6B THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
MONDAY, MARCH 6, 2006
you A
BASEBALL
Replacement players surpass expectations
Bondall Sanders/KANSAN
Sephomore outfielder John Allman, left, and senior infielder Ritchie Price narrowly avoid a collision in short left field during the seventh inning of the home opener against Western Illinois on Friday. The Jayhawks overcame a series of shaky defensive plays to hold off the Leathernecks 5-4.
BY SHAWN SHROYER
sshroyer@kansan.com
KANSAN SPORTWRITER
With Matt Baty out indefinitely and Ryne Price out for four weeks, the main concern for the Kansas baseball team was how their replacements would fare this past weekend against Western Illinois.
Kansas coach Ritch Price looked to sophomore outfielder John Allman, who started 12 of 14 games coming into the series, to replace Baty, senior outfielder, in left field. Allman started all three games of the series in left field.
Allman went 2-of-4 on Friday, tallying two RBI. Although the playing time was nothing new to Allman, seeing Baty in street clothes was a different story.
"With Baty out, it's a lot of motivation for me and all the guys on the team to play well and play for him," Allman said. "It's a bummer seeing him sitting on the bench."
Allman's bat remained hot throughout the series despite a rainout on Saturday.
in the bottom of the second inning of Sunday's first game, Allman launched his first home run of the season over the left field fence, driving in senior outfielder Gus Milner.
Allman didn't hit a home run last season until game 47, so he was glad his first of this season came early.
"It was good — felt real good to get that first one out of the wav." Allman said.
Even with the pressure of filling in for Baty, Allman went 6-of-10 in the series with two walks, four RBI and five runs scored, improving his season batting average from .229 to .293.
"It's big shoes to fill," Allman said. "I just try to go out there and do what I can to help the team, try to live up to Baty's legacy out there."
Sophomore infielder Matt Berner, a local product from
Free State High School, took over at second base for Price, sophomore infielder.
Although he appeared in 10 games last season and started two games in the Music City Challenge, Friday's start was Berner's first at Hoglund Ballpark in front of the home-town crowd.
"It was kind of funny because right after they announced us to go out on the field and did the national anthem, I told Ritchie that I kind of had some butterflies." Berner said.
Those butterflies surfaced in the first inning when he was charged with a fielding error — though it'd be his only one of the series. Berner responded in the bottom of the second inning when he singled in his first atbat of the game.
"Matt's a really low-key guy and he's one of those guys that goes about his business in a professional manner," coach Price said. "He doesn't get too hyped and he does a really good job
of controlling his emotions and I thought he made some good plains today."
After the error, Berner looked like an every-day player in the field. In the top of the seventh inning, he saved an overthrow to second base from reaching the outfield.
With a single in the seventh inning of the second game on Sunday, Berner notched his third hit in as many games.
Berner went 3-of-9 at the plate in the series, but his most satisfying moment came in the field during the final game of the weekend. With two out in the bottom of the ninth inning, Berner sent Western Illinois packing when he fielded a ground ball and threw it to first for the final out.
"It kind of brought everything around, making the first error of the first game and making the last out of the last game," Berner said.
- Edited by Lindsey St. Clair
Baseball
CONTINUED FROM 18
Muddy base paths and sunny skies set the tone for a five-hour doubleheader that Kansas took from Western Illinois, 11-3 and 7-1. A Saturday rainstout pushed game two to Sunday.
Kansas ignited its offense on Sunday.
After edging Western Illinois by a 5-4 margin on Friday, Kansas hit five home runs to outscore its opponent, 18-4 on Sunday.
"You can't take anybody lightly," sophomore third baseman Erik Morrison said. "When you get someone down, I mean I hate to say it, but you kind of have to step on their throat and put them away."
Morrison went 4-for-9, with three home runs and six RBI. He has already tied his home-run mark of a year ago.
"This weather out here is unbelievable, so I give it to that for kind of getting me going." Morrison said.
Western Illinois senior left fielder Joe Pacyga was a victim
of muddy field conditions in the first game on Sunday.
He led off the second inning with a deep fly ball to the left-field corner, but was held to a single, as he fell rounding first.
downs hits, sophomore outfielder John Allman sent out one of his own. His two-run home run was his first of the season. Allman finished the day 4-of-6 at the plate.
"You can't take anybody lightly. When you get someone down, I mean, I hate to say it, but you kind of have to step on their throat and put them away."
"The first game was awful." Price said of the field conditions. "I apologized to their coach during and after the game for the guys who slipped and fell, but it dried up for the second game."
Erik Morrison Sophomore third baseman
After spending the top of the second inning chasing
knocking in a pair of runs and scoring five times.
By the fourth inning, the Kansas offense was humming, putting four runs across despite leaving the bases loaded to end the inning.
A pair of
a pair of back-to-back homeruns from Morrison, his fourth of the season, and sophomore designated hitter Brock Simpson, his second of the season, highlighted the bottom of the fifth.
Simpson was 5-of-8 with
four RBI on the day.
"Ryne Price was like, 'You know what? You just need to settle down buddy. You've got the rest of the game.' It worked out well," Simpson said.
Senior right-hander Ricky Fairchild (4-1) picked up the victory for Kansas, allowing just one run in seven innings of work.
Game two again belonged to Morrison and Simpson.
The two combined to go 5-of-8, with six RBI and three home runs in the second game.
Right-handers Kodiak Quick (3-1) and Don Czyz teamed up for what is becoming a recurring Sunday tandem.
Quick allowed just one run and six hits in seven innings in his third victory before Czyz came in to notch the save for Kansas.
Edited by Lindsey St. Clair
Onward to Nome
Al Grillo/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Musher Cindy Gallea, of Seeley Lake, Mont., yells at her wheel dogs as she drives her team down the chute at the start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Willow, Alaska, on Sunday.
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