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KANSAN.COM/SPORTS | MONDAY, APRIL 10, 2017
Graham announces he's returning for senior year
Missy Minear/KANSAN
Junior guard Devonte' Graham smiles in the final seconds of Kansas' 79-73 victory over Kentucky in Rupp Arena on Jan. 28.
▶ AMIE JUST
@Amie_Just
n Senior Night back in February, coach Bill Self
looked to junior guard Devonte' Graham.
Graham sat under the north basket near the Kansas bench, while Self gave an opening speech before honoring the three outgoing
seniors.
"Devonte', wouldn't it be special to come back next year and do a senior speech?" Self asked.
As Graham smiled, the crowd chanted, "one more year, one more year."
That wish is coming true. Graham announced on Sunday afternoon that he is coming back to Kansas.
"I would just like to
announce to all my family, friends, & fans that I'm coming back to school for my senior [year]," Graham wrote on Twitter Sunday. He included a photo of him smiling with the words "how I feel about senior [year]" atop the image.
Graham averaged 13.4 points and 4.1 assists per game during his junior year, and was the 59th player in
school history to surpass 1,000 career points. His efforts earned him second-team All-Big 12 honors.
I'm coming back to school for my senior [year],"
Devonte' Graham Junior guard
His announcement came three years to the day from when he was released from Appalachian State per Graham's Twitter.
Graham's return for next season alleviates the uncertainty for how the Kansas backcourt will look in the 2017-18 season. Guard Malik Newman, a transfer from Mississippi State, will be eligible to suit up next
to Graham next season. And guard Sam Cunliffe, a transfer from Arizona State, will be eligible January 2018.
Freshman guard Josh Jackson and junior guard Svi Mykhailiuk have not yet announced their plans for next season.
- Edited by Paola Alor
Baseball avoids weekend sweep with Sunday win
MITCH GEORGE
@MitchLGeorge
After being offensively hushed in the preceding couple of games to open the series, the Kansas batting order responded loudly with seven runs and 15 hits in its 7-2 win against the West Virginia Mountaineers on Sunday.
Sophomore outfielder Devin Foyle swings at a pitch. Kansas defeated Northwestern State 8-2 on March 3.
With five Jayhawks recording multi-hit performances, every starting fielder notched at least one hit in the game.
Although the entirety of the Kansas lineup saw success, sophomore center fielder Rudy Karre, sophomore outfielder Devin Foyle and junior catcher Tanner Gragg stood out as the key contributors. The trio combined for six hits, five runs and four RBIs.
Gragg sparked the offense with a run-scoring single in the top of the second inning, and repeated the motion in grander fashion in his third at-bat of the day. On a 1-1 pitch, he launched his first home run of the season to give the Jayhawks a one-run lead in the seventh inning.
see him be physical with the bat like that, I couldn't be happier for him."
"Gragg played really well today," Kansas coach Ritch Price said in a Kansas Athletics news release. "He grinds and works hard every day, and he has become an absolutely outstanding defensive player with a plus-arm. To
Freshman right fielder Brett Vosik led the team with three hits from the left-handed batter's box. Vosik also drove in Kansas' final two runs of the ballgame in the top of the ninth inning-one was earned, the other runner advanced home on a throwing error.
Even with the offense providing plenty of cushion for its pitching staff, the Jayhawk hurlers continuously stifled the Mountaineer batters to propel their team toward a victory.
He has become an absolutely outstanding defensive player with a plus-arm."
Miranda Anaya/KANSAN
Ritch Price Kansas coach
Freshman right-hander Ryan Zeferjahn started the game on the mound and traversed the opening third of the game without much stress. After a single and a stolen base in the fourth inning, Zeferjahn was tasked with facing West Virginia's five-hole hitter, Darius Hill. On a full-count pitch, Hill launched a home run over
The Topeka native pitched into the fifth inning before junior left-hander Blake Weiman replaced him.
"I couldn't be more pleased with the job Zefer-jahn did for us," Price said in the release. "We needed a big performance from him today, and he got us into the fifth inning. Then our guy Weiman was absolutely special — that was the key to the
the right field wall that, at the time, tied the game at two runs apiece.
ballgame. He came in and shut down those left handers with runners on base and put up zeroes until we could manage to score again."
Weiman combined with senior closer Stephen Villines to shut down West Virginia for the rest of the afternoon as they limited opposing batters to just two hits in their 4.1 innings of work.
The Jayhawks maintained a comfortable 4-2 lead as they headed into the ninth inning, but the young bats
provided three insurance runs that pushed Kansas' lead, and the final score, to 7-2.
Just over halfway through the season, junior shortstop Matt McLaughlin continues to add legitimacy to his name as an MLB Draft prospect with his .327 batting average.
As the end of Villines' senior season draws nearer, his ERA continues to drop, now landing at 3.91. Although this would be his highest ERA at Kansas, his career ERA still
The Jayhawks will continue the latter portion of their regular season slate with a midweek matchup against the Wichita State Shockers on Tuesday, April 11, at 6 p.m. After completing the single game, Kansas will host a Big 12 series when they battle Oklahoma State beginning on Thursday, April 13, at 6 p.m.
Edited by Paola Alor
hangs around 2.60.