KANSAN.COM / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / MONDAY, MARCH 14, 2011 / SPORTS
7B
BASEBALL REWIND
Friday
Kansas 8
Eastern Michigan 2
Game 3
After splitting the first two games, Eastern Michigan took the series, beating Kansas 10-4. Both teams hit well at the plate, but Eastern Michigan's 14 hits and 10 runs were too much as the Eagles took game 3, 10-4.
Key Game
"When you're going bad everything gets magnified. We just have to keep the right approach, we've got to be professional and we'll get better and we'll play through it."
Quote of the Weekend
Saturday
*Coach Ritch Price on dropping two of three games this weekend.*
Brunan-ky struggled at the plate and on the field in Sunday's game. The center dropped a deep fly ball in the fifth inning, and went 0-5 at the plate, leaving three men on base.
Price
Jason Brunansky in game 3
Brunansky
Game to Forget
Daniel Russell in game 3
Game to Remember
The Eagles left fielder went 4-5 in the crucial third game of the series. Russell also had four RBIs and one run, contributing to five of the Eagles 10 runs on the day.
Russell
Series Notes
Senior pitcher T.J. Walz struck out 10 batters on Friday, his first 10 K performance since April 30 last year versus Oklahoma State.
Sophomore infielder Jake Marasco blasted his first career home run on Friday. He leads the team with a .389 batting average.
Senior pitcher Wally Marciel gave up back-to-back home runs to Eastern Michigan's Kyle Peterson and Ken Battison, part of a three-run inning that buried the Jayhawks.
Stat of the Weekend
7 The number of hits the two teams combined for in Sunday's series finale. Kansas had 13 of them, but only four men crossed the plate in a six-run loss.
Kansas Eastern Michigan
27
BASEBALL
Team looks to seniors for strength
BY ALEC TILSON
atilson@kansan.com
After Eastern Michigan battered the Kansas baseball team this weekend, winning decisively in two of three ballgames, the Jayhawks found themselves in limbo. The Jayhawks, a week away from conference play, are searching for an identity, some character-defining aspect of its makeup.
After falling behind 6-0 in the fourth inning on Saturday, coach Ritch Price didn't see the fight he expected from his team, and said he didn't think they were very competitive. Which could be why there was no walk-up music for hitters or pitchers on Sunday, a unique and individual privilege usually allowed players.
"Any time you put your college baseball team together, you're counting on the upperclassmen on your roster to carry your club." Price said.
To find that toughness, it's only natural to look to the upperclassmen to demonstrate that grind-it-out mentality.
It's no surprise, then, that opposing pitching this year differs from a year ago; the team did lose 139 RBI and three bats that hit above .330. With that protection gone, it's been a struggle to figure out opposing pitchers.
adjusting to that."
"It's just a process," Waters said.
"I'm not being pitched the same.
This year, I work into a 2-0 count
and I'm geared up to hit a fastball,
I get a changeup. So it's just been
Much of that pressure sits on the seniors in the lineup: shortstop Brandon Macias and outfielders Jimmy Waters and Casey Lytle. Given that this team does not have the pop last year's roster had, the process of scoring runs has required patience and maybe more creativity.
Macias, Waters and Lyle are in the lineup every day — Macias sat one game against Southern Utah — and are adjusting to the added weight. If they were in the choir last year, this year they've got lead roles.
This series showed positive signs for each of them. Lytle had five hits, Macias had four and Waters three. They combined for two runs, but did not manage any RBI.
Lytle admits, as a senior and a leader, that the other details, apart from swinging the bat, matter just the same.
"When things aren't going your way, you want to make sure you show every day that you still got that confidence and that little bit of swagger in you," he said. "When you come to park every day, those younger kids can learn that, OK, he might have had a bad day yesterday, but he's coming in here every day playing hard on defense, running the bases hard and doing everything else he needs to do."
Senior starting pitchers T.J. Walz and Wally Marceliel shoulder the same expectations of leading a team that, as Price put it, is "not very mature yet."
Walz (2-2) did his job as the Friday starter by allowing two runs. He struck out 10 batters and walked just one, but the Jayhawks could not build on that momentum. Marcel (2-2), who was chased in the fourth inning on Saturday, is keeping a level head about the weekend.
"You've just got to learn from it," he said. "You can't really dwell on it too much. That's how you get better — you learn from your mistakes."
Edited by Amanda Sorell
Aaron Harris/KAN-SAN
1) Senior outfielder Jimmy Waters swings at a ball during the game against Eastern Michigan Sunday afternoon at Hoglund Ballpark. Kansas lost the game 10-4.
2) Sophomore catcher Alex DeLeon takes off his batting gloves.
3) Junior outfielder Jason Brunansky looks back as he misses a catch.
HAIRCUTS ALWAYS
HI-LITE
EXTRA W/ LONG HAIR
$ 8.50
POWER DOSE TREATMENT
EXTRA W/ LONG HAIR
VOTED BEST SALON
TOP OF THE HILL, 2005-2010
ALL SERVICES PROVIDED BY
STUDENTS UNDER SUPERVISION OF
EXPERIENCED INSTRUCTORS.
2 CONVENIENT LOCATIONS
14471 METCALF 2429 IOWA ST.
913.402.4700 785.749.1488
ZHAIRACADEMY.COM
Lawrence Automotive Diagnostics Inc.
South Padre? Panama City? Spring Break Road Trip? We want to make sure that you make it to and from your spring break destination. Schedule an appointment today.
2858 Four Wheel Drive, Lawrence, Kansas 66047 | LawrenceAutoDiag.com | 842-8665
GiveBack