---
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN SPORTS
SOFTBALL | 9A Thursday's game canceled Local thunderstorms kept the Jayhawks off the field.
FRIDAY, MAY 6, 2011
WWW.KANSAN.COM
PAGE 10A
UNDER PRESSURE
Pitching staff in the spotlight
BY MIKE VERNON
mvernon@kansan.com
The spotlight will be on the Kansas (22-24, 9-12) pitching this weekend when they travel to Norman to take on an Oklahoma Sooners (32-12, 10-9) team that leads the Big 12 in nearly every major hitting category.
Fortunately for the Jayhawks, their pitchers are not coming into this weekend's series overworked
— something the Jayhawks weren't sure of after a two-game mid-week set against Wichita State.
Sophomore pitcher Thomas Taylor started this past Wednesday against Wichita State, only four
days after starting on the previous Saturday. Coach Ritch Price expressed concern that the Jayhawks would have to use possibly six or seven pitchers in Wednesday's outing.
After a strong
After a strong three-inning performance from Taylor followed by a four-inning outing from senior pitcher Wally Marciel, Jordan Jakubov then closed out the game in the following two innings.
"We had Thomas Taylor on a three-inning maximum and then Wally really picked us up. For him to walk out there and go four innings really gave us a chance to rest our bullpen and give Colton Murray and Frank Duncan a night off," Price said. "It really sets us up for the weekend series at Oklahoma."
Today's 6:30 p.m. pitching matchup features Kansas ace senior T.J. Walz and Oklahoma's star senior Michael Rocha.
"I'm really proud of the progress that Ka'iana has made. He's playing like a freshman All-American right now."
Rocha brings an ERA of 1.51 with 52 strikeouts and only 12 walks into Friday's action. On March 28, he shut out the conference leader, Texas, and struck out 13 batters in the performance.
TJ. Walz is 5-4 on the year with an ERA of 3.47. Walz had his worst performance of the season against the Longhorns, giving up 10 hits and five runs in five innings pitched.
59 and one-third innings pitched. Kansas has not yet named a starter in Sunday's 1 p.m. game, but it will most likely be either Taylor or freshman Alex Cox, both have started games throughout the year.
Saturday at 2 p.m., Tanner Poppe will start for the Jayhawks. Poppe has the best ERA on the Jayhawks' staff at 3.19. Poppe has had control problems throughout the season, walking 30 batters in
Because the Jayhawks can be sure to bet on Oklahoma amassing runs on the scoreboard — the Sooners have scored 56 more runs than any Big 12 team — the Kansas batters must do their part to take some pressure off the pitching staff.
Senior outfielder Casey Lytle must lead the Jayhawks' efforts at the plate — he comes into the weekend as the only Jayhawk batting above the .300 mark, at .311.
RITCH PRICE Kansas coach
With Lytle leadingtheway, the Jayhawks' younger batters must follow suit and do their part as well. One of those young batters, freshman second basemen Ka'iana Eldredge, must keep his hot bat smoking against the Sooners this weekend.
"I'm really proud of the progress that Ka'iana has made. He's playing like a freshman All-American right now," Price said. "We're talking about a guy who was hitting like .145 before we started Big 12 play and I think he's like .290-something in the conference. He's improved each and every week."
The Kansas pitching staff has its toughest test of the season this weekend, and the Jayhawks' lineup must perform well to relieve some of the pressure off the pitchers. The Jayhawks are going to have to play the best they have all season to take down their top-dog opponent, Oklahoma.
- Edited by Dave Boyd
KILVS. OKLAHOMA
Day: Today
Location: Norman, Okla.
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Sophomore designated hitter Jake Marasco at Hoglund Ballpark on Tuesday evening against Wichita State. Marasco went two for four Tuesday evening and ended the game with two RBIs. Kansas defeated Wichita State 7-4 during one of this week's doubleheader.
