4B BASEBALL
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY MAY 7, 2007
Win one year,fail to qualify the next
MONDAY,MAY 7,2007
On Saturday, while all of Lawrence celebrated Cinco de Mavo, the Kansas baseball team was excluded from the holiday's events.
After nearly four hours of baseball Saturday afternoon, Kansas dropped its second-straight game to Kansas State, conceding the series to the Wildcats and falling into last place in the Big 12.
BY SHAWN SHROYER
KANSAN SPORTS COLUMNIST
SSHROYER@KANSAN.COM
With one conference series remaining, it looks as though Kansas will become the first Big 12 team to win the Big 12 Tournament one season but fail to qualify for the tournament the next. It appears that Kansas' youth will prevent it from reaching the Big 12 Tournament.
Last season, Kansas earned its best records since 1993 behind the leadership of seven seniors. The defining moment of the season for those seniors was their response
to being swept by Texas late in the season.
Following the sweep, Kansas won seven games in a row, going 9-2 and solidifying a spot in the conference tournament. The Jayhawks eventually won the conference tournament and reached the NCAA tournament.
Kansas found itself in a similar predicament this weekend.
The Jayhawks entered the weekend tied for eighth in the conference behind seventh-place Kansas
State. Considering Kansas State has never been a factor in the Big 12, having gone without a conference tournament appearance since 2002, a series victory — if not a sweep
— looked possible for Kansas. A victory might have catapulted the Jayhawks as high as sixth in the conference.
However, a reenactment of last year's seniors proved to be too much for a Kansas squad composed of nine young players who regularly start.
On Friday, sophomore left- hander Andy Marks allowed only one hit in seven innings but his fellow underclassmen didn't offer him much support.
Sophomore catcher Buck Afenir went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts while sophomore first baseman Preston Land went 0-for-3 with three strikeouts. Lands' struggles
spilled onto the field in the bottom of the eighth when sophomore right-hander Paul Smyth came in for Marks.
After Smyth surrendered the tying run and loaded the bases, Land committed a fielding error with two outs allowing Kansas State to pull ahead for good.
Kansas got more of the same from its younger contributors on Saturday.
Sophomore left-hander Nick Czyz started for the Jayhawks, but didn't last long. In just 2/3 of an inning of work, Czyz was charged with four runs, putting Kansas in a hole.
With Kansas trailing 5-4 in the seventh, coach Ritch Price went to Smyth to keep the game within reach for the lajayhawks, but Smyth gave up two runs in the eighth.
At the plate, freshman third baseman Robby Price went 0-for-4 and Land's toils continued as he went 0-for-2, dropping his batting average on the season to .200.
One strength coach Price found in his young players is that they don't dwell on their failures. Instead, they look forward to their next opportunity to succeed.
"They play every day and they're almost oblivious to that kind of thing." Price said on Friday. "More experienced teams do have a tough time recovering after they give one away they had a chance to win. These guys don't play like that. They're not mature enough or experienced enough yet to let that kind of thing bother them.
Shroyer is a Mound City Junior in journalism.
Edited by Katie Sullivan
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In the fifth, the Jayhawks looked to be reclaiming the momentum swing, chasing Hurley from the game. Senior center fielder Kyle Murphy doubled down the left field line to kick things off and scored by way of a Morrison RBI single, bringing Kansas within one.
in-state rivals put on Saturday afternoon for the hometown crowd and the nationwide Fox Sports Net viewers.
Junior right fielder Brock Simpson beat out an infield hit and stole second to put him in position to score on a pair of Wildcat mishaps in the bottom of the fourth.
K-State jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the 31-minute first frame before Kansas countered with a little first inning offense of its own.
Sophomore lefty Nick Czyz (3-7) failed to finish the first inning for the first time this season. Czyz recorded only two outs before being lifted for junior Zach Ashwood. In less than an inning of work, Czyz surrendered four runs on two hits and two walks, throwing more balls than strikes in the outing.
"This team battles." Afenir said. "We're not afraid of being down a few runs."
"I was actually really pleased that we had just an awful first inning, I don't know if it was the jitters of being on TV for some of the younger guys for the first time — obviously Nick really struggled," Price said. "But to come right back and score two gave us a chance to get back in the baseball game."
An error in the third allowed K-State to stretch its lead to 5-2. Again, Kansas countered.
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"If you're going to walk as many guys as we did, and hit guys to set the table — I was pleased with the fact that we were down one in the seventh with the chance to tie, because it seemed like we were in trouble every single inning." Price said.
with a single to left. Junior Erik Morrison did the same and sophomore catcher Buck Afenir scored them both with a double to the right field wall.
What started as a quick inning for Wildcat starter Trevor Hurley ended with the Jayhawks cutting their deficit in half. Junior left fielder John Allman got the two-out rally started
game recaps
The eighth was too much for Kansas to counter. Despite leaving 10 less runners on than KState, Kansas collected just one base runner on one hit in the eighth and ninth innings combined.
"It's tough to stay positive and stay confident all the time," Afenir said. "Coach Price keeps us in it, we try to keep it as positive and stay as confident as we can—just look to the next day."
Shortstop Eli Rumler followed with a sharp ground ball past the diving glove of junior second baseman Ryne Price to plate both and once again extend the lead 7-4.
Kansas State 401 100 020 — 7 10 1
Kansas 200 110 040 — 4 7 3
Trevor Hurley, Justin Murray (5), Ben Hornbeck (7) and Rob Vaughn; Nick Czyz, Zach Ashwood (1), Andres Esquibel (3), Hiarail Garcia (6), Paul Smyth (7) and Buck Afenir. W — Murry 4-2, L — Czyz 3-7, S — Hornbeck 1.2B — KU: Kyle Murphy, Afenir.
**Records** — Kansas State 31-17, 9-11;
Kansas 22-28, 8-15.
Sophomore closer Paul Smyth entered in the seventh and gave up a pair of runs in the eighth. A leadoff walk and the third Kansas error of the day put out fielders Byron Wiley and Derek Bunker on base.
Kansan sportswriter Alissa Bauer can be contacted at abauer@kansan.com.
GAME ONE
KANSAS STATE 2, KANSAS 1
A stellar effort by sophomore left-hander Andy Marks went to waste Friday night as the Kansas offense mustered just one run.
Marks started for the Jayhawks and pitched seven shutout innings, striking out four and allowing only one hit and four walks. However, the Jayhawk bats collected only six hits the entire game, two of which from Junior designated hitter Casey Larson, which translated to their first run in their last three Friday games.
Kansas State 7. Kansas.4
— Edited by Katie Sullivan
— Shawn Shroyer
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