6B SPORTS
BASEBALL
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY ABRIL 27 2009
Sophomore carries team to victory
Brian Heere excels at the plate and in the field to help defeat Nebraska at Hoglund Ballpark
Jerry Wang/KANSAN
Freshman pitcher Le Ridenhour pitches against Nebraska Sunday afternoon. Ridenhour pitched six innings and allowed only two runs in the Jiahawk's 9-4 victory Sunday.
BY TIM DWYER
tdwyer@kansan.com
but sophomore right fielder Brian Heere is thrusting himself into the discussion of Kansas' stars on the diamond.
It's not one of the names you hear too often when you talk about Kansas baseball — that honor is generally reserved for Tony Thompson, Buck Afenir and the pitcher of your choosing.
With an opposite-field, two-run home run — into a 22 mile-per-hour breeze, no less — in the first inning of Sunday's double-header and a run scored later in the third. Heere single-handedly provided the Jayhawks with all the offense they would need in their 8-2 rout in game one.
"That was huge," said sophomore T.J. Walz, who earned the victory in game one with 7.2 innings of work.
"It's so much better to go out and pitch with a lead. You don't have to be as perfect when you can trust your offense to produce for you."
In the process he raised his average to a team-leading .394 (though he settled to a more human .386 by the day's end).
"I had a pretty good fall, so I've just been trying to redo those things," Heere said. "Just see what I was seeing, feel what I was feeling. It's just being patient and trying to find a good pitch to hit."
After his one-man-wrecking-crew performance in Game 1, he went 2-for-4 with three runs, three RBI, a double and a homer—it had to be expected that Heere would fall back to earth a little bit. Or not.
He hit a game-tying double
in the sixth inning when the Jayhawks were staring down a 2-1 deficit and was integral in the Jayhawks' 6-4 win on both sides of the ball.
"He was unbelievable today," coach Ritch Price said. "That's as fine a performance as we've had from somebody since I've been here."
Even when he was not on the field, Heere made a difference for the Jayhawks on Sunday.
Freshman James Stanfield drove in what ended up being the winning runs with Heere standing in the on-deck circle.
"I think they were wanting to pitch to me more because Heere was behind me," Stanfield said. "They just didn't want to face him."
Heere's quiet production has gone largely unnoticed, but it hasn't fallen off Price's radar. The right fielder's "unbelievable" day
was just a microcosm of what he has done this season.
"I just marvel at his stats, and then I marvel watching him play every day." Price said. "I thought he had a chance to be a really good player, but I had no idea he'd be able to play at the level he has played at. It's been fun to watch."
Edited by Realle Roth
Kansas AB R H RBH
Narodowski 5S 5 4 2 1 1
Stanfield 2B 4 1 2 1
Heere RF 4 0 1 1
Afenir LF 3 1 0 1
Thompson 3B 4 1 1 0
Lytle LF 3 2 1 0
Land 1B 3 0 0 1
Elgie DH 4 1 3 2
Brunansky CF 4 1 1 0
Totals 34 9 10 8
Nebraska AB R H RBI
Bubak ss 4 1 2 0
Tezak 2b 4 0 0 0
Bailey rf 5 0 3 0
Asche 3b 4 0 0 0
Mort 3b 1 0 1 0
Thompson 1b 4 0 1 0
Farst 1b/ph 1 0 1 0
Sullivan if 4 1 1 0
Collins ph 1 0 0 0
Kiser dh 2 1 0 0
Belfonte cf 2 1 1 2
Neer c 3 0 1 0
Totals 35 4 11 2
E-Kansas: Brunansky (4). Nebraska: Bubak (6). Asche (4)
BOX SCORE
Nebraska 020 000 200-4112
Kansas 000 102 33X-9101
2B-Nebraska: Bailey (11); Mort (6); Thompson (3); Sullivan (4)
Kansas: Narodowski (10); Heere (9); Thompson (16)
HP Nebraska: Belleza (2)
Pitchers
Nebraska IP H R ER BB SO
Yost 5.1 4 3 2 0 4
Hauptman L (3-5) 1.2 4 3 3 0 1
Mariot 0.0 2 3 2 2 0
Anderson 1.0 0 0 0 0 0
Kansas IP H R ER BB SO
Ridenhour 6.1 7 3 3 1 2
Bochy W (4-0) 0.2 2 1 0 1 2
Murray 1.0 2 0 0 0 0
Blankenship 0.2 0 0 0 2 0
Smyth 0.1 0 0 0 0 0
BASEBALL (CONTINUED FROM 1B)
Kansas faced a do-or-die situation before game two. After the complete team performance
"We're pitching young guys, and our pitching is better than theirs," Price said.
victory over the Cornhuskers since 1997. It wasn't the same Nebraska team that Price had faced in the past, as recent Nebraska teams had been ravaged by the Major League draft. Regardless, it was still a step forward for the program.
"We've made really good progress," Price said. "It's a really nice feeling to get that monkey off our back."
Kansas pitched well all day Sunday, with sophomore right-hander T.J. Walz striking out a career-high 10 in game one. And although freshman right-hander Lee Ridenhour didn't have his best stuff, allowing seven hits in six-plus innings, he kept game two manageable for the Jayhawks.
T-3:01. A-1004.
notes
PAGINGTONY THOMPSON
Slugging third baseman Tony Thompson disappeared at the plate for most of the weekend, a trend that has run back all the way to last Sunday. Since his second home run last Sunday against Texas Tech, Thompson didn't have a hit in four straight games against Division 1 opponents until his final bat Sunday.
BEWARE OF THE HOG
With Sunday's sweep of Nebraska the Jayhawks improved to 21-3 in their home stadium. Hoglund Ballpark has never seen a team go above.500 in conference, but this year's Jayhawks are threatening to do just that. They stand at 10-8 with nine conference games to play."We just love playing at the Hog," sophomore Brian Hee said.
in the 8-2 game-one victory, Kansas' Big 12 record sat at 9-8. The Jayhawks stared down a game that could have brought their record to 9-9 before heading into conference power Oklahoma next weekend. So it made it all the more sweet when Kansas climbed back in game two.
"The guys like each other", Price said. "And they're playing for each other. I think that some of those rallies are a result of that energy. The difference between being 9-9
and 10-8 is off the charts."
If it weren't for Stanfield's quick turnaround from the bench to the field, Kansas might have been facing that 9-9 conference record. But Stanfield isn't surprised. And neither are his teammates.
"I have a lot of confidence in Stanfield." Heere said. "He's a good player. He did a good job at handling the pressure and taking Robby's spot."
- Edited by Grant Treaster
NHL
Rangers lose Sunday game without coach
ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK — Tom Poti had a goal and two assists and the Washington Capitals won 5-3 Sunday in Game 6 against the New York Rangers, who were playing without suspended coach John Tortorella.
Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist didn't make it to the third period for the second straight game, and Potti torched his former team as the
The Capitals had trailed the series 3-1 before a pair of routs.
Capitals tied the first-round playoff series and set up a decisive Game 7 on Tuesday night in Washington.
Tortorella served a one-game suspension following a confrontation with a fan Friday during New York's 4-0 loss in Game 5 that sent the series back to Madison Square Garden. Tortorella squirted water into the crowd and threw a water bottle over the glass and into the stands.
not valid on IU game days or with any other specials. Expires 5-15-99
3.