8A THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
SPORTS
FRIDAY, MARCH 3, 2006
BASEBALL
Home sweet home
Kansas returns to battle with Western Illinois
BY ALISSA BAUER
abauer@kansan.com
WAKE STATE UNIVERSITY
Four weeks, 14 games and more than 14,000 road trip miles into the season. Kansas is playing at home for the first time.
time.
For the fourth consecutive season, Kansas (10-4) will face Western Illinois (2-6) in the first weekend of March.
Although the Jayhawks have spent the past month visiting places known to be slightly more fun than Kansas, the guys are ready to come home.
"It'll be a really big series for us," coach Ritch Price said. "We're just thrilled not to be traveling."
Instead, the Leathernecks will be stopping off in Lawrence in the middle of their own road trip. The team's first eight games were all on the road, including six straight games against Big 12 Conference teams.
While the Jayhawks spent some time in Nashville, Tenn., the Leathernecks had their hands full in Stillwater, Okla. Oklahoma State took all three games, outscoring Western Illinois 36-9 in the process.
"I have a lot of respect for him." Price said of Western Illinois coach Stan Hyman. "He plays an incredible schedule. He's biting it off big time on the
Kansas leads the all-time series 9-0, but the team isn't looking for easy victories. Two of the Jayhawks victories last year against the Leathernecks came by a single run.
road, like we've done in the last month."
by a single girl.
"It's an important weekend so we can get three wins hopefully, and get our confidence up for Clemson next weekend," said senior first baseman Jared Schweitzer.
With the possibility of sitting as many as three starters on the bench this weekend, Kansas will have to fill holes usually manned by veterans.
Sophomore second baseman Ryne Price may join his brother, Ritchie, in the middle infield again tonight after missing the last two games in Nashville. Coach Price said earlier this week that MRI results would play a big role in deciding who would start at second base.
Sophomore outfielders John Allman and Brock Simpson are the likely candidates to take right and left field if junior centerfender Kyle Murphy is unable to start after enduring stitches to his nose and mouth because of collision with senior outfielder Matt Baty last weekend.
In that case, senior outfitfelder Gus Milner would predictably be in centerfield.
"Any team is going to face adversity during the course of a season." Price said in regard to his injury-plagued lineup. "It gives other kids the opportunity to play. Some of those guys have been waiting
for this chance. They're going to get it and they've got their hands full."
Healthy and slugging away, Milner and Schweitzer lead the Kansas offense with .411 and .390 batting averages respectively.
As for the Leathernecks, senior shortstop Ryan Schmidgall led his team against the Cowboys last weekend. Schmidgall played the two games at shortstop, going 4-7 with three singles and a triple.
Saturday
Injured, tired of traveling and excited to play at home taps into the vibe of this afternoon's opener. Forcing injuries out of focus, Price and his team are ready to play.
After taking over in centerfield for the past two games last weekend, Milner drove in five runs, adding to his teamleading 24 RBI. Not seeming to mind what position or what opponent he's playing, Milner quickly discussed the Leathernecks.
The multi-talented Schmidgall also threw 2.1 innings of relief, allowing no runs on four hits against Oklahoma State last Sunday.
"We beat them last year, that's all I know," Milner said. "But finally we get to stay home for a weekend."
"Now we've got to find a way to play through it," Price said of his injured starters. "It's over, it's done with and now we have got to move on."
- Edited by Gabriella Souza
Injuries
"Off the field he's like our best friend," Allman said of Baty. "You hate to see a guy go down like that, and I know that if I was in his shoes that he would step up for me. I'm just going to go out there and play for him."
Senior outfielder Gus Milner took over in center for Murphy. Milner, who typically plays right field, hit .300 in the last two games of the weekend and drove in five runs.
"I like to think of myself as just a backup center fielder playing right," Milner said. "I'm pretty comfortable there. I've been playing there my whole life till I got here. Losing Matt is going to be a big hole to fill."
Utility sophomore Brock Simpson may also be called upon to start. After the rash of injuries, Simpson stepped up to hit 3-of-8 with three RBL. Although he has just seven starts on the year, Simpson is hitting a solid .308. Simpson said he had no idea if he'd start this afternoon's game against Western Illinois.
A strained wrist ligament forced Ryne Price to sit out games two and three of last weekend in Nashville. Coach Price was awaiting results on an MRI on Wednesday to determine his son's status for this weekend. The coach has not yet determined when Ryne Price will return to the lineup. Sophomore Matt Berner doesn't have the same experience, but his first two career starts this weekend gave him an opportunity to fill Price's role at second. Berner went 1-of-5 and drove in four in his two starts.
"It's hard to walk into the dugout each day and see where you are at on the lineup card, but I've gotten as used to it as I think I can," Simpson said.
— Edited by Gabriella Souza
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