8A / SPORTS / WEDNESDAY, MAY 4, 2011 / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / KANSAN.COM
BASEBALL REWIND
Kansas 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
0 0 0 2 4 1 0 0 X
Wichita 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
State 0 0 0 0 0 2 2 0 0
FINAL R H E
7 7 10 1
FINAL R H E
4 4 11 0
Kansas
Batting POS AB R H RBI
Brandon Maclas SS 5 1 2 1
Jordan Dreiling 3B 2 1 0 0
Jimmy Waters CF 3 2 1 2
Zac Elgie 1B 4 0 1 0
James Stanfield C 4 1 1 1
Casey Lytle RF 2 0 0 0
Jake Marasco DH 4 1 2 2
Tucker Tharp LF 4 0 0 0
Kevin Kuntz 2B 3 1 3 0
Totals 31 7 10 7
Wichita State
Batting POS AB R H RBI
Tyler Grimes SS 4 1 2 0
Kevin Hall CF 4 0 0 0
Chris O'Brien C 5 2 2 0
Preston Springer DH 4 0 1 0
Johnny Coy 1B 5 1 2 2
Tyler Coughenour 3B 3 0 2 1
Don Lambert RF 4 0 1 0
Micah Green LF 3 0 1 1
Walker Davidson 2B 4 0 0 0
Totals 36 4 11 4
The fifth
Keyinning
The fifth: Kansas roped off four hits to score four runs in the fifth. The Jayhawks extended their lead from 2-0 to 6-0 in the big inning. Jimmy Waters had a two run single with the bases loaded to get the inning going.
Game to remember
Kevin Kuntz
The sophomore second baseman hit 3-for-3 and scored once in the Jayhawks' 7-4 win over Wichita State. Kuntz came in to the game with only 32 at-bats and a .313 batting average. His average now sits pretty at .421.
Kuntz
Game to forget
Aaron LaBrie
Wichita State reliever Aaron LaBrie spent a short time on the mound Tuesday night. In one inning pitched, LaBrie gave up four hits and four runs to the Jayhawks. It took him 21 pitches to get out of the inning.
LaBrie
Howard Ting/KANSAN
Freshman pitcher Alex Cox winds up for a fastball at Hoglund Ballpark on Tuesday evening against the Wichita State Shockers. Cox pitched all nine innings of Tuesdays game and allowed 8 hits. The Jawhayk defeated the Shockers 7-4 during game one of this week's doubleheader.
Howard Ting/KANSAN
Sophomore designated hitter Jake Marasco swings away at Hoglund Ballpark on Tuesday evening against Wichita State. Marasco went 2-for-4 Tuesday evening and ended the game with 2 RBIs. The Jayhawks defeated the Wichita State Shockers 7-4 during game one of this week's doubleheader, and the two teams face off tonight in Wichita for game two.
Back to victory on home turf against Shockers
BY ALEC TILSON
atilson@kansan.com
atilson@kansan.com
It's difficult to gauge just how pivotal the Kansas baseball team's 7-4 victory against Wichita State was last night. It carried no weight in conference standings and it was just one game in a long season, but it isn't a stretch to say that a loss could have sent the inexperienced, arguably overachieving team into a tailspin.
Kansas returned home from a deflating series sweep at the hands of Texas Tech after the team played well enough to win same or two but had nothing
to show for it. They lost in the bottom of the ninth Sunday in Lubbock, Tex., and carried a four-game losing streak into Hoglund Ballpark for the lone home
Tonight, the team takes on Wichita State again — this time on the road — before continuing south for a weekend series against a formidable Oklahoma team. Follow that with a mid-week road game in Little Rock, Ark., and a loss last night could have been a treacherous one.
coach Ritch Price said. "We had to stop the bleeding."
For a team that is 4-12 on the road, snapping the losing streak was all-important.
"We don't have time to feel sorry for ourselves. We've got to move forward."
But as the team has done throughout the year, they won at home when they most needed to.
game in a nine-game stretch.
"We found a way to win and we flushed what happened Sunday, and that was really important."
JAKE MARASCO
Sophomore third baseman
There's something about playing on the astroturf at Hog l u n d Ballpark that gives life to Kansas, which moved to 15-9 in home games this season.
For a game built so much in repetition,
playing in the comfort of its own yard seems to bring out the good side of the team.
"Baseball is a game of routine."
sophomore third baseman Jake Marasco said. "Being back at home, everything just seems a little bit more normal."
It took being back in that routine for the Jayhawks to straighten things out. Freshman pitcher
Alex Cox threw five-plus innings, allowing two earned runs on eight hits.
Cox kept Wichita State scoreless until Marasco's two-out double in the fourth inning plated
"We found a way to win and we flushed what happened Sunday."
The team is well aware that as every game holds more weight and each one becomes the biggest game of the season, every victory will come tougher. And in the Big 12, there are no consolation prizes, which is why the team sim-
RITCH PRICE Coach
two for Kansas and broke the game open.
"We've been struggling with two out hits," senior shortstop Brandon Macias said. "Jake came through big time and got everything going."
While the victory was vital, the team must still figure out the road troubles, especially if any type of post-season awaits them. The team now has 11 games left on the schedule, six of which come on the road.
has to win
"I'm pleased we're growing up," Price said. "We're making really good progress, but our league is one of the two best leagues in America. That's the reality of it."
Marasco agreed and said a short memory would be important for the Jayhawks.
"You have to erase what happened this weekend," Marasco said of the tough series sweep at Texas Tech. "We don't have any time to feel sorry about ourselves. We've got to move forward."
Edited by Caroline Bledowski
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