcher Dillon Peters, but Peters' day was short-lived. A lead-off walk to freshman outfielder Dakota Smith in the second inning prompted Augie Garrido, college baseball's winningest head coach, to turn to pitcher John Curtiss out of the bullpen – a move that would pay off.
"We thought their bullpen was better than their starting pitching, so our goal was to get a few runs on the board early," sophomore outfielder Tucker Therp said. "Their bullpen was just really deep and
pitched well all weekend."
While Peters gave up two hits to Kansas in the first inning, the Texas bullpen trio of Curtiss, Hoby Milner and Corey Knebel allowed just two hits in the final eight innings.
Sunday was the fifth time in the last six games that Kansas scored in the first inning, Kansas' first inning success has been largely in part to Tharp's move into the leadoff spot. Since stepping into the role on April 6, Tharp has gotten a hit in all but three games, hitting over .360 in April. Although Kansas was able jump ahead first, the early pitching change forced the Jayhawks to change their offensive approach.
"He's got a power arm," coach Ritch Price said of Curtiss. "He was pitching it 90-93 [mph], and he was able to throw enough breaking balls in there for strikes to keep us off balanced."
able to get the first out, and then all of the sudden, he walks a batter and gives up a couple base hits. He set the table for Texas to put up a crooked number. It comes down to that he got out of sync and out of rhythm."
For the first four innings, junior pitcher Thomas Taylor made the 2-0 advantage appear like more than enough to defeat Texas. Taylor cruised into the fifth inning without surrendering a hit, but when Taylor lost control of his pitches in the fifth, Texas made him pay.
Taylor went 4.2 innings but allowed four runs in the fifth innion on three hits, walking a seasonhigh five batters. The loss drops Taylor to 4-5 on the season with a 4.08 ERA.
"He really just lost command of his fastball." Price said. "He was
With nine conference games remaining in the season, Kansas currently sits at seventh place in the Big 12 standings. The top-eight teams in conference play qualify for the Big 12 Tournament in Oklahoma City.
The Jayhawks return to Lawrence with a losing record, but Price is already impressed with the team's improvement in Big 12 play.
"I was pleased with the way we competed, and I was pleased with the way that we played." Price said. "Overall, we are significantly better than we were when we played Baylor five weeks ago."
SOCCER
Edited by Ian Cummings
CLAIRE HOWARD/KANSAN
Junior midfielder Sarah Robbins, from Montreal, Quebec, fights her Missouri State opponent for control of the ball during the KU-MSU game at the Jayhawk Soccer Complex on Sunday afternoon. The Jayhawks were glad to end their season with a win after having tied with Iowa State and lost to Iowa last weekend.
Soccer team wins spring season, trains for summer
RYAN MCCARTHY
rmccarthy@kansan.com
The Kansas soccer team capped off their spring season with a 1-0 win over Missouri State at Jayhawk Soccer Complex.
Notching a 4-1-1 record in March and April showed that Kansas made a few important strides to put together a successful schedule.
"Overall the spring has been very good," Kansas coach Mark Francis said. "We've made a lot of progress. The intensity has been really good so we've been happy with that."
For the Jayhawks on Sunday, the most important aspect was working on more chances around the goal. The team had plenty of chances, but only put one shot in the back of the net.
Francis said the team moved the ball around really well, but had a few breakdowns in the final 25 yards of the soccer field.
Despite the struggles on goal, sophomore forward Caroline Kastor still netted the needed goal with 22 minutes remaining in the first half. Kastor weaved through a few defenders and then chipped the ball over the Missouri goaltender.
For the spring, Kastor has shown an explosive step that has placed her as one of the necessary strikers for the team going into the fall season.
"Caroline's had an unbelievable spring," Francis said. "Just from a confidence standpoint and how she impacted the game, she's a threat with her pace. She's making dangerous runs, she works really hard defensively, she's kind of done it all."
Along with Kastor the Jayhawks will rely on junior Whitney Berry and freshman Ingrid Vidal to make a major impact for the attacking players.
Another improvement for the Jayhawks has been the development of the defensive unit. Last year the defense was the primary concern, but the past few months, the unit improved its coordination and experience.
"We're not there yet, but we're getting there," Francis said.
Francis said that he was pleased with pressure they put on Missouri State and the defense made them play much quicker on the ball.
The Jayhaws already have a solid core group, but they will also add a few players.
Former Ohio State NSCAA All-American Cassie Dickerson will be at the top of list of people to make the squad more competitive.
Dickerson, a first-year law student at Kansas, still has one year of eligibility after playing three years at Ohio State. She graduated from Ohio in 2010.
Now with the spring season wrapped up, the women focus on keeping this intensity throughout the summer so the team can make some noise in the fall when the games count toward their march to the NCAA Tournament.
"I think where we're at right now is a good place to start going into August," Francis said. "This is where we want to be beginning and look to get better."
The Jayhawks move into the summer months where conditioning and training is up to the players until the coaches can have contact again in early August.
"We're looking forward to it, now they've got to do it in the summer," Francis said.
— Edited by Nadia Imafidon
Congratulations to the FIJI Fraternity for winning the intramural Basketball Championships.
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