SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TOUR CENTRAL GOLF CLUB
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BASEBALL
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 23, 2008
Shockers defeat Jayhawks 6-4
Wichita scores six runs in fourth, shuts Kansas down for the second time this season
Freshman designated hitter Jimmy Waters gets tagged out at home by Wichita State catcher Tyler Weber during the third inning of Tuesday's game in Wichita. The Shockers defeated the Jayhawks 6-4 and improved to 31-7 on the season. The Hawks fell to 25-19.
Jon Goerina/KANSAN
BY SHAWN SHROYER
shroyer@kansan.com
WICHITA - Twenty-one days served as an intermission, but the major actors from Kansas' first meeting, with No.14 Wichita State picked up right where they left off Tuesday night.
Just as a refresher, those main players when the Jayhawks and Shockers played April 1 were Kansas sophomore left-hander Shaeffer Hall, senior right fielder Ryne Price and Wichita State right-hander Tyler Fleming. Once again, Hall fell far short of a quality start and Price provided most of the offense for Kansas while Fleming stymied the rest of the Kansas lineup.
One big inning was all Wichita State needed, scoring six runs in the fourth, to complete its season sweep of Kansas with a 6-4 victory at Eck Stadium. With the win, the Shockers improved to 31-7 on the season and extended their winning streak to five games against the Jayhawks, who dropped to 25-19 on the year.
"It's frustrating to lose any game. I don't look at it as anything different than losing to anybody," senior left fielder John Allman said. "We just had one inning where it kind of got away from us and that happens in baseball."
Hall shut the Shockers out an inning longer Tuesday night than he did in his first start against them, when they jumped on him in the third, but this time around was even more brutal.
In sending 11 hitters to the plate in the fourth, six Shockers tagged hits off Hall, including two infield singles by center fielder Ryan Jones, as they burst ahead. 6-1.
Hall walked two more batters in the inning and was pulled with two outs. In 3 2/3 innings, Hall (2-2) surrendered eight hits and walked three and all six runs he allowed were earned.
"He got behind in the count," Price said. "He's not quite firm enough to get behind in the count and then have to use his fastball in fastball counts."
The Jayhawks jumped out to an early lead with a run in the third, but ran themselves out of additional runs in the inning.
Senior right-hander Hiarali Garcia got Kansas out of the fourth and locked down the Wichita State offense the next three innings, but the Kansas offense was no match for Wichita State's one big inning.
Price said he wanted his players to play more aggressive offensively and that play was a reflection of that approach. Kansas didn't leave the inning empty handed, though, as Allman drove Larson in with a single to left to put the Jayhawks up, 1-0. The inning ended when Allman was thrown out after taking a wide turn at first.
Freshman designated hitter Jimmy Waters led off the inning with a walk, but when senior center fielder Casey Larson doubled to right field, where Shocker Mitch Caster started for the first time and bobbled the ball, coach Ritch Price noticed the relay was lined up with second base, so he waved Waters home. But with a quick relay and a poor turn around third by Waters, Wichita State nabbed him at the plate.
Allman made up for the baserunning mistake in the sixth, sending his fourth home run of the season just over the left field wall and cutting the deficit to 6-2. The next inning,
with a runner on, freshman third baseman Tony Thompson cut further into Wichita State's lead with a two run blast to left field. It was his third home run of the season and it brought the score to 6-4.
Allman and Ryne Price led the Kansas offense, each going 2-for-4 and accounting for two-thirds of the Jayhawks' hits.
Tyler Fleming (3-1) kept the Kansas bats in check, striking out three in four innings while giving up one run before he exited the game. He pitched the final 1 1/3 of Wichita State's first meeting with Kansas, striking out three
of the five batters he faced.
Lost in Hall's lackluster start was a brilliant performance by the Kansas bullpen. In 4 1/3 innings, Garcia and Marcin struck out two and allowed just one hit and one walk, keeping the Shockers off the board.
Price was especially happy with Marcins performance. Halfway through last season he struggled just to throw strikes, so eventually he stopped appearing in games. Tuesday was just Marcin's 10th appearance of the season, but Price said sophomore right-hander Marcin told him a few weeks ago that something clicked in his head and he was ready to pitch regularly again.
"That's the best Hiarali's pitched in the two years he's been at KU." Price said. "And my boy Thomas Marcin has the best arm in our program and we think he's through his throwing problem now. We wanted to get him into a big time environment to see if he could walk back out there and be as good as his bullpens were. For me, that was the highlight of the night."
