8B THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
THURSDAY, APRIL 13, 2006
BASEBALL: 8-5
Czyz leads team to victory at home
Freshman sets strike-out record
BY SHAWN SHROYER
sshroyer@kansan.com
KANSAN SPORTSWRIVER
On his third time starting, freshman left-hander Nick Czyz found his stride on the mound against North Dakota State, Wednesday.
"My curveball was on, today. That was one of the keys to my success." Czvz said.
Czyz (1-1) threw five shutout innings for Kansas, allowing just one hit and four walks in his first victory as a Jayhawk. As a result, several seldom-used pitchers were able to come in from the bullpen - freshmen Ryan Anthony, Carter Holt and Paul Smyth; sophomore Matt Lane; junior Ryotaro Hayakawa and senior Trev Randa.
In the third inning Czyz had two walks on eight straight pitches. He got back on track with two straight strikeouts.
Czyz not only ate up innings, he also struck out a Kansas season-high nine batters.
Kansas couldn't afford to use key members of its bullpen because of a series against Oklahoma State coming up this weekend.
"You need that one, really good outing to build on and hopefully he'll build on that outing today." Kansas coach Ritch Price said.
Czyz got off to a rocky start, however, walking leadoff man Greg Plecki on five pitches. Then a pickoff throw from Czyz got away from freshman Preston Land at first base and Plecki advanced all the way to third base.
Freshman pitcher Nick Czyz delivers against North Dakota State at Hoglund Ballpark Wednesday afternoon. Czyz earned his first victory as a Jayhawk, tossing five innings and allowing only one hit while walking four batters and striking out nine.
Four pitches and a strikeout later, Czyz was rolling. He got the next batter to ground out to sophomore third baseman Erik Morrison and got out of the inning by striking out senior outfielder Jared Sullivan, stranding Plecki on third.
One inning. two strikeouts.
gone down on strikes. Freshman catcher Cory Schwantes flew out to senior outfielder Gus Milner in right field to complete Czyz's first three-up, three-down inning.
"He just went in there and got after it," Morrison said. "He's made significant improvements since he got here in the fall."
Two innings, four strikeouts.
The second inning was a quick one for Czyz. After 10 pitches, two Bison batters had already
"You see potential, we never saw anything like that, but you see potential in the guys," Land said about whether the team had seen this kind of pitching from Czyz in practice.
In the third inning Czyz had two walks on eight straight pitches. He got back on track with two straight strikeouts of Plecki and Magedanz, but a single by the next batter loaded the bases. Czyz got Sullivan swinging to end the North Dakota State threat.
Three innings, seven strikeouts and the 2006 Kansas single-game strikeout watermark.
"I tried to tell myself to just calm down and not try to be too fine, throw the ball over the plate, let my stuff work," Czyz said.
Czyz faced the same Bison hitters in the fourth that he faced in the second and got the
same result. The trio went down in order again, except this time Swantwes struck out.
"They like to swing at a lot of first-pitch fastballs, I took that away," Czyz said on what he learned watching Tuesday's game.
Four innings, eight strikeouts.
Czyz's final inning began like his first — with a walk. But a flyout, strikeout and fielder's choice out at second base completed Czyz's day with no harm done.
Five innings, nine strikeouts and the record.
"Today I got my confidence," Czyz said. "Should be able to go out there and compete on the weekends now, too."
Edited by Cynthia Hernandez
Baseball
CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1B
Early in the game, the Jay hawks slowly built a lead. After taking his first day off this season on Tuesday, senior outfielder Gus Milner knocked in the first run in the bottom of the first.
Finally, in the bottom of the fourth, sophomore third baseman Erik Morrison tagged a ball over the left-field fence.
"I was surprised it was my first hit of the series," Morrison said, who had gone hitless in his 10 previous at bats. "We're a lot better team than we've showed the last few days, definitely."
Freshman catcher Buck Afenir teed off on his own home run the next inning, scoring Land in the process. The two-run shot came off of a pitch from right-hander Jay Mitchell. Afenir was the first batter Mitchell faced.
Afenir's blast highlighted a five-run fifth in which Kansas
After cruising through six innings, the Jayhawks' shutout was interrupted at the top of the seventh.
took an 8-0 lead, tearing the game wide open. Looking for a Kansas record 275th career hit, senior shortstop Ritchie Price walked instead. Regardless of how he reached base, Price was soon off the base paths when John Allman sliced a two-RBI single off the glove of Bison shortstop Charles Magedanz.
"As well as we've been playing—when we put up those five runs in the fifth — that's what we should be doing every inning," Land said. "But we can't do that in every inning. This is baseball."
After cruising through six innings, the Jayhawks' shutout was interrupted in the top of the seventh. Memories of Tuesday night's struggle emerged as the Bison scored in each of the final three innings, narrowing the lead to 8-5.
Coach Ritch Price said he was happy that Wednesday's game gave him a chance to get his young guys some playing time. Price played 21 of his 29 available players during the game in an effort to get his younger guys on the field. He also used seven different pitchers, contributing to the late innings Bison comeback.
Freshman lefty Ryan Anthony was tagged for three runs on four Bison hits in the top of the seventh. With two outs in the inning, the Bison's three consecutive base hits and a hit batsman paved a clear path to their three-run rally.
"I think we need a little bit more energy. Nothing against that team or anything, they're making the jump from D-II to D-I." Morrison said. "But as a team, it's sad to say, but you kind of have to get on them early and hold them down, pretty much pound them and don't let up."
Softball
CONTINUED FROM 1B
"They got some good hits off me," Humphreys said. "I just didn't have my best stuff."
The game marked the first time Humphreys had left early in her past five starts. The reigning Big 12 Pitcher of the Week started the game strong, striking out four Tigers in the first three innings. Missouri, however, was able to get to Humphreys in the fourth inning.
The Tigers scored two runs in both the fourth and sixth innings. Missouri's Amy Henke and Amanda Renth both scored in the fourth inning off a sacrifice single and pass ball, respectively. In the sixth inning, Micaela Minner's double scored Bruck, while Kathy Masterson's sacrifice bunt scored Minner later in the inning.
"They got to Kassie," Bunge said of a key in the game. "Nobody has done that in a while."
Edited by Timon Veach
Joshua Bickel/KANSAN
Coach Tracy Bunge talks to her team between innings Wednesday evening in Columbia, Mo. The Jayhawks lost to the Tigers, 4-0. Bunge said she was "really very disappointed with our team's effort today."
Following the game, Bunge let the team talk amongst themselves on the field for nearly 15 minutes.
Humphreys said the team used the meeting to talk about what motivated them and coming out with a different attitude.
"We need to come out and start realizing how good we are
and actually taking advantage of what we have because our season is slipping away," Humphreys said.
Kansas will play Texas Tech in a weekend series at Arrocha Ballpark. First pitch for Saturday's game is set for 2 p.m. and Sunday's game will begin at noon.
— Edited by Lindsey Gold
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