7A THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN SPORTS MONDAY, APRIL 24, 2006 BASEBALL 'Hawks keep early run against'Cats Randall Sanders/KANSAN Senior pitcher Ricky Fairchild delivers against Kansas State in the fourth inning Saturday at Tointon Stadium in Manhattan. Fairchild earned his fifth win of the year by pitching six innings allowing two runs on four hits while walking five batters and striking out two. BY SHAWN SHROYER sshroyer@kansan.com KANSAN SPORTWRITER With a tight hamstring and the bases loaded in the bottom of the second inning on Saturday, Ricky Fairchild wasn't simply on the verge of being pulled from the game. The senior right-hander was on the brink of demotion to bullpen duty. "When he was in trouble in the second inning, I was thinking to myself, 'Man, it might be about time to make a change on the Saturday starter,'" Kansas coach Ritch Price said. Fairchild's start began smoothly. He shook off a lead off double by Kansas State's designated hitter Tyler Link on the first pitch he threw to retire the next three batters. Fairchild maintained that momentum into the beginning of the second inning, getting the first two batters of the inning to fly out to senior outfielder Gus Milner. After this point, Fairchild looked like a completely different pitcher. It began with a five-pitch walk to freshman outfielder Byron Wiley, followed by Fairchild hitting junior infielder Eli Rumler despite having an 0-2 count in his favor. Four pitches out of the zone later to junior infielder Eddie Vasquez loaded the bases. As a result, pitching coach Ryan Graves took a trip to the mound to check on Fairchild. The mound visit lasted so long, fans in attendance grew anxious and began booing to speed the meeting up. It turned out Fairchild was battling a tight hamstring. "I was really concerned," Price said. "He was bending over and I thought he hurt his back or something and that's just not like him." Fairchild remained in the game after the visit, but another four-pitch walk forced in a run. An early exit appeared inevitable for Fairchild. The Dallas native proved his grit, and escaped the jam with a shallow pop-up to senior outfielder Matt Baty. Fairchild continued to prove his durability during his roller coaster start. Fairchild said after he stretched his hamstring and took some salt tablets between innings,he knew he wouldn't be coming out of the game early. "I told coach Graves he could tell whoever's in the bullpen to sit down," Fairchild said. "I was never worried." Fairchild followed up the shaky second inning with two straight three-up, three SERIES RECAP down innings. In the fifth, he faced only four batters thanks to a double play and a quick strike out of junior infielder Jared Goedert. Seven pitches would be all Fairchild would need in the sixth to move on to the seventh. "He brings that senior maturity." Price said. "He's pitched at Tulane and pitched in the College World Series. He holds runners, fields his position and doesn't give in, hitter to hitter or pitch to pitch." The six complete innings marked Fairchild's longest outing since March 25 at Nebraska. After Fairchild gave up a single to Rumler and a full-count walk to Vasquez in the seventh inning, Graves made a call to the bullpen, ending Fairchild's afternoon. Junior Brendan McNamara entered the game and eventually balked in Rumler, charging Fairchild with his second run of the day. Kansas State wouldn't score again, though, allowing Fairchild to earn his fifth victory of the season, and his first since March 5. Fairchild's line read six innings, four hits, two runs, five walks and two strike outs, but the victory was more significant than any numbers could portray. "It was nice to bounce back," Fairchild said. "I've been struggling lately and had some bad luck here and there, but I know in the long run that my defense is always going to be behind me. So as long as I'm throwing strikes and letting them work, then the rest will take care of itself." — Edited by Lindsey Gold BY ALISSA BAUER abauer@kansan.com KANSAN STAFF WRITER Kansas 8 Kansas State 5 Kansas B Kansas State 3 Game one of the Sunflower Series was ugly. Between the two, the Wildeats and Jayhawks posted five errors on the evening and three unearned Jayhawk runs. "I thought we made a couple of bad defensive plays." Kansas coach Ritch Price said. "That really hurt us. I think we kind of hit in the mouth tonight, building a four-run lead and the next thing you know we're behind. As soon as they tied took the lead, though, we answered and tied it." Orthodox or not, Kansas made a statement Friday night, taking the only game of the series played in Lawrence. Junior left Sean Land (4-6) moved smoothly through the four innings of the game, using what Price said was a good use of his fastball and change up in his five innings of work. "I thought Sean was really good tonight." Price said, commenting on Land's pitching plan. "I think that's two good outings for Sean." Kansas 5 Kansas State 2 Amongst the chaos of the spring football game next door to game two of the Kansas (29-15, 