Freshman pitcher Tyson Corley winds up during the bottom of the seventh inning yesterday as junior first baseman Jared Schweitzer protects his territory. Corley pitched one inning, allowing two hits and one run. Five Kansas pitchers, including freshman right-handed pitcher Matt Lane, took the mound for the Jayhawks.

The Kansas baseball team finished its stint at the first-ever Best of the Midwest Tournament by defeating Sacramento State 12-5 yesterday afternoon.

The game, at Community America Ballpark, was less exciting than the Jayhawks’ tournament debut, a 12-11 comeback-victory against New Mexico State. However, coach Ritch Price said the performance gave him high hopes for the rest of the Big 12 Conference season, which will resume this weekend.

“I was really hoping we’d get on a roll before the weekend,” he said. “Now we just have to maintain it.”

Contributions from two freshmen, third baseman Erik Morrison and designated hitter John Allman, added to the Jayhawks’ offensive production from the previous night.

“They’re head and shoulders above where they were two months ago,” Price said. “And in the next month, they can make that same kind of progress.”

Allman, who leads the team in batting average, hit his first career home run in the second inning, and set the score at 3-1. He said players had teased him about being a “singles guy,” and said he was glad to get that monkey off his back.

His first home run was almost not; the ball barely cleared the low fence in right field.

“The wind helped a little,” he said. “I hit it well, but the wind helped. It felt good off the bat.”

By that time, the Jayhawks had already established the ability to move runners with bunts and sacrifice flies. In the first inning, junior outfielder Matt Baty and junior shortstop Ritchie Price hit back-to-back doubles. Baty scored, and sacrifices by the next two batters sent Ritchie Price home.

“We’re really getting in a rhythm offensively,” Ritchie Price said. “We hit well last week and we’re hitting well this week.”

Junior outfielder A.J. Van Slyke hit his team-leading ninth home run of the season, a two-run hit, in the bottom of the third inning. But it was Kansas’ singles, bunts and sacrifices that produced an easy victory.

After two scoreless innings, junior outfielder Gus Milner singled off new pitcher Mick Joyce, leading off the bottom of the sixth. Senior catcher Sean Richardson’s sacrifice bunt moved Milner to second, and junior first baseman Jared Schweitzer, whose hitting streak ended at 15 games, popped up as Milner progressed to third.

The Jayhawks followed with three hits, scoring twice more. They left two on base that inning and stranded seven during the game.

The starters added two more runs in the bottom of the seventh, and the reserves continued to move runners in the eighth inning, adding the final three scores.

Every player in the Kansas dugout except senior infielder Andy Scholl and senior catcher Mike Bessolo batted. Bessolo saw the field in the top of the ninth. Ritchie Price and freshman second baseman Ryne Price were the only starters who took the field in the top of the ninth inning.

Sophomore left-handed pitcher Sean Land earned the victory after pitching five innings and setting a career high with six strikeouts. Land said he was disappointed he had to leave the game.

“I wish I could have gone more than five innings,” he said. “I did pretty well. Overall, it was one of the best of my career. I had a pretty good fastball.”

Ritch Price said he wanted to give other pitchers a chance to play in the lopsided game. He said starting pitchers would have to play more innings in this weekend’s series against Kansas State.

“Our starting pitching staff has to get us into the sixth and seventh innings,” he said. “It’s crucial that we either have the lead or the game’s tied at that point.”

The Jayhawks and Wildcats will play at 6:30 p.m. tomorrow in Manhattan. The teams will return to Lawrence for the final two games of the series.

“We’ve kind of got our backs against the wall,” Ritchie Price said. “This series will make or break us.”

Cross is Kansan sports editor.

Edited by Megan Claus