Rylan Howe

Junior first baseman Jared Schweitzer celebrates with junior center fielder Matt Baty and junior left fielder A.J. Van Slyke after scoring a run during the fifth inning yesterday at Hoglund Ballpark. Schweitzer singled in the inning to extend his school-record hitting streak to 23 games. Kansas won the series against Texas 2-1.

As Kansas (33-22, 8-12 Big 12 Conference) was winning its series against No. 3 Texas (39-11, 14-9 Big 12) this weekend, one Jayhawk had a particularly successful weekend.

Junior first baseman Jared Schweitzer slugged home runs in games one and two to first tie and then to set a Kansas hitting streak record. In game three, Schweitzer extended his record to 23 games.

“It’s an amazing streak. I don’t think he’s had a cheap hit in the 23 games,” coach Ritch Price said. “He’s had a solid base hit in every ball game. He’s a very good offensive player.”

Ryan Baty, who graduated last spring after a four-year career as a Jayhawk, previously held the record. Matt Tribble, another 2004 graduate, held the record in 2003 with a 20 game streak.

Baty, older brother of junior outfielder Matt Baty, set the record at 21 games last season. In the final 21 games of 2004, Ryan Baty came up with a hit. Because of that, Baty said his streak never technically ended, but he was still happy for Schweitzer.

“Jared’s a great player and a good friend,” Ryan Baty said. “He’s a great and natural, pure hitter. He deserves it.”

Entering the weekend, Schweitzer needed a hit in the first two games to break the record. His solo shot in game one, along with a 2-4 effort in game two made him the new record holder. A 2-3 game three makes Schweitzer’s streak that much more impressive.

Tying the streak with a single in his first at-bat in game one, Schweitzer broke the record in his second at-bat of game two with his sixth homer of the season.

“What’s odd is when Tribble broke the hit streak record, when I broke the hit streak record and now Jared, the game that we did it was all on home runs,” Baty said. “Isn’t that wild?”

Schweitzer, who continues to claim that the secret to the streak lies in the power of his uncut hair, said that breaking the streak against Texas made the milestone a little sweeter.

Although hit streaks and records are prestigious, Baty said that they were made to be broken, and he is happy that his was. He said the improvement of the program is more important than individual records.

“If they’re not breaking records in this program — the records I set and the records in the past — that means our program isn’t taking that next step,” Baty said.

Although his streak marks the third time the record has been broken in as many years, Schweitzer said he realized the difficulty in what he is accomplishing.

“Tribble and Baty are two good hitters, so I don’t think it makes it any less special. It’s nice,” Schweitzer said.

Schweitzer said the series victory against Texas was much more important than what he accomplished individually.

“I’d take wins over Texas any day,” Schweitzer said. “If someone would’ve told me that I would go 0-for the weekend but we would’ve taken two of three from Texas, I would’ve taken it easily.”

As one of the weekend’s offensive leaders, Schweitzer’s 5-11 effort this weekend helped propel the Jayhawks 2-1 series victory, their first against the Longhorns since 1996.

Baty is rooting for both the Jayhawks and Schweitzer, as he said he expected the streak to hold out.

“I bet he finishes out the rest of the year with it,” Baty said. “I think he’s seeing the ball that well right now. We need it. If we’re going to make the regional we need Jared to be hot the rest of the year.”