PAGE 10
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 20. 2012
MUSIC CITY MADNESS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Freshman debut helps extend winning streak
MAX LIISH/KANSAN
Junior pitcher Thomas Taylor delivers a pitch during Kansas' 2-0 victory over Belmont. Taylor threw 8.1 scoreless innings, and the Jayhawks moved to 3-0 on the season.
ANDREW JOSEPH
ajeoseph@kansan.com
Starting pitching rotation solidified after tournament
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Kansas baseball team improved to 3-0 at the Music City Classic following three dominant pitching performances.
Freshman pitcher Wes Benjamin went seven innings, surrendering one run on just five hits in the Jayhawks' 3-1 victory over Bowling Green. In his first career collegiate appearance, Benjamin dictated the game with an aggressive attack of the strike zone.
"I tried to make it feel like it was just any other game," Benjamin said. "I thought it helped out a lot that I got a first-pitch strike most of the time, and it just worked out from there."
Kansas' starting rotation lacks the experience that coach Ritch Price normally prefers, but he was particularly impressed with Benjamin's first performance.
"I was really impressed with Benjamin. I thought his location was outstanding, and he mixed his pitches well," Price said. "Overall, I thought it was a very good debut
for a freshman."
This offseason, Price decided to move his best returning starting pitcher, junior Tanner Poppe, to the closer role. The risky decision paid off right away against Bowling Green, as the hard-throwing rightly pitched a perfect ninth to earn his first save of the season.
"It felt good to go out there," Poppe said. "Everyone wants to
"I thought his location was outstand, and he mixed his pitches well."
RITCH PRICE Kansas coach
throw in the ninth inning, so it's definitely a lot of fun to go out there when there's a lot of adrenaline going through you and giving it all you got."
The only returning starter to the Kansas rotation, junior Thomas Taylor, made his spring debut in Saturday's second leg against Belmont. Taylor pitched 8.1 innings, giving up no runs and three hits in the Jayhawks' 2-0 victory.
Similar to Benjamin's performance in the first game, Taylor consistently threw strikes and allowed the Bruins to put the ball in play. When the Bruins did connect with Taylor's pitches, an errorless Kansas defensive effort kept Belmont off the scoreboard.
"That was essential to this game," Taylor said. "If the defense didn't do that, there would have been more runs there, and I would have thrown more pitches, not getting deeper into the game."
Belmont is coming off a season in which the Bruins won 38 games in the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament. In 64 games in 2011, Belmont was only shutout three times, scoring close to seven runs a game; however, the Bruins had no answer to the Kansas.
"Coach Graves just wanted us to get deep into the game," Taylor said of his assistant coach. "And I wanted to attack the zone as much as I could."
BASEBALL
- Edited by Tanvi Nimkar
Tharp's clutch performance helps Kansas in doubleheader
MAX LUSH
mlush@kansan.com
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tucker Tharp's contributions to the Kansas baseball team from Saturday's doubleheader went beyond what his box score reads. The junior outfielder went one-for-four with two RBIs in the first game against Bowling Green and one-for-five in the second against Belmont, but just saying that Tharp had an ok day going two-for-nine with two RBIs wouldn't do his contributions for the team justice.
In the first matchup against
Bowling Green, Kansas struggled offensively. The only offense Kansas had in the early innings was given to them by Belmont through walks or hit batters.
The Jayhawks fell behind 1-0 in the fourth inning and didn't even record a hit until the fifth.
"They had set the table for us quite a few times and we weren't able to get that clutch hit," coach Ritch Price said.
Tharp came to the plate in the eighth inning with the game tied 1-1 and the bases loaded and drove a 1-2 pitch into left field, scoring two runs.
It was all the offense the Jayhawks would need.
"I like to hit with people on base," Tharp said. "I think when you're struggling your team kind of bears down and they really focus on what they need to do."
Tharp also played a huge role in the second game in the afternoon against Belmont. With starter Thomas Taylor throwing an absolute gem on the mound, Tharp made sure Thomas' effort would not be left for nothing.
Trailing Kansas 1-0 in the sixth inning, Belmont had catcher Alec
Diamond on second with one out when center fielder Dylan Craig came to the plate. Craig ripped a single to Tharp and Diamond was rounding third look to score. Tharp threw a one-hop laser to the plate to nail Diamond and preserve the lead.
Tharp said he didn't know if he had Diamond at the plate when he threw it, but he knew he had a chance. Catcher James Stanfield handled the one hop and blocked the plate perfectly, leaving Diamond no chance to score.
"It just felt good," Tharp said. "I
was just glad to do it for Thomas, he deserves every bit of it"
Thomas didn't hide his excitement when Diamond was thrown out.
"That was amazing" Thomas said. "I think that was the first fist pump I've ever done in my life."
Instead of the game being tied at one and the home team taking all the momentum, the Jayhawks were able to escape trouble and get back into their dugout.
Coach Ritch Price was excited to see hard work pay off on the throw. Price said the biggest problem for
the team during fall practice was the outfield's defense and ability to throw.
"He's made really good progress defensively," Price said. "We do that drill two times a week."
The Jayhawks went on to win the game 2-0 and take both ends of the doubleheader.
Pitching ruled the day in both games, but Tharp stamped his name on both victories for the Jayhawks.
Edited by Pat Strathman
LIN-CREDIBLE
Lin survives against the defending NBA champs
NEW YORK - Lancaster lives
NEW YORK — Linsanity lives.
Forget the off night that had NBA fans worldwide wondering if the Jeremy Lin story was too good to be true. It's still plenty good, all right.
The Harvard sensation was back at his whirling ways Sunday, and the stage couldn't have been better — against the defending champions on
national TV.
The point guard had 28 points and a career-high 14 assists to carry the Knicks to a 104-97 victory that ended the Dallas Mavericks' six-game winning streak.
Durant yields career-high 51 points against the Nuggets
OKLAHOMA CITY — Kevin Durant scored a career-best 51 points for the top performance in the NBA this season, Russell Westbrook added 40 and Serge Ibaka had his first career triple-double as the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Denver Nuggets 124-118 in overtime Sunday night.
Durant hit a 3-pointer and drove for a dunk to tie the game with 4.4 seconds left in regulation, then used the extra period to chalk up the first 50-point game of the two-time scoring champion's career.
NBA
He walked slowly over to his
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Arron Afflalo scored 27 points and Andre Miller had 21 points and 10 assists for Denver, which had a shot to win at the end of regulation.
mother, seated courtside, and gave her a kiss and a hug when the final horn sounded.
Ibaka added 14 points, 15 rebounds and 11 blocks to become the 14th player in franchise history with a triple-double.
Ty Lawson, who missed a 3-pointer with 7 seconds left, also couldn't connect on an off-balance jumper from the foul line at the buzzer after pump-faking Westbrook into the air.
Fans in the sellout crowd chanted "MVP!" as Durant hit two free throws in the final seconds to surpass 50 points for the first time in his career and put the finishing touches on Oklahoma City's ninth straight win at home.
Westbrook hit a 3 on Oklahoma City's opening possession of overtime, and the Nuggets committed five turnovers to squander their chances in the extra period.
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