6B
SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
BASEBALL
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 25, 2009
Reserves' hot bats propel Jayhawks
Jenny Terrell/KANSAN
Joe Lincoln, sophomore catcher, gets congratulations for his run during the game against Western Illinois on Tuesday. Kansas won 14-3 and had 16 hits behind the play of most reserves.
BY TIM DWYER
tdwyer@kansan.com
It wasn't the most intimidating lineup the Jayhawks have put on the field this year.
Gone from the lineup were the big sticks wielded by the likes of sophomore third baseman Tony Thompson and senior catcher Buck Afenir. In their places were sophomore reserves Greg Herbst and Joe Lincoln.
It didn't matter much.
The Jayhawks finished with season-highs in hits and runs, including six runs in the fourth inning, their largest single-inning output of the year. Herbst started that rally, knocking in the first run of the inning on a single to left field.
That was the attitude that prevailed throughout a lineup that featured only three upper-classmen, none of them seniors. Sophomore outfielder Casey Lytle is one of the young players scratching at the door of the regular lineup. He has started 11 games for the Jayhawks (14-7) but didn't see any time in Kansas' sweep of then-No. 1 Texas.
A 3-for-6 effort Tuesday raised his average to team-leading .424, though, and he'll likely see action this weekend against No.
15 Texas A&M.
"I just try to play every day and maximize the opportunities that I do get." Herbst said, "Just never give an at-bat up."
"Basically, you've got to come to the field prepared every day," Lytle said. "The midweek games prepare you for these big weekend series against these top-10 teams."
The success Lytle and Herbst experienced permeated through most of the Kansas lineup. Eight Jayhawks drove in a run, and nine of the 11 who got at-bats finished the game with at least one hit.
Success doesn't always come that easy, though. Freshmen Jake Marasco and Zac Elgie were both prolific hitters in their high school careers. Elgie hit the ball well enough to get drafted in the 12th round by the Oakland Athletics. Coach Ritch Price said Marasco was the top hitter in Kansas coming out of high school. Since coming to Kansas, though, the two high-school stars have hit a steep learning curve while getting accustomed to baseball at the college level.
The young Jayhawks know their roles, though.
"Marasco is trying to make some adjustments in his swing, in his mechanics," Price said. "Anybody who has played this game knows you go backwards before you go forwards when you do that."
"Those guys have tremendous talent," Price said. "But they know they have to progress in order to get an opportunity to play."
— Edited by Andrew Wiebe
With runners on second and third, sophomore catcher Joe Lincoln hit a double to left-center and scored two runs. Lincoln then came home to score on backup third baseman Greg Herbst's single to left field.
BASEBALL (CONTINUED FROM 1B)
The Jayhawks never looked back.
"It was good to see Joe Lincoln contribute," Price said. "He's been out for the last 10 days and that's the first time he he's played since he got hit in the face on a check-swing (against Missouri Valley)"
Only two players in the lineup failed to have a hit and it was that type of balance and production throughout the lineup that had Narodowski especially pleased with the victory.
"It's good to see everybody hitting," Narodowski said. "The
guys that came in — they were hitting laser beams to the gaps and it was good just to have them hit, get comfortable too if we need them later on."
But coach Price knows the Leathernecks aren't going to roll over for Thursday's 3 p.m. game. After losing the first game against then-No. 11 Oklahoma State, Western Illinois pulled out a 7-4 victory the next day.
"The great thing that these guys understand is that every day you play, a different guy walks on that mound." Price said. "Anybody can beat anybody in college baseball depending on what kind of pitching performance you get."
Edited by Chris Hickerson
box score
Western Illinois 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 - 3 7 4 4
Kansas 0 3 1 6 1 0 10 X - 14 1 6 1
E-Western Illinois; Metcalf (3); Gallaga (2); Kansas; Narodowski (4)
B2-Kansas; Brunansky (2); Price (4); Lisher (1); Lincoln (2)
Western Illinois AB R H RBRI
Stewart C 4 0 0 0
Myers PH 1 0 0 0
Wolf LF 2 1 2 0
Lilja LF 0 0 0 0
Laidig 3B 3 0 0 0
Spicer 1B 0 0 0
Price RF 4 0 1 0
Anderson CF 0 1 0 0
Johnson 2B 3 0 0 0
Metcalf 1B 4 2 2 2
Hagins CF 3 0 0 0
Tilbury RF 1 0 0 0
Koszulskii DH 3 0 1 0
Waropay 1 0 0 0
Gallaga ss 4 0 1 0
Totals 33 3 7 2
Pitches
Western Illinois
IP  H  R  ER  BB SO
Sneegas L (1-2)
3.2 9 10 7 2 1
Simon
2.1 5 4 4 2 1
Dugay
1.0 2 0 0 0 0
Hill
1.0 0 0 0 1 2
Kansas Jayhawks AB R H RB
Brunansky CF 4 3 1 1
Lytle RF 6 2 3 2
Price 2 B 4 2 1
Narodowski SS 3 2 3 1
Stanfield PH 3 0 1 2
Eligie 1B 4 1 2 0
Lisher DH 3,1 2 1
Lincoln C 3,2 1 2
Manship C 2 0 0 0
Herbst 5 1 2 2
Marasco 4 0 0 0
Totals 41,14 16 12
3B-Kansas: Lytle (1)
HR-Western Illinois: Metcalf 2(4)
T-2:49. A-705.
Rancho Jayhawks
Selik
Burk (1-0)
Marcin
Boyer
IP H R ER BB SC
4.0 5 3 2 1 3
3.0 2 0 0 1 2
1.0 0 0 0 1 2
1.0 0 1 0 0 2
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