COMMENTARY
A walk down musical memory lane
BY NICO ROESLER
nroesler@kansan.com
O one week. That's all that is left. Classes will be done on Thursday, and stop
As a graduating senior, I am not looking forward to my last tests, but rather looking back on all the times that have led me to these last few days. And being that this is one of my last columns for the University Daily Kansan, I wanted to end it on a nostalgic note.
day and finals will follow in a fury of procrastination followed by all-nighters.
And what is as nostalgic as music? Music defines generations, and in this case, has defined the last four years of my life. Many of us listen to it while we study, hear it at barn around town or on differ
ent floors of the dorms, and we feel alive whenever it is pumped out of the speakers in Allen Fieldhouse or Memorial Stadium.
What are sports without music? There have been marching bands as long as team sports have been around. Bands are the bravery behind every team. Why else were drum lines present on the battle fields of the Civil War and many others? To inspire soldiers, to inspire the home team.
I have to begin with the traditional song. After all, that is where Kansas gets its acclaim. Not many sights or sounds can match a Saturday afternoon, or an evening in The Phog, when Kansas students and alumni embrace each other — friends and strangers — and rock to the same tune. Back and forth, waving like a field of wheat and
So, in a farewell to Kansas, here is a look back at what songs have defined Kansas sports over the last four years.
THE ALMA MATER AND ROCK CHALK CHANT
singing what so many have sung before.
Then, follow it up with the best college chant in the country. Chills. Enough said.
Composed by Clint Mansell as the title track of the soundtrack for the movie, Requiem for a Dream, the song has come to define Kansas basketball. As the background song for the opening video of each home game, the building drama of the song cannot be contained. Each time I hear it and watch the video, I leap with joy and tear up at the remembrance of Mario's Miracle and all of the faces Kansas fans and students have been so lucky to watch perform year after year.
REQUIEM FOR A DREAM
It works as a great recruiting tool as well.
RED AND BLUE KU
Of the 257 remixes to the Wiz Khalifa song, Red and Blue KU might be one of the most forced. But it works. Simply because the beat is too infectious, and who
B Double E did it with this one. A local artist rapping about the local team and town.
ALL I DO IS WIN
What song coming out of today's music scene better translates into a matching band hit?
DJ Khaled and T-Pain must have obviously been thinking about what would sound the best in Allen Fieldhouse more than what would sound good in a club.
This even replaces the classic routine of waving the wheat. Imagine, everyone's hands go up until the beat comes back in and everybody starts singing: "And they stay there, and they stay there"
doesn't like hearing the line "KU ... so great, I'm like Chalmers at the buzzer, '08."
This song may not last much longer than two years in Allen Fieldhouse, but in my time here, it's been a pleasure trying to sound like T-Pain.
Edited by Tali David
HONORS
Two former Jayhawks to be added to Hall of Fame
Kansas Athletics announced the newest members of the Kansas Athletics Hall of Fame.
KORY CARPENTER kcarpenter@kansan.com
track and field star Amy Linnen and former baseball All-American Don Czyz.
Czyz
Linnen
Linnen,
f r o m
Westampton
Beach, N.Y.
was an indoor
and outdoor
pole vaulter
earning All-
American honors
in 2005 as well
winning the
2005 National Championship. Linnen, a transfer from the
University of Arizona, holds the Kansas indoor and outdoor school record after clearing a height of 4.3 meters.
Czyz, an Overland Park native, played under current baseball coach Ritch Price from 2003-2006 and was drafted by the Florida Marlins in the seventh round of the 2006 MLB draft. While at Kansas, Czyz was a two-time All-Big 12 selection. He was named the 2006 National Collegiate Basketball Writers Association Stopper of the Year while leading Kansas to its first conference title in almost 50 years.
Both athletes will be inducted into the Kansas Hall of Fame, located in the Booth Family Hall of Athletics, on Sept. 30.
3
1
Edited by Marla Daniels
}