4B SPORTS THE UNIVERSITY OF DAILY KANSAN MONDAY, MARCH 30, 2009 BASEBALL One, two, and gone: strikeouts cost Jayhawks the series BY JOSH BOWE jbowe@kansan.com It's been a nagging problem all season. During the five-game winning streak it wasn't brought up too much. But now it's at the forefront: the Jayhawks' strikeouts. "We've got to reduce the number of strikeouts," Price said. "It's embarrassing the number of strikeouts that we had the last couple of series." Texas A&M struck out Kansas 12 times on Sunday, and 40 times during the weekend sweep of the Jayhawks. Coach Ritch Price looks at the strikeouts as an embarrassment. The 6-5 victory for the Agagies (18-9, 6-3) ended another comeback bid. The layhawks' (15-10, 3-3) inability to get the big hit — and usually have a strikeout instead — cost them the chance to keep their Big 12 record above the .500 mark. Instead, after sweeping Texas to get to 3-0 in conference play, Kansas is right back where it started. "Our goal is to usually cut down the strikeouts to five or less," junior shortstop David Narodowski said. "That's definitely what hurt us offensively. Not getting runners on bases, not hitting the ball, and not putting it into play with two strikes." Texas A&M starters accounted for 32 of those 40 strikeouts. The superior pitching that Kansas faced against Texas ended up costing them over the weekend. With the Aggie starters having their way with the jayhawk hitters, Kansas typically started down a three- to four-run deficit throughout the series, and a six-run deficit on Sunday. After freshman starter Lee Ridenhour kept Kansas in it during the first three innings, the bottom of the fourth inning broke what was a 2-0 game into a 6-0 blowout waiting to happen. A defensive miscue in the outfield allowed the inning to get away from the Jayhawks. "When you're in trouble you got to make all the plays behind your pitchers in order to give them a chance to get out of the inning without the inning blowing up." Kansas did not bow out though, when the road environment certainly would have expected it to. After expending a lot of energy the previous night to lose 7-6 in the bottom of the ninth, the layhawks rallied to score five runs throughout the six, seventh, and eighth innings. Narodowski said once the A&M starters were out that Kansas was able to do damage. Problem was though, that the Aggie starters were able to last until the sixth inning. "We just let the starters go a little bit too long when we could of gotten a couple hits earlier to get them out," Narodowski said. Missed opportunities were the story of the game. Kansas left six runners on base on Sunday. Price doesn't expect his freshman- and sophomore-heavy team to win on the road against ranked teams without bringing runners in when given the chance. "You have to take advantage of those kind of chances if you are going beat someone as good as they are," Price said. "The one last hit to score the run to tie it up or put us ahead, that just didn't happen." Narodowski said. The big hit just couldn't come, however. After sophomore Tony Thompson knocked in two runs with the Jayhawks' third consecutive hit in the bottom of the eighth, the next three hitters proceeded to go 0-3 and left one runner on base. It ended up being Kansas' last rally. The bottom of the ninth Kansas went down 1-2-3. The last at-bat? It summed up the game and the weekend series for the Jayhawks. - Edited by Casey Miles Struck out looking. BOX SCORE Kansas 0 00 001 220 -5 81 Texas A&M 0 20 400 000 -6 41 WP- Loux (1-0) LP- Ridenhour (3-2) notes FRESHMAN FINALLY STRUGGLES Lee Ridenhour, who was on a run of three consecutive quality starts (six innings pitched with no more than three runs allowed) had to come back down to earth sometime, right? The wunderkind freshman pitcher had his first rough outing of the season against the potent Aggies lineup to fall to 3-2. POWER OUTAGE The Jayhawks have yet to hit a ball out of the park in conference play, and in only one of the last eight games have they managed to hit a home run. The one was a notable exception — Tony Thompson's two home run game against Western Illinois — but Kansas needs to find a consistent power threat in their lineup. — Tim Dwyer SOFTBALL Border Showdown to take place at Arrocha, April 1 The Kansas softball team's two games against No. 23 Texas A&M were canceled over the weekend due to the inclement weather. The contests have yet to be rescheduled. Big 12 Conference play resumes Wednesday, April 1, when Kansas will play host to Missouri (29-4, 2-1) for a doubleheader. The No. 23 Tigers will pose a challenge for the Hawjawks, as they come in to Lawrence winners of nine out of their last 10 games. Border Showdown action will kick off at 4 p.m. at Arrocha Ballpark. The event is free with a KUID. Ben Ward WOMEN'S SOCCER Weather postpones first spring game for Jayhawks Inclement weather forced Kansas to cancel its opening game of the spring season against Creighton on Saturday. The Jayhawks were expected to play the KU men's club team at 10 a.m. on Sunday with the contest likely taking place