6B SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
FRIDAY, AUGUST 17, 2007
BASEBALL
Price proud of players taken by MLB
Three sign with professional teams; pitchers improve during summer play
BY SHAWN SHROYER sshroyer@kansan.com
PITCHING STAFF SHAPING UP
With a young and occasionally erratic pitching staff last season, the Kansas staff headed into the summer looking for more experience and consistency. It may have found some in a pair of pitches who spent the summer playing together.
Coach Ritch Price will depend on junior left-handers Andy Marks and Nick Czyz to bolster the team's weekend rotation this coming season, and based on their performances over the summer. Price has nothing to worry about.
Both were teammates for the Duluth Huskies in Iowa. Marks finished the summer with a 7-3 record, a 1.83 earned run average,
83 strikeouts and
just 37 walks in
83 2/3 innings
while Czyz was
3-1 with a 2.66
ERA and 20
strikeouts in 23
2/3 innings.
Simpson
"Andy Marks had a really good
summer. He was named Pitcher of the Year up there in the Northwoods League. We need him to come back and be a big-time, Friday-night guy for us, in order for us to make a regional again." Price said. "Nick Czyz struggled a little bit with his
command early in the summer and found his rhythm as it went on."
Two other pitchers who teamed
Two other p up for the summer were junior Paul Smyth and Hiarall Garcia, who played together for the Kenai Peninsula Oilers of the Alaskan Baseball League.
"Paul Smyth had an outstanding summer, and I feel good about the
posted a 2-0 record.
"We need (Marks) to come back and be a big-time, Friday-night guy for us, in order to make a regional again."
RITCH PRICE Coach
Smyth, Kansas junior closer, led the Oilers with five saves and ended the summer with a 1-0 record and a 1.44 ERA. Garcia, a senior reliever, team the team with a 0.73 ERA and
progress Hiaralli made, too," Price said.
But the upper-classmen weren't the only ones making noise this summer.
All-American by Ping1Baseball, a college baseball publication. Marceli looks to be a leading candidate to join Marks and Czyz in Kansas' weekend rotation this coming season.
In June, sophomore left-hander Wally Marceliel was named Second Team Freshman
"That's the key. If you're going
to play in our great conference, you have to be solid, not only at the starting positions, but also out of the bullpen," Price said. "It's the best depth we've had since I've been here
Morrison
HIGH MARKS FOR MARKS
IN NORTHWOODS
LEAGUE
Being the top pitcher in the Northwoods League was just a portion of the remarkable summer Marks had.
On July 12 he was selected to play in the Northwoods League All-Star game. Earlier this month he was the leading vote getter on the NLW Post-Season All-Star team. It was the second-straight summer he was selected as a postseason all-star.
Marks said he was honored, but even that wasn't the pinnacle of
Marks
his summer. The highlight came on July 16 in the first game of a double-header in Brainerd, Minn.
That night Marks threw the first no-hitter in the Duluth
Huskies' team history, and just the seventh in the history of the Northwoods League while striking out 12 batters in the seven-inning game.
Although it wasn't the first no-hitter Marks had ever thrown, it was his first against collegiate counterparts. The competition Marks faced that night, coupled with the time he spent alone in the dugout, made the experience even more nerve-racking.
"Being in college, knowing that the competition is much greater, it just made it that much more
exciting. It was a really close game, so that made it that much more intense," Marks said. "The last two innings was when people started sitting at the other end of the dugout and ignoring me. That's actually when I started to get a little nervous and think about it."
JAYHAWKS IN THE DRAFT
Junior left-handed pitcher Zach Ashwood was the first Jayhawk to hear his name called during the draft, going in the 16th round to the Chicago Cubs. Senior outfielder Kyle Murphy followed in the 19th round, being selected by the Texas Rangers. Twenty-seven rounds later,
The MLB Amateur Draft was held June 7-8 and four Major League organizations tapped into the Kansas pipeline.
"The last two innings was when people started sitting at the other end of the dugout and ignoring me."
the Cleveland Indians drafted junior outfielder Brock Simpson. "It's a great statement about the progress we've made with our progress," Price said. "It's been rewarding."
Ashwood
Ashwood and Murphy signed professional contracts in June while Simpson waited until August, just days prior to the August 15 deadline for organizations to sign their draft picks.
Infielder Erik Morrison rounded out the draft for Kansas when the Pittsburgh Pirates selected him in the 49th round. Morrison was playing a round of golf when he received the news, but when he heard what round he went in, he didn't hesitate in choosing to stav in school.
"I think he thought, 'Well, we've got the 49th pick. We can waste it on him and if see maybe we can get
him to sign later in the summer." Morrison said of the Pirates representative who called to tell him he'd been drafted. "I told him 'No' immediately when he called me. It was almost disrespectful because I went in the 40th round out of high school. So I've got some unfinished business here. I've got some people to prove wrong."
ANDY MARKS Pitcher
Mortison said improving his draft stock for next June would be "the driving force" to motivate him for his senior season, but said he was also excited to have one last go-around with his Kansas teammates.
"Getting to play with my brothers for one last year - it couldn't be a better situation." Morrison said.
JAYHAWKS IN THE SHOW
"It pumps me up every day." Price said. "I turn on the TV at night and, watch those guys on the satellite dish. It's a great feeling to know that there's some Jayhawks who have reached the big leagues already."
While keeping track of his current players' progress this summer, Price also made sure to check up on some former Jayhawks now playing at the Maior League level.
Former Kansas baseball player, left-handed pitcher Tom Gorzelanny, has made the biggest splash this summer. As a member of the Pirates, he leads the club with 11 wins and a 3.29 ERA. He's also posted 100 strikeouts to only 44 walks and has a 1.23 WHIP, which is the average of walks plus hits per inning pitched.
Infielder Travis Metcalf, who played at Kansas from 2002-2004 and is the school's single season and career home run record holder, made his Major League debut on May 19 with the Rangers. He collected his first career hit in his fifth game on June 14. In 35 games, he's batting .230 with one home run, six
Gorzelanny, who made his Major League debut in 2005, inched closer to becoming a household name in July when he was named one of, five Final Vote candidates for the National League All-Star Team.
runs batted in and 11 runs.
Left-handed reliever Mike Zagurski, who played at Kansas from 2004-2005 and is the school's single season strikeout record holder, made his Major
League debut with the Philadelphia Phillies on May 25. In 23 appearances, Zagurski is 1-0 with a 4.58 ERA and 19 strikeouts in 19 2/3 innings pitched.
KANSAS TO PLAY CROATIAN NATIONAL TEAM
"We've never done that before, but the mayor of Kansas City called over here and asked if we'd be willing to do that, and we're certainly more than happy to help out," Price said. "I think our players are real excited about it, too."
On July 11 Kansas announced it would face the Croatian National Team this fall. The exhibition game is at 5 p.m. on Sept. 2 in Hoglund Ballpark.
The date of the game will catch the Jayhawks as they begin their fall season, but the game will serve as a final warm-up for the Croatian National Team before it goes to Spain for the European Baseball Championships that are taking place Sept. 5-16.
Price said he wasn't worried too much about scouting the Croatians, but he and pitching coach Ryan Graves have already mapped their rotation for the game, which will be played with wooden bats.
"We're going to pitch nine guys," Price said. "Coach Graves and I talked about that. It will only be like our second day of fall practice, so we're going to run nine guys out there."
Edited by Kyle Carter
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