THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
MONDAY APRIL 20TH
MONDAY,APRIL 13,2009
SPORTS
7B
BASEBALL
Jayhawks' pitching pleasantly surprises
Hall, Walz, Ridenhour bring strong pitching to win series against No.17 Oklahoma State
BY TIM DWYER
tdwyer@kansan.com
Kansas' pitching was the biggest question mark for the team coming into the season. The Jayhawks knew where their power would come from
- sophomore Tony Thompson leads the Big 12 with 43 BNs and is tied for
fourth with nine homers. They knew that small ball and speed would have to prevail on offense — junior Robby Price is second in the conference with nine sacrifice bunts. But no one had any answers about the pitching.
box score
Shaeffer Hall started it this weekend against No. 17 Oklahoma State.
The junior left-hander — and unquestioned staff ace — took the mound Friday night and silenced an offense that puts up more runs per game than any in the conference except Oklahoma. Hall worked a complete
Maybe they thought it would speak for itself.
No. 17 Oklahoma State 001 1 000 1 000 1 0-1 3140
Kansas 002 1 000 2 000 2 4-9 00
Kansas      AB R H RHB
Narodowski SS  5 1 2 0 0
Price 2 LF  3 1 0 0
Heere, RF  4 1 1 0 0
Afenir C  4 0 2 3
Thompson 3b  5 0 2 1 1
Lytle LF  4 0 0 0 0
Land 1B  4 0 1 0 0
Elgie DH  2 0 0 0 0
Waters, PH  1 0 0 0 0
Fauece, CF  3 1 1 0 0
Brunansky CF  1 0 0 0 0
Totals  36 4 9 4 0
Oklahoma State AB R H RBR
Thomas CF 3 1 0 0
Harvard 0 0 0 0
Dabbs RF 4 1 2 0
Hambly 3B 5 0 4 1
Medchill LF 4 0 0 1
Green 1B 5 1 1 0
Kroll DH 4 0 0 0
Belza 5 0 3 1
David C 5 0 3 0
Propst SS 5 0 1 0
Totals 40 3 14 3
2B-Oklahoma State: Belza (7); David (12) Kansas: Afenir (8); Thompson (13).
Pitchers
Kansas   IP H R ER BB SO
Ridenhour 5.0 7 1 1 1 5 1
Murray 1.2 3 1 1 1 0 1
Blakenship 0.2 0 0 0 0 0
Bochy W (2 O) 3.0 4 1 1 0 6
Oklahoma State IP H H R ER BB SO
Lyons 6.0 6.2 1 2 1
McCurry L (1-1) 3.1 3.2 2 1 4
T-2:57. A-643.
game, allowing only one run on a solo homer to left-center, while striking out a career-high nine hitters.
"We've got outstanding starting pitching, obviously," coach Ritch Price said.
"We're facing a first-round draft choice and you've got to match him zero for zero. I thought Shaeffer Hall was absolutely fabulous."
"We've got outstanding starting pitching, obviously."
RITCH PRICE Kansas coach
match each other. Shaeffer set the tone on Friday and T.J. has to go out there Saturday and he is trying to match what he did, and that's great. I think all three weekend starters try and pay attention to what the others are doing and try and keep up with
"I think there's always competition between pitchers on that kind of stuff, especially when they're throwing well." Graves said. "They try and
Sophomore T.J. Walz took note of Hall's performance. In a display of one-upsmanship that made pitching coach Ryan Graves happy, Walz got a career-high 10 Oklahoma State hitters to go down on strikes. It was part of a three-earned run effort that clinched a series victory for the Javhawks.
them."
Then, in the series finale Sunday, freshman Lee Ridenhour overcame a bout of food poisoning that had plagued him since Friday night to allow just one run in five innings of work. The coaches didn't know if Ridenhour was going to be able to go until the
morning of the game.
"I'd been battling food poisoning the last couple days," Ridenhour said, "and then in the fifth innery in between innings I came in (to the locker room) and was actually sick. I was struggling the whole game, so I was happy to get through five and hand it over to the bullpen."
Even though Ridenhour was sick all weekend long, he wasn't going to be held off the mound.
"He wanted to go. There was no doubts." Price said.
Edited by Sam Speer
Weston White/KANSAN
notes
WORKING OVERTIME
Sophomore right fielder Brian Heere crushes a ball for one of his three hits Saturday against Oklahoma State. Heere had a double with one home run while sending in four RBI and scoring two runs in Kansas' 13-6 victory.
The Jayhawks went to extra innings for the second time of the season in Sunday's game against Oklahoma State. After losing by one run in 10 innings to then-No. 21 Arkansas last time around, Kansas flipped the script, allowing a run in the top of the 10th before scoring two in the bottom to defeat
then-No. 17 Oklahoma State by one run.
ANYTHING YOU
CAN DO ...
A little friendly competition never hurt anybody — and it certainly helped the Jayhawks this weekend. After Shafeffer Hall recorded nine strikeouts in his complete-game victory
Friday night, T.J. Walz picked up 10 strikeouts in just under seven innings in Saturday's 13-6 triumph. It was a career high in strikeouts for both Walz and Hall.
BUCK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN
Tim Dwyer
on Sunday, Oklahoma State starter Tyler Lyons and reliever Randy McCurry were able to keep everyone but Afenir from driving in any runs through the first nine innings. Afenir then brought home the tying run in the tenth by taking a pitch off his shin with the bases loaded.
Senior catcher Buck Afenir led the way for the Jayhawk offense
Weston White/KANSAN
Sophonore left fielder Casey Lyle beats out the tag to slide safely into second base. Lyle stole three bases against Oklahoma State Saturday afternoon in a 16-3 victory.
MLB
Tigers clutch victory against Rangers in six-run eighth inning
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Chicago White Sox Jim Thome watches his home run in the sixth inning against the Minnesota Twins during a baseball game in Chicago on Sunday. Chicago won 6-1.
Indians earn first victory of the season; Rays' Shields throws seven innings of three-hit ball
ASSOCIATED PRESS
CHICAGO — Jim Thome hit a two-run homer to break open a pitcher's duel, Mark Buehrle was dominant into the seventh inning and the Chicago White Sox beat the Minnesota Twins 6-1 on Sunday.
Carlos Quentin singled off Nick Blackburn in the sixth before Thome hit his second homer of the season, snapping a 1-1 tie. Thome also hit a three-run shot in the season opener to help the White Sox beat Kansas City.
Jermaine Dye added a homer in the eighth for the White Sox, who scored in each of the last four innings to split a season-opening six-game homestand. Chicago, which outscored the Twins 14-1 the last two games, now heads on a 10-game road trip.
Buehrle (1-0) gave up a solo home run to Delmon Young in the second and then retired 15 straight batters before being pulled with one out in the seventh.
Blackburn (0-1) was pulled after giving up a single to Alexei Ramirez to start the seventh. He allowed four runs — three earned — and six hits.
INDIANS 8, BLUE JAYS 4
CLEVELAND — Anthony Reyes pitched six innings and the Indians earned their first victory of the season.
Travis Hafner and Mark DeRosa each hit a two-run homer for the Indians, who avoided their worst start in 95 years. Cleveland lost its first six games in 1914.
Blue Jays starter David Purcey struck out 10 over 4 2-3 innings. The left-hander also walked six and allowed five runs and four hits.
The Washington Nationals are the majors' only remaining winless team at 0-6.
Vernon Wells hit a two-run homer for Toronto.
Reyes became the first Indians starter to pitch six innings. The Blue Jays had scored a major
RAYS 11, ORIOLES 3
league-high 42 runs in winning five of their first six games, but managed only four runs and three hits against the right-hander.
BALTIMORE — James Shields pitched seven innings of three-hit ball, Evan Longoria hit his major league-leading fifth home run and Tampa Bay averted a three-game sweep.
Longoria went 3-for-5 to up his batting average to .481. He has five straight multihit games and at least one RBI in five of his six starts.
Ben Zobrist, Jason Bartlett and Carlos Pena also homered for the Rays, who got 17 hits. All four home runs came off Brian Bass, who allowed seven runs in 3 and one-third innings of relief.
Shields (1-1) struck out three and walked one. Dan Wheeler allowed one hit in the eighth before Grant Balfour was tagged for three runs in the ninth.
Adam Eaton (0-1) allowed four
runs and eight his over four innings in his debut with Baltimore.
Carlos Guillen also had a two-run double for Detroit, which trailed 4-0 after seven innings. Placido Polanco went 3-for-4 with an RBI and Miguel Cabrera had two hits.
TIGERS 6, RANGERS 4
Josh Hamilton and Ian Kinsler hit two-run homers for Texas, which wasted a terrific start by Kevin Millwood. The right-hander threw seven shutout innings.
DETROIT — Brandon Inge homered and hit a two-run single in a six-run eighth inning as the Tigers rallied to complete a three-game sweep.
Brandon Lyon (1-1) threw two perfect innings and Fernando Rodney got three outs for his second save in as many days. Detroit relievers have pitched seven innings in the last two games without allowing a baserunner.
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