Wednesday, April 4, 2007
MANHATTAN — Coach Ritch Price was curious about the temperature after Tuesday’s 10-6 loss to Kansas State. His guess of 20 degrees wasn’t far from the actual mid-30s his team played in for the nearly four-hour game.
“That’s the coldest, windiest game I’ve ever played in,” Price said. “I’m surprised the guys were even able to throw strikes.”
It certainly was a struggle. Price’s starting pitcher, Andres Esquibel, didn’t even make it out of the first inning. The Wildcats hung five runs on Esquibel in the opening frame.
Price thought that cold weather and wind had an effect on Esquibel’s performance.
“I think that’s the first time he’s had a chance to pitch when it’s just freezing cold,” coach Ritch Price said. “Being from California, obviously, I don’t think he had a very good feel for the baseball. That’s the first time he’s been wild since he’s been with us.”
In the top half of the first, Kansas looked as if the series loss to Missouri was long forgotten. The Jayhawks swung the game’s momentum their way on a two-out rally that included two hits, a walk and a Wildcat error.
With two outs and two on, junior second baseman Ryne Price soared a pop-up over K-State shortstop Eli Rumler. A run scored when Rumler dropped the ball, and the third run of the inning scored on sophomore catcher Buck Afenir’s single that followed.
That three-run advantage that Esquibel started with didn’t mean much after the Wildcats posted five runs in the bottom of the first. The junior right-hander never even recorded an out as he walked four of the six batters he faced.
The 52-minute first inning set the tone for the long night to follow. The in-state rivals racked up eight runs and six hits between them in the opening inning.
Three straight base hits and a pair of walks in the bottom of the second spread the Wildcat lead to 7-3