8B THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 26, 2006
BASEBALL
Josh Bickel/KANSAN
Southeast Missouri State senior outfielder Chris Gibson tries to slide past Kansas senior infielder Jared Schweitzer Tuesday at the CommunityAmerica Ballpark in Kansas City, Kan. The Jayhawks beat the Redhawks 6-0. Kansas plays Creighton tonight at 3 p.m. in Kansas City, Kan.
Jayhawks outplay Redhawks
BY SHAWN SHROYER
sshroyer@kansan.com
KANSAN SPORTWRITTER
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Kansas continued its impressive play yesterday, earning its ninth victory in 12 games. It came, however, in the worst weather conditions the team had played in since March 25 in Lincoln, Neb.
Unlike the conditions in Lincoln, where the temperature was just above freezing and snow was piled up in parts of the stadium, temperatures hovered around 50 on Tuesday and precipitation fell, ending the game against Southeast Missouri State after seven innings.
"I thought we'd get it in because I didn't think it was going to rain until later, but I thought, actually, we'd get the whole thing in," junior right-hander
Brendan McNamara said.
While pitchers and positions players were feeling the effects of the weather, batters appeared to have the hardest time. The first nine batters of the game struck out, leaving Kansas without a hit until the second inning and Southeast Missouri State without a hit until the third.
McNamara made the start for Kansas and took advantage of uncomfortable hitters by striking out 10 Redhawk batters in 6.1 innings. Almost more impressive than McNamara's strikeout total was that he stayed in the game as long as he did.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Kansas batting order went full circle, leaving McNamara in the dugout to get cold. To stay warm, the Oceanside, Calif, native finally had to play catch with a teammate in foul territory while the Jayhawks were batting.
"The first inning, I'm standing on that top step and I know he is from San Diego, where he always pitches in warm weather in paradise," Kansas coach Ritch Price said. "I was shocked at how he pitched in those conditions."
Despite the harsh conditions, McNamara made his longest appearance of the season and was only pulled because he had reached his pitch count. After his performance, he couldn't really complain about the weather.
Neither team performed as badly as might be expected in the field, considering its condition. The two teams combined for only three errors.
"If anything, it worked to my advantage because hitters don't want to hit in this weather," McNamara said.
Senior outfielder Gus Miller said the wet conditions had
caused the ball to skip if it was hit hard, but as long as fielders were careful, the routine plays could still be made.
"It was real sloppy conditions and you just had to make sure to keep everything underneath you," Milner said. "Otherwise you might make yourself look like a fool."
While the game came down to which team pitched, hit and fielded better, Milner said Kansas ultimately came out on top because it was tough enough mentally to withstand the conditions.
"I don't think anybody really complained at all," Milner said. "I think it's just kind of like, 'All right, we've got to accept it and try to deal with it and try to minimize the errors.' I think we did that today."
- Edited by Lindsey St. Clair
McNamara cruised through the opening innings using the cold to his advantage. He ended the top of the fourth fanning first baseman Aaron Rave, resceting his career strikeout to six in just the first four innings.
Baseball
CONTINUED FROM PART 1A
"You kind of have to look at it both ways," McNamara said. "It's tougher for hitters to hit in this weather than it is for pitchers to pitch in it."
The cold gusts of rain and almost non-existent crowd kept the game moving at quiet, steady pace. In the bottom of the fifth, however, Kansas showed off what it has been perfecting as of late: capitalizing on opportunities.
Sophomore leadoff man Brock Simpson led off the five-run fifth. Second baseman Omar Padilla's lay out stopped Simpson's groundball, but not in time for the throw to beat him.
Simpson used a Redhawk fielding error, put in motion by senior outfielder Matt Baty, to move to third in the next at bat and scored when Baty was caught stealing moments later.
With two outs the Jayhawks used the extra out provided by the error earlier in the inning. The next six batters reached base consecutively, starting with a walk to Gus Milner. Unfazed by the weather, the senior out-fielder went 2-2 with two runs scored.
"It wasn't that bad because I was playing," Milner said. "I'm pretty
sure the people in the dugout were cold but after I was out there running around, I got warm."
Erik Morrison singled to left and sophomore John Allman took four straight bails before senior infelder Jared Schweitzer reached on the Southeast Missouri's second error of the inning. The error scored both Milner and Morrison, Allman was left behind to score later on freshman first baseman Preston Land's deep double to the left field corner.
Standing in as the only primary catcher while junior Dylan Parzyk recovers from an ankle sprain, freshman catcher Buck Afenir drove in Schweitzer.
"We're starting to peak at the right time," coach Price said. "We peaked last year in the last month of the season. We've played our best baseball these last two weekends. If we can continue to improve then we've got a shot to play for something special here at the end."
Game Notes:
Former Jayhawk Doug Lantz was the last Kansas pitcher to strike out 10 batters in one outing. It happened on March 25, 2001 against the Baylor Bears.
- Tuesday's victory marked number 30 for Kansas on the season, making it their fourth year in a row to post a 30-plus victory season. No Kansas squad has ever posted such a streak.
— Edited by Lindsey St. Clair
ROXSCORE
Southeast Missouri State (15
23, 6-9 OVC)
Player AB H R RBI
Omar Padilla 2b 3 0 0 0
Levi Olson c 3 0 0 0
Andrew Graham rf 3 0 0 0
Aaron Rave 1b 3 0 0
Philip Riley 3b 3 0 0
Andrew Johnson dh 3 1 0 0
Chris Gibson lf 3 1 0 0
Daniel Schu f 3 1 0 0
Daryl Grass ss 1 1 0 0
TOTALS 25 4 0
Kansas (30-16, 9-9 Big 12 Conference)
Player      AB H R RBI
Brook Simpson dh 4 1 1 0
Ritchie Price ss 3 1 0 0
Matt Baty cf 4 0 0 0
Kyle Murphy cf 0 0 0 0
Gus Milner rf 2 2 2 0
Erik Morrison 3b 3 1 1 0
John Allman fj 2 1 1 0
Jared Schweitzer 2b/1b 0 1 1
Preston Land 1b 3 1 0 1
Matt Barron 2b 0 0 0 0
Buck Afernic c 3 1 0 1
TOTALS 25 8 6 3
Win: Brendon McNamara (2-1) Loss: Derek Herbig (2-3)
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