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KANSAN.COM / THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN / WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 10, 2010 / SPORTS
Weston White/KANSAN
Junior third baseman Tony Thompson, right, high-fives junior right fielder Brian Heere in a game last season. Thompson had a record-setting sophomore season, beating multiple Kansas races and winning the first triumph in the R13.
Weston White/KANSAN
THOMPSON (CONTINUED FROM 1B)
So maybe Thompson isn't the guy teammates look to for a passionate speech or a verbal kick in the pants when the Jayhawks are slumping. But he provides an equally effective boost in his own way.
"He's definitely a lead-by-example type guy, very calm and collected. He just does what he needs to do on the field," Robby Price said. "But he's definitely a leader, and a guy we look up to."
On a team full of guys willing to get their uniforms dirty, Thompson fits right in, despite his emergence as a premier talent. Perhaps, as those closest to him suggested, he may not even realize just how eye-popping his numbers are.
--sophomore year of high school, T h o m p s o n stepped to the plate in the bottom of the seventh, his team down a few runs with the bases loaded and two outs. The ace of the league was star-
The average student walking on campus might never recognize Thompson. Even among his teammates — a cluster of crimson and blue pullovers and sweatshirts — Thompson doesn't stand out. He's a big guy, sure, standing at 6-foot-4 with a broad frame and long arms. But he doesn't boast the hulking, muscled physique typical of many top-of-the-line sluggers.
"He might have even surprised himself last season," Tim Thompson. Thompson's father, said.
When he's up at the plate, though, he isn't as easy to glance past - a lesson that many teams across the Big 12 learned the hard way.
Though he avoids them in conversation, the moments are equally hard to ignore: the walk-off double that helped Kansas complete a sweep of No. 17 Oklahoma State; the game-tying grand slam in the ninth inning against Missouri; his two-homer, six-RBI outburst at No. 9 Oklahoma. In a season where he topped the conference in seven offensive categories, the list of such games goes on.
His mother, Terry Thompson, remembers not only his knack for clutch hits, but his cool demeanor at the plate as well. During his
Thompson says his power hitting days truly began once he hit a growth spurt in high school. But Thompson's dad, who coached him until high school, fondly recalls his son's first home run — a towering blast he hit at the age of eight.
Thompson, said. "But when he's up,
I'm a nervous wreck. Sometimes I can't
enew watch."
Then Thompson completed the backyard dream re-enacted by generations of kids, swinging and launching a grand slam (to the opposite field, no less) that sent Thompson's team walking off with the victory.
"He just walked up there calmly and took his pitches." Terry
He won't bring it up, but if you mention the story to Thompson, the smile that creeps across his face is evidence enough of what the moment means to him.
--ing Thompson down from the mound.
"For that to be my first home run in high school," Thompson said with a grin, "I was pretty pumped."
"He's definitely a lead-by example type guy, very calm and collected. He just does what he needs to do on the field."
Still, not all stories end so perfectly.
Despite his record-breaking season, Thompson missed being named Big 12 Player of the Year, which went to Oklahoma senior catcher J.T. Wise. After the announcement Thompson, then
ROBBY PRICE Senior second baseman
a sophomor offered nothing but praise for Wise's season. Half a year later, that feeling hasn't changed.
But deep down, after leading the league in nearly every major offensive category, some part of Thompson has to be disappointed, right?
"It's always motivation when you see a great player like JT Wise
get it." Thompson said. "You get a chance to see what he did and just compete with that, and know that's what I have to compete with to win an award like that."
"It would have been awesome to get it, but it's still not something
Thompson is still thinking about the final game of last season: a 12-1 drubbing at the hands of No. 4 North Kansas' postseason run in
that really botheres me as long as we win" Thompson said.
the Chapel Hill Regional Finals. It was a loss that Thompson hopes will propel Kansas to even greater heights this season.
"His real focus and goal this year is he ad like to see Kansas go to
the World Series," Tim Thompson said. "If what he does wins him awards along the way, he'll take it - but he's always been a total team player."
times last year," said Thompson, who actually walked 21 times. "I need to be a bit more selective this year and hit in good counts all the time instead of swinging at stuff out of the zone and putting myself in a hole."
"The great thing about him is he has a really great makeup. He's not an ego guy; he doesn't lose control of his emotions."
--results, opposing coaches certainly will be.
Thompson is quick to point out his flaws. He knows he lacks the speed to be a prolific base stealer, and sometimes he isn't quick enough to take the extra base. He's just as quick to point out that his defense needs some work. He made 10 errors last year, which in his mind is 10 too many.