9-8) vs. Kansas State (23-12, 3-10-1) rivalry, people in purple were everywhere. saturday's game was sold out. Kansas jumped on top early, capitalizing on a Wildcat error and a sophomore third baseman Erik Morrison two-run single in the top of the first and quieting the record setting crowd of 4,026. Morrison continued his terrific day at the plate all afternoon, going 3-for-4 with three RBI, his first three-hit day of the season. Kansas closer Don Czyz worked alongside freshman Paul Smyth and collected his 15th save, and second of the series, in his 25th appearance. While Czyz's senior leadership and multiple scoreless outings are commonplace, Smyth's role as his setup man is impressing more than just the traveling Jayhawk fans. "I'm really proud of Paul Smyth," Price said. "He's really emerged as an outstanding freshman. He's perfect for the role that he's in." Win: Bayuk (6-2) Kansas 4 (29-16, 9-9 Big 12 Conference) Player AB B H RBI Brock Simpson dh 5 0 1 0 Ritchie Price ss 5 0 1 0 Matt Baty cf 5 0 3 0 Jared Schweitzer 2b 5 1 1 1 Erik Morrison 3b 5 1 1 1 John Allman if 4 0 2 0 Gus Milner rf 3 1 2 0 Preston Land 1b 3 0 0 1 Buck Afenic c 2 0 1 0 Justin Erlrich ph 1 1 1 2 Andrew Spitzfaden c 0 0 0 0 Totals 38 4 12 4 BOX SCORE Baseball ing second baseman hurt the Jayhawks in the sixth inning, though. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 10A The lack of their usual start- Kansas State scored first, in the third inning from an RBI single from third baseman Jared Goodert. had not been recovering from an injury. "But I think our infield's carried ourselves well through this kind of injury-plagued year we've had so far. You can't fault anyone. Everyone's giving 110 percent all the time." "That's always a question with a loss or when something goes wrong on the infield," Morrison said, when asked if second baseman Ryne Price would have changed the game's outcome if he Surrendering only two runs, but charged with four, Quick took the loss after six innings of work. Bayuk notched the victory, allowing just a pair of runs in his six-inning stint. Kansas State closer Daniel Edwards collected his second save after replacing reliever Ben Hornbeck in the Kansas State shortstop Eli Rumler tapped a choppy ground ball up the middle toward Schweitzer. Schweitzer booted the ground ball across the infield. A Wildcats run scored on the play. Before this happened, a Morrison error put Rice on, sparking the defensively unsound inning. Loss: Quick (7-3) The rivals then began a give-and-take scoring relationship. After Kansas State scored a run in the fourth inning, senior infielder Jared Schweitzer hit his third home run of the season in the top of the fifth inning. The long fly ball cleared the fence and tied the game for the second time in as many innings. "In reality, it was a good weekend. However, it could've been really special to get the win on Sunday," Morrison said. "We made some mistakes that kind of cost us." A string of costly errors and untimely hitting would later finish the game, yet starting pitchers Kodiak Quick (7-3) and K-State's Chase Bayuk (6-2) began the game efficiently. Each allowed a base hit and ended each lineup's first-inning threat with a strikeout. Kansas jumped on board in its next at bat with a sacrifice fly from freshman first baseman Preston Land. otals Save: Edwards (2) The pair of unearned runs ended the same-pace scoring effort. Kansas State 5 (24-12, 14-10, 1-1 B 12 Conference) Player AB R H RBI Tyler Link cf 5 0 0 0 Brandon Farr c 3 1 2 0 Jared Goodedt 3b 4 0 1 Barrett Rice lf 4 1 0 Joe Roundy rf 2 2 2 1 Byron Willey d 2 0 1 0 Drew Bryph l 1 0 0 0 Matt Marasco 1b 2 0 0 Eil Murmer ss 3 0 1 2 Britt Scott 2b 3 1 1 0 Derek Bunker k 1 0 0 0 Eddie Vasquez 2b 0 0 0 0 Totals 30 5 8 4 ninth inning. Kansas continued to help its in-state rivals prevent the sweep with costly errors. With two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning, Rice reached again on a Morrison error. Kansas's fourth error of the game resulted in a Kansas State RBI single. Baseball Notes: The record-setting crowd that turned out for Saturday's 5-2 Kansas victory didn't reach half that amount for Sunday's series finale. ◆ The loss was Quick's first in his last six starts. Before Sunday, Quick's last loss was more than a month ago, March 19, at Baylor. Freshman catcher Justin Ellrich hit his first career home run on Sunday. Ellrich sent the ball over the "Hit it Here" sign on the Willie's Sports Bar and Grill right field advertisement. “Even though I'm from Missouri, I've always hated K-State.” Ellrich said. “I like KU, obviously I'm here, but I’ve hated K-State my whole life. So it’s definitely big time for me to go yard for the first time.” Edited by Hayley Travis Cheesecake $0.99 Grilled Chicken Salad $5.25 A siced chicken breast marinated and grilled. Served with mixed greens, cheddar cheese, chopped bacon, croutons and your choice of dressing. Full or小size肉. stueed smoked tomato, country ham, crisp fried thick ranch-style bacon, tomatoes, garden-fresh lettuce and two slices of sharp cheddar cheese > 0