THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN SPORTS
FOOTBALL|10A
Kansas safeties work in tandem
MONDAY, APRIL 11, 2011
two former high school wide receivers, Keeston Terry and Bradley McDougald, are now both on the defensive side of the ball, at the safety position.
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THIS ONE'S FOR THE BOOKS
PAGE 12A
Picking up third series in a row
Senior shortstop Brandon Macias fields a ground ball Friday at Hoglund Ballapark. Macias went 3-for-3 at the plate in the Jayhawk victory.
Mike Gunnoe/KANSAN
BY ALEC TILSON actilson@kansan.com
The Kansas baseball team did something this weekend no team in school history has done before. With Sunday's 11-5 victory against Nebraska, the team has now won three straight Big 12 series at Hoglund Ballpark.
Fitting that it came in the final home series ever against Nebraska (21-13, 3-6) as a Big 12 Conference team.
"The second biggest rival we have is Nebraska," coach Ritch Price said. "My players will tell you the two biggest rivals on our schedule, Missouri and Nebraska."
For Friday night starting senior T.J. Walz, Nebraska might be the biggest rival. An Omaha, Neb. native, Walz (4-3) defeated Nebraska for the third time in his four-year career. He threw six innings, struck out six and allowed one earned run.
It was not one of the strongest outings for the team's best pitcher, but he found a way to pick up his fourth victory of the season in a "grind-it-out, tough, hard-fought win" according to Price.
"I didn't have my best stuff today, but sometimes you don't have it and you just have to go pitch," Walz said.
In five starts since March 11, Walz has allowed nine earned runs over 35 innings, striking out 43 batters and walking just nine. The all-time strikeout leader in school history won for the second straight Friday.
The top third of the order provided much of the offense in the series' first game. Junior outfielder Jason Brunansky recorded three hits, two runs and an RBI. Senior shortstop Brandon Macias was a perfect 3-for-3 with three runs and senior Jimmy Waters added two hits and two RBI.
Freshman Frank Duncan and junior closer Colton Murray have emerged as the go-to arms in games with late-inning leads. On Friday, Duncan pitched one and two thirds innings before getting into a bases-loaded jam and handling the ball to Murray.
With Kansas holding onto a 5-4 lead, Murray entered the game and recorded four outs and his sixth
save on the year.
"I've learned to love high-pressure situations and bases loaded is definitely one of my favorites,"
Murray said.
"Adrenaline itself, I live off of it. I love it."
Duncan, a native of San Francisco, Calif., may not have expected to be in the set-up role, but its working. It
to his vang."
"We got punched in the mouth and we went back out there and punched them back."
makes for an interesting dynamic
—Duncan with more of a laid back
attitude, Murray intense and fiery.
"Colton has been helping me with the late game routine," Duncan said. "I'm kind of the yin
Kansas worked around two errors on Friday but wasn't as fortunate in Saturday's 4-2 loss.
RITCH PRICE Coach
President second baseman Ka'iana Eldredge committed an error in the fifth inning to put a runner on first. Nebraska capitalized with two runs, which ended
up being the difference.
Assistant coach Jay Uhlman was thrown out in the third inning after a comment from the dugout and coach Price pulled Macias late in the game for arguing a called
strike with the home plate umpire. Junior first baseman Zac Elgie exchanged words with Nebraska catcher Cory Burleson after striking out to end the game, only adding to the weight of Sunday's game.
With Price stepping in as third base coach, Kansas scored a season-high 11 runs and defeated Nebraska in a game that saw four home runs between the two teams. That's a lot with this year's bats.
Waters' three-run, opposite-field home run in the third inning gave the Jayhawks an early 4-1 lead. For him, the series has a personal weightiness to it.
"Being from their backyard and going through the recruiting process and being over looked and being told I couldn't play in this
conference, it feels great," Waters said.
After the Corn Huskers put up a four-spot of their own to take the lead in the fifth, Kansas answered with three runs in the bottom of the inning, in what Price called "clearly the best offensive performance of the season."
"We got punched in the mouth and we went back out there and punched them back," Price said. "That's something that really good teams do, they find a way to rally."
Duncan and Murray closed out the games final four innings and Kansas moved to 6-6 in the Big 12 and 15-17 on the year.
Edited by Emily Soetaert
SOFTBALL
Despite improved defensive play, Jayhawks fall
BY HANNAH WISE
hwise@kansan.com
Going into the bottom of the seventh inning in Sunday's contest against No. 21 Oklahoma State, the Kansas softball team looked like it was about to earn its first conference victory of the season. However, a pair of runs put the Cowgirls up 4-3 and ended the weekend series. Saturday the Jayhawks fell 3-2 after a late seventh-innings rally.
The team's defensive play showed great improvement on the weekend. Saturday, aggressive pitching by freshman Kristin Martinez set the tone of the game. The defense held Oklahoma State scoreless until the bottom of the fifth inning. Senior catcher Brittany Hile demonstrated her defensive leadership by making throwdowns for outs at second throughout the game.
"I think we talked to the girls about how, of course, this loss hurts," coach Megan Smith said. "We did a good job today. We put ourselves in a position to win and I think we can take that away as a positive."
The offense started production late Saturday afternoon. The Jayhawk batters did not connect until sophomore outfielder Maggie Hull hit her 13th double of the season in the sixth innning. She is now
tied for eighth for the most doubles in a single season. However, Hull said the stats are not going to be important until the end of the season, when she can actually enjoy them.
Her hit was the spark for the rest of the offense. In the seventh inning, junior pinch hitter Kelsey Alsdorf hit a double to drive in Hile, who had been hit by a wild pitch. It was the first run of the Jayhawks' late comeback. Ending the seventh inning, senior pitcher Allie Clark saw her first at-bat of the season.
After two pitches, Oklahoma State pitcher Simone Freeman threw a wild pitch past catcher Ashley Boyd, giving Jayhawk freshman first baseman Laura Vickers enough time to steal home. Clark hit a pop-up in foul ball territory. Boyd caught the ball to end the game.
Sunday's game saw the same offensive intensity as Saturday. The team managed eight hits and three runs. Alsdorf had a strong weekend. Her single up the middle of the infield provided Hile and Hull the opportunity to score, tying the score 2-2 in the fifth inning. Hull scored again off junior outfielder Liz Kocon's double in the sixth inning, giving the team its first lead since it played Missouri in its first conference appearance of the
The Jayhawks, meanwhile, benefited from improved pitching on the weekend. Martinez and Clark stuck to the pitching staff's philosophy of pitching to the knees. They also worked the outside of the plate to entice batters to chase pitches. They struck out only four batters on the weekend, but they worked to create groundball situations for the defense to convert to outs at first base.
season.
Oklahoma State responded in the bottom of the seventh inning with two unearned runs and ended the game with a 4-2 victory. The team benefited from a single and a sacrifice bunt. The final run was scored off of a pop fly with only two outs.
"I just go in there and try to help my team as best I can," Alsdorf said, "They get on base and I come in just try and bring them in and produce anyway that I can."
"Our pitchers really stepped it up this weekend after a rough couple of games and that was really key for us," Hull said.
Chris Neal/KANSAN
The team will practice in Lubbock on Tuesday before playing a Wednesday doubleheader against Texas Tech.
+
Edited by Helen Mubarak
Right fielder Lecos Kizon took an Oklahoma State pitch Saturday afternoon in Stillwater, Okla. Kocon has had 10 home runs this season and holds a .330 batting average.
MEN'S BASKETBALL
Bill Self lands promising recruit
BY TIM DWYER
tdwyer@kansan.com
In the wake of the Morris twins declaring for the NBA draft, the Kansas bench was looking a little shallow in the frontcourt.
Bill Self took his first step to fixing that problem Sunday morning with the commitment of three-star power forward Braeden Anderson, who averaged 20 points and 11 rebounds for Wilbraham and Monson Academy in Wilbraham, Mass., in his senior season.
Anderson said his development as a basketball player was far from over, though. Right now, he said, he was a face up four who liked to use his athleticism to beat his man. But the Canadian Anderson said he had only been playing in the United States for a year and a half, and only started focusing on basketball as a potential future in his freshman year.
"I'm just figuring out this game," he said, "and when I get it, I want to be on the biggest stage possible."
Anderson, 6-foot-8, will compete for immediate playing time alongside Thomas Robinson and Jeff Withey, who as the only returning Kansas big men are the heavy favorites for the starting jobs. Anderson said the opportunity for immediate playing time opened up by the Morris twins' departure for the NBA influenced his decision.
"You have to look at the big picture," Anderson said. "You can't just go on gut feeling. How often does a freshman have a chance to make an impact like Kansas needs? Now I need to prove why I deserve to be playing."
One man he'll need to impress in that regard is assistant coach Danny Manning, who in the past four years has had an impressive affect on the Kansas frontcourt. Anderson said Manning's reputation among the players was impressive and a huge draw for him.
"Danny Manning obviously has a huge impact," he said. "He's a coach, but he's also a teacher. And, of course, the players all just sing the man's praises."
"When coach Dooley was in my living room," Anderson said, "showing me all the videos, it just reminded me of all the feelings from when I was there. I just knew that this is the place I need to go."
Anderson said that Kansas "felt right, felt like home" when he visited campus on March 6, but that he wanted to take some time making his decision. When Kansas assistant coach Joe Dooley visited Anderson in his home in Calgary, Canada Saturday, Anderson offered his verbal commitment.
Edited by Helen Mubarak