"Defense is something you should be able to do all the time," Thompson said. "It's not something that when you can hit, you can have bad days defensively."
"I think I only walked about 20
RITCH PRICE Coach
Listening to Thompson go on about improvement, it would be easy to think that he had a rough year at the plate as well.
That may sound odd coming from a player who hit a .389 last season, but Thompson might be spot on. Even if he isn't paying much attention to the hype brought on by last season's
Coach Ritch Price is sure of that point, noting that although Thompson may be a better player than he was a season ago, his numbers might not end up reflecting it.
"There were like three times last year where there were runners on second and third, with two outs and first base open, the opposing coaches would pitch to him and hed hit three-run homers," Price said. "And that isn't going to happen this year."
Price said pitchers would undoubtedly tiptoe around the strike zone, trying to avoid becoming another victim of a Thompson home run. Although Thompson might not get a Barry Bonds buffet of intentional walks, Price said he had faith that his third baseman would find a way to adjust.
"He's going to get pitched around a lot more, so he's going to
Baseball players are used to taking foul balls off a foot or leg. So when junior third baseman Tony Thompson fouled a pitch off his left knee in practice last week, he initially didn't make too much of it.
"I wasn't really sure if something was wrong," Thompson said.
THOMPSON INJURED BY FOUL BALL
But X-rays revealed a hairline fracture in his left kneecap, leaving Thompson sidelined for at least the first month of the season.
The good news for Kansas is that Thompson's MRI showed no ligament damage, or any additional structural damage. As a result, team physician Dr. Jeff Randall said he was confident that Thompson would be completely healthy within four to six weeks — in time for Big 12 play.
Still, there is little that Thompson can do to rehab the injury aside from rest and a whole lot of ice.
"I basically have to stay off it, and just play the waiting game until it heals up," Thompson said. "It's
a bummer that I can't do much more to heal it."
In Thompson's absence, the Jayhawks are planning to use a platoon of players to fill the hole at third base. Coach Ritch Price said he would look to sophomore James Stanfield and two redshirt freshmen, Jordan Drelling and Jake Marasco, to step in and produce. Thompson said that each one of the replacements would be able to perform at a high level.
"I think they'll do a great job," Thompson said. "We've got a number of guys that can play the position well."
Stanfield, one of the team's top options at catcher, will split time behind the plate and at third. That means more playing time for Marasco, who was initially considered a part-time option at DH. Dreiling will primarily be a defensive replacement in later innings
"We'll try to take advantage of each guy's strengths," Price said.
Ben Ward
ACCOLADES FROM LAST SEASON
■ All American by three different publications (Ping! Baseball Second Team, NCBWA Third Team, Louisville Slugger Third Team)
First Team All-Big 12
First Team All-Central Region
Big 12 Championship and Chapel Hill Regional All-Tournament Teams
Academic All-Big 12 Second Team
PRESEASON HONORS
Ping! Baseball All American
Louisville Slugger All American
National Collegiate Baseball Writers' Association All American
College Baseball Blog selected Thompson as the No. 10 Player to Watch
Topped the Big 12 in the following categories:
■.389 batting average
■.753 slugging percentage
■.27 doubles
■.21 home runs*
■.186 total bases*
■.82 RBI
■.96 hits
Offensive statistics from last season
have to stay in the strike zone, take his walks and hope that the guys hitting behind him in the lineup can protect him," Price said.
It all goes back to who Thompson is: a player with his feet firmly on the ground, despite all the flashy statistics and national praise.
kuathletics.com and big12sports.com
"The great thing about him is he has a really great makeup." Price said. "He's not an ego guy; he doesn't lose control of his emotions. I think his makeup will allow him to handle that success and the differences this year very well."
Edited by Katie Blankenau
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Evansville wins 65-62 breaks losing streak
EVANSVILLE, Ind. — James Haarsma scored 18 points as Evansville held off Wichita State 65-62 Tuesday to end a 14-game losing streak.
The Purple Aces (7-17, 1-13 Missouri Valley) led 59-49 with 3:54 to play, but the Shockers eventually pulled to within one with 7.5 seconds remaining following three free throws by Clevin Hannah.
Two free throws by Colt Ryan put Evansville up 65-62 with 5.8 seconds to play, Wichita State (20-6, 9-5) got the ball back, but turned it over, giving the Aces their first victory since December 19.
Garrett Stutz scored 15 points to lead Wichita State, which fell to 19-2 when scoring at least 60 points.
Associated Press
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