—Edited by Russell Davies
BASEBALL
Senior duo shows stellar play
BY TYLER PASSMORE
tpassmore@kansan.com
PAGE1B
Two of the Jayhawks' stars shined in Tuesday night's instate battle at Wichita State, but that wasn't enough. Even though both senior right fielder Ryne Price and senior left fielder John Allman excelled, the No.14 team in the nation defeated the Kansas Jayhawks 6-4.
Price repeated the excellent performance he showed when the Jayhawks first met the Shockers this season on April 1. Kansas lost 7-3, but Price was accountable for two of those runs when he scored his seventh home run of the season.
Price started his first two at bats with two hits and two stolen bases against the Shockers. Price's average climbed to .335 and he increased his total of steals to seven on the year.
Allman was the other Jayhawk who was on the attack from behind the plate. With the team's best batting average at .358, Allman went 2-4 with a home run and twoRBIs.
"I was 2-0 and the guy has a good arm, so I was looking for a fastball," Allman said. "I got a good pitch and tried to put a good swing on it and I got lucky."
on par with his competition. When Kansas faced Nebraska, the No. 8 team of the country, last weekend, Allman had two hits in every game. Allman was 8-18, with four RBIs, a triple and a home run, in the last four games, which were played against the No. 8 and No. 14 teams in the nation.
Allman has had an outstanding season from behind the plate so far and has been
The Jayhawks two leading hitters combined to go 4-8 Tuesday night. On the year, Allman and Price have led the team in batting average with .358 and .335, respectively. While these feats are nice, Price has already captured the Kansas career
"It's nice to see him
back to putting the ball in play with two strikes," coach Ritch Price said. "I still feel like he is chasing too many balls down out of the zone, but when he is hitting good pitches, he can really square the ball up as good as anyone in the nation."
"It's nice to see him back to putting the ball in play with two strikes."
RITCH PRICE
Kansas baseball coach
home runs record with 33. The pair still has enough of the season left to do more damage to the Kansas record books and have been stepping it up against tough foes.
"I feel OK, we are not winning and I would rather go offer and us win," Allman said. "I am really just trying to do what I can
for the team to win."
Kansas will ply host to Kansas Wesleyan tonight at 6 and will look to ignite some of the other bats in their lineup.
Edited by Patrick De Oliveira
Jon Goering/KANSAN
Senior outfeilder John Allman celebrates with Junior catcher Buck Afenir after hitting a solo homerun during the top of the sixth inning. Allman hit 2-4 in the game, driving in two runs and scoring one.
SOFTBALL
Kansas enjoys sweep of UMKC
Kansas pitching paves way to 10-2, 7-0 victories
BY KELLY BRECKUNITCH kbreckunitch@kansan.com
The University of Kansas softball team dished out some revenge against UMKC on Tuesday. After getting swept in the past two series, the Jayhawks retaliated with a sweep of their own.
Coach Tracey Bunge said it was good for the team to have that success after a rough week. "We needed to get back on our feet and feel a little bit better about ourselves," Bunge said.
Wilson
The team earned a 10-2 run-rule victory in six innings in the first game. Sophomore pitcher Sarah Vertelkia
"We're going to need to obviously build on what we did today offensively."
TRACY BUNGE Kansas coach
6
surrendered two runs in the first inning and held UMKC scoreless the rest of the way. After back-to-back shutout losses, a number of Jayhawks got hot offensively. Senior left fielder Betsy Wilson hit a three-run home run; her fourth of the season, and freshmen right fielder Liz Kocon and catcher
Brittany Hile and junior third baseball Val Chapple had multiple hits and at least one RBI.
After those two shutout losses, Bunge said she was happy to see some hitters get back in stride and gain some momentum. "We're going to need to obviously build on what we did today offensively," Bunge said.
The Jayhawks won the second game 7-0. While the scores might not reflect it, the second game of the night was a much more lopsided KU victory. Freshman pitcher Allie Clark and junior pitcher Valerie George combined to allow only one hit in seven innings. Eight different Jayhawks had a hit in the game, including Chapple and
junior shortstop Stevie Crisosto, each hitting a home run in the contest. Chapple and junior center fielder Dougie McCaulley each stole a base.
Bunge said it was good having Vertelka and Clark get the victories on Tuesday night, since they don't get that many opportunities. "Both Clark
TRACY BUNGE Kansas coach
"So the team will happily return to Arrocha Ballpark to take on the Shockers."
and Vertelka needed it for confidence reasons and both of them came out and did a nice job for us." Burge said.
The team returns to Arrocha Ballpark on Thursday for a double header with Wichita State.
Bunge said Wichita State is a team that has been very erratic over the season. "They've been a much better home team than a road team," said Bunge. So the team will happily return to Arrocha Ballpark to take on the Shockers.
Edited by Daniel Reyes
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