THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAS
MONDAY, MARCH 11, 2013
PAGE 3B
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Justin Protacio, a sophomore infielder from Pearl City, Hawaii, dives back to first base after attempting to steal second in the first game of a double header against Niagara Friday. Kansas defeated Niagara with a walk-off win in the bottom of the ninth, ending in a 3-2 victory.
Kansas sweeps Purple Eagles
FARZIN VOUSOUGHIAN
fvousoughian@kansan.com
*For the first time this season, the Kansas Jayhawks finished with a sweep after defeating the Niagara University Purple Eagles in four games. Kansas senior pitcher Thomas Taylor threw for six innings in game four and struck out six batters, giving him a total of 27 on the season.
Taylor was warming up for the projected 1 p.m. start, but the game was pushed back for more than two hours because of a rain delay. Like everyone else at Hoglund Ballpark, Taylor was ready the moment he, and everyone else, was told they could hit the field to warm up.
"I just tried to put the conditions out of my mind and try to throw strikes," Taylor said. "They're hitting in it too, so it was just as hard for them."
Taylor threw for six innings, finished with six strikeouts and allowed three runs off six hits. Taylor ran into a little bit of trouble
in the fifth inning after Niagara scored three runs; however, Kansas responded in the bottom half of the fifth with two runs and maintained a 9-3 lead.
Sophomore center fielder Dakota Smith and senior third baseman Jordan Dreiling both had three runs batted in Saturday's 11-4 win. The 11 runs manufactured by the Jayhawks were the most out of any game during the series against Niagara.
On top of a win, Kansas was happy to earn its first sweep of the season and hopes to carry that over in an upcoming road trip, Smith said.
"We knew we needed to come out and get rolling," Smith said. "We knew we could do it this weekend. We've been kind of on and off each weekend, and we wanted to make sure we played like we know we can play so we can get into a more of a fast-paced baseball. TCU is going to be a good team, and we want to make sure we are ready for it."
Kansas' performance on the mound was a reflection of how well the pitches have played all season. But Kansas coach Ritch Price said he wants to see improvement from his defense before opening up Big 12 play next weekend.
The Jayhawks' defense committed five errors in the series against the Purple Eagles. Price said he wants his team to get better and thinks this year's defense is better than last year's, which was ranked in the top 25 on defense.
"I think it was a series we needed to take care of our business." Price said. "We needed to gain some momentum going into the conference opener next weekend."
Kansas is scheduled to host Jackson State University at 3 p.m. Wednesday before heading to Fort Worth, Texas to face Texas Christian University in a three-game series starting Friday.
Edited by Morgan Said
SOFTBALL
Balanced play helps Kansas win at weekend invitational
JOE DAUGHERTY
jdaugherty@kansan.com
Jayhawks used strong pitching and hot bats to finish a weekend tournament unblemished for the first time this season.
The Jayhawks shutout four out of their five opponents at the Florida Atlantic Invitational. The Jayhawks played Eastern Michigan, Michigan State, Ball State, Louisiana-Monroe and the host team Florida Atlantic.
KU was in some nail bitters against Michigan State and Ball State winning both games by just one run. Coach Megan Smith said she thought this weekend's field was the most balanced that Kansas has faced all year.
lasted Michigan State to win 1-0 in the bottom of the seventh. Sophomore Alicia Pille and MSU junior Kelly Smith dueled for six innings and kept the offenses at a stand still. Pille was dominant throughout the game finishing with her 11th career shutout and third of the season. She only surrendered three hits while striking out five and walking none. Chanin Naudin hit a double in the bottom of the 7th and two wild pitches later sprinted to the plate for
"There is no better feeling than being able to come in, in a clutch situation on the mound and shut a team out."
"We were just locked in every game from start to finish," Smith said. "The girls were just really determined this weekend to come home 5-0."
The first game of the weekend was against Eastern Michigan. The Jayhawks' will earned their 11th rule-run victory of the season while beating The Eagles 10-0. Senior Maggie Hull, freshman Chaley Brickey and freshman Alex Hugo all cranked out three hits each. Kelsey Kessler was dominant in the circle striking out nine and only walking one en route to her second shutout of the season. The Jayhawks broke the game open in the top of the fourth when they sent 13 batters to the plate, scoring seven runs in the process.
The second game of the weekend against Michigan State was a pitcher duel'. Kar:sas out-
ALEX JONES Kansas pitcher
the gamewinning run.
"Michigan State was definitely a pitcher's duel, and Pille went out and pitched lights out for us," said senior captain Marianh Montgomery. "We were getting a couple hits here and there but couldn't seem to piece any together to get runs across the plate, but we knew we were going to get it done because we had the fire and passion and didn't want to go into extra innings."
The game against Ball State was another nail biter but this was not a pitchers duel it was a battle of the bats. BSU and KU had 13 hits apiece in a game that the Jayhawks won 8-7. This game marked Smith's 100th victory as a Jayhawk. Montgomery went 3-4 and recorded two homeruns and three RBIs. Junior Alex Jones came in to pitch the sixth and seventh inning and pitched the only 1-2-3 innings of the game. Hull drove in the decisive run in the top of the inning.
"There is no better feeling than being able to come in, in a
clutch situation on the mound and shut a team out," Jones said. "It's always very nice to be able to get a clutch hit, but I never felt better than when I came in against Ball State that night and being able to get the win."
The Jayhawks carried the momentum of two hard-fought wins into the game against FAU. The Jayhawks beat FAU 10-0 to earn their 12th run rule victory of the season. The Jayhawks captains were lights out against the Owls. Sophomore Maddie Stein, Montgomery and Hull went 7-for-9 at the plate with two doubles and four RBIs, while Jones collected her 6th career shutout.
"Ball State was a complete team effort, and our bats were on fire going into the next game," Montgomery said. "I felt bad for FAU because our bats were just on fire and pounding the hits for us."
The Jayhawks finished off the weekend against Louisiana-Monroe. The team recorded its fourth shutout in five games by winning 6-0. The Jayhawks used strong pitching from Pille once again to get the victory. Pille carried a perfect game into the fourth inning. Hull capped off a strong weekend by hitting a homerun and scoring the last of the six runs against LMU. The career RBI race is heating up. Hull is in second with 126, while Montgomery is right behind her with 125. Montgomery said she and Hull aren't worried about who ends up with the most RBIs at the end of the season and are more focused on doing what it takes to help the team win.
- Edited by Allison Hammond
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