PAGE 6
MONDAY, APRIL 1, 2013
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
BASEBALL
Power from hitters, bullpen secures a win
KELSEY WEAVER/KANSAN
Sophomore infielder Justin Protocaprio spins for first base during the game against Jackson State University at home on March 13. Kansas went 1-2 in the series against Oklahoma this weekend. Protocaprio has a 304 batting average this season.
FARZIN VOUSOUGHIAN
fvousoughian@kansan.com
After losing the first two games of the series to Oklahoma, Kansas fired back in Saturday afternoon's series finale.
Kansas coach Ritch Price was disappointed to see his players weren't competitive early on in the series. Kansas scored seven runs in the first inning on Saturday, making Price prouder of his players than before in Norman.
The jayhawks' offense was good enough that it created issues for the Sooners on the mound. Oklahoma coach Sumy Gollowway went to the bulpen twice in the first inning, as it took three different pitchers for the Sooners to end the jayhawks' early hot rally.
"Our hitters did a really nice job of working counts, getting the ball elevated and being on time," Price said. "They found a way to be impressive today. It was a good offensive performance."
Although Kansas held a 7-1 lead after one inning, it remained silent for the next five innings. During that stretch, Oklahoma responded with a seven-run inning of its own and took an 8-7 lead in the fifth inning, but Kansas remained competitive, which is what Price asked from his team.
In the seventh inning, senior first baseman Alex DeLeon pulled through to help the Jayhawks work on retaking the lead.
DeLeon, who went two-for-five with three runs batted in on Saturday, singled to right field with two strikes in the seventh inning. The hit sent senior shortstop Kevin Kuntz home to tie and senior third baseman Jordan Dreiling to second base.
"I went through a pretty good slider." DeLeon said. "He had two strikes on me, so I tried to put it into play. We got a good pitch on it, and I found the hole."
Dreiling eventually reached home plate after freshman designated hitter Jacob Boylan flied out to center field. Junior catcher Ka'iaina Eldredge scored one more run for the Jayhawks off a double from Kuntz to create a two-run lead.
"I was proud that there was no quit in our ballclub after they took the lead in the fifth inning." Price said. "We continued to fight and grind. Guys clutched up, and we put the two runs up in the seventh and the run in the eighth, which was big."
The Jayhawk bullpen pulled through once again after sophomore Wes Benjamin threw for nearly five complete innings. Sophomore Robert Kahana and junior Jordan Piché allowed four hits, and they shutout the Sooners to help conclude the series in Norman.
Kahana picked up his third win of the year as Piché earned a save for the third time in 2013.
"Our bullpen was outstanding today." Price said. "Kahana was fabulous out of the bullpen, Piché
Despite losing two of three games in the series this past weekend, the Jayhawks feel good after handing Oklahoma its first conference loss of the year.
was fabulous out of the bullpen and that is the strength of our team, the back-end of our bullpen."
"We were able to get it done today with a win, which is really good now," DeLeon said. "We're 3-3 after playing TCU and Oklahoma, so it looks like we are in pretty good shape right now."
Kansas is currently 15-10 on the year and faces Creighton on Tuesday and Saint Mary on Wednesday for a one-game series during the week at home. The Jayhawks will also stay at home during the weekend and host Oklahoma State in their first conference series at Hoglund Ballpark.
Kansas hopes to improve its .500 conference record and be more competitive in the Big 12 throughout the rest of the season.
SOFTBALL
Edited by Elise Reuter
BRANDON SMITH/KANSAN
Junior Alex Jones squares to lay down a bunt. The Jayhawks were propelled by a grand slam and back-to-back homeruns in the fourth inning to take their record to 6-0.
Jayhawks drop three to Texas
CHRIS SCHAEDER
cschaeder@kansan.com
The Kansas softball team lost to Texas 5-4 in the second game of Friday's doubleheader as the Longhorns went 3-0 against the Jawhaws this weekend.
Sophomore Alicia Pille's ninth complete game of the season
wasn't enough in the teams' first game Thursday with a 5-0 victory by Texas. The score was 2-0 in favor of Texas for the majority of the game until the Longhorns added three runs in the final two innings to seal
walked some people for strategy reasons, and it worked. She just had too many walks to people we shouldn't have walked, but overall, I think she had a strong performance. She handled their best hitters. There were a few slippups from her, but overall pretty good."
Kansas held a 3-2 lead over
"Our team saw that they competed with Texas today, and they needed to see that."
"Overall, Pille had a pretty good start," head coach Megan Smith said in a KU Athletics press release. "We intentionally
the victory, Texas pitcher Blaire Luna had nine strikeouts and only two walks over six innings of work.
MEGAN SMITH Softball coach
the No.8
Longhorns
through five
innings until a
14-run inning
by Texas put
the game out of
reach and gave
them a 16-4
victory.
The Longhorns
had 10 hits in the
sixth inning to
turn the game into a run-rule effort. Kansas was forced to use three pitchers in the final two innings of the game, as Texas stormed back with an outstanding offensive performance to end the game.
Despite the 16-4 loss earlier in
the day, Kansas responded with a solid effort in the second game of Friday's doubleheader. Kansas freshman Alex Hugo hit her ninth homerun of the year, the second most by a jayhawk freshman, but the jayhawks were unable to turn the momentum in their favor. Pille was solid again on the hill for Kansas with four strikeouts over four innings. Luna had nine strikeouts over seven innings and improved her record to 17-1 on the season for Texas.
"It was a good game, we just came up a little bit short," Smith said in a KU Athletics press release. "Our team saw that they competed with Texas today, and they needed to see that. Aside from one horrible inning today, we competed with them both games."
Kansas travels to Lubbock, Texas on Friday to take on the Texas Tech Raiders in a three-game series on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Edited by Julie Etzler