in doors at Anchutz Pavilion. Kansas' next spring games will be next Saturday in St. Louis, Mo., against Marquette and Saint Louis. Kansan staff WORLD CUP Stampede in Ivory Coast causes 22 deaths,132 hurt ABIBJAN, Ivory Coast — A stampede at a World Cup qualifying soccer match in the Ivory Coast killed at least 22 people and wounded 132 Sunday, authorities said. Fans at the Felix Houphouet Boigny arena pushed against each other shortly before the game between Ivory Coast and Malawi, setting off a panic that led to the stampede, Interior Minister Desire Tagro said on state television. WOMEN'S GOLF Jayhawks finish 18th in tournament Sunday BY HALLIE MANN hmann@kansan.com Associated Press After two days of rain and cancellations at the Liz Murphey Collegiate tournament, the women's golf team finished 18th overall. Only one round of 18 holes was played on Sunday due to bad weather Friday and Saturday. Up against some of the top-ranked teams in the country, the team struggled to keep up. The final team score for Kansas was 327, which was 39 over par. The team was led by junior Emily Powers, who finished 30th in the field of 96 individuals at the tournament. Powers ended with a score of 77 strokes, being over par by five. Powers, who usually averages 75.33 strokes, started off with a birdie and stayed under par for the next three holes. Following Powers were sophomores Grace Thiry and Meghna Bal who both tied for 79th place individually and finished 11 over par, with 83 strokes total. Both athletes average under 80 strokes. Sophomore Sydney Wilson and junior Meghan Gockel tied for FINAL STATS
ScorePlace
Emily Powers77 (+5)T30
Grace Thiry83 (+11)T79
Meghna Bal83 (+11)T79
Meghan Gockel84 (+12)T85
Sydney Wilson84 (+12)T85
48th finishing with a score of 84 strokes, 12 over par. Auburn finished first as a team with a score of 299 followed by Kent State and Alabama with 302. The Jayhawks' next tournament will be the Susie Maxwell Berning Invitational in Norman, Okla., April 5-6. Edited by Jesse Trimble Wild wildcat Villanova forward Frank Tchuisi celebrates with the net around his neck after defeating Pittsburgh 78-76 in Boston on Saturday. Third-seeded Villanova advanced to the Final Four thanks to Scott Reynolds' last second Javon. ASSOCIATED PRESS set her up to fail because she wasn't dialed in and focused. She thought it was going to be easy. WOMEN'S (CONTINUED FROM 1B) "We all talked about that and I said as a group we can't do that. But you should have confidence, and you should have a swagger about you because we've played well." The lajahays credit much of their turnaround to the responsibility taken by individuals on the team or, in other words, the ability to accept roles. In the basketball sense of the word, a role is a player's job description — the tasks they must complete in order for the team as a whole to be successful. Early in the season, Kansas' players seemed to struggle with the concept, either not successfully fulfilling the role or a not entirely buying into it. "People became more comfortable and then they became better because they accepted their role," Catic said. "When you know what your role is and you come to like it, you're naturally going to become better." Added junior guard Sade Morris: "Once people are like, 'This is my role and I want to do it to help this team be successful,' it just makes things a lot easier. It makes us that much more confident in each other." Now, the task for Kansas shifts to New Mexico and advancing to the final four of the WNIT. Oklahoma State coach Kurt Budke said Kansas appeared to be the favorite in the tournament and with two-lopsided victories so far, the lajahaws have provided backing for those words. But, as Henrickson preached to her team inside Allen Fieldhouse, nothing will be easy from this point on. "Be confident, but don't let that keep you from focus and concentration," Henrickson said. "Don't think it's going to be easy because we're playing well. It's going to be harder because we're playing well." - Edited by Casey Miles Your KU Card gives you an edge in the game of college life! With a KU Checking Account, your KU Card connects you to free Online Account Access and Online Bill Pay,a free Commerce Gold Visa $ ^{®} $ Check Card,free ACH transfers from home, $ ^{*} $ free Commerce ATM transactions with three free per month at other ATMs, and an on-campus branch plus 14 branch and ATM locations all over town! At Commerce, we understand that your needs today aren't the same as your needs tomorrow. And we're ready to help you handle both. WILD CARD Seek balance with your money. Visit commercebank.com/learn. 864-5846 commercebank.com *Two free ACH transfers from Home per month. No Commerce fee at another bank's ATM up to three times per month. Non Commerce ATM transactions in excess of three per month will incur a Commerce fee; however, for a limited time you can obtain a refund for five of these. Other banks' ATM fees may apply. Limited time offer. ask listen solve and call click come by are trademarks of Commerce Bancshares, Inc. © 2008 COMMERCE BANCSHARES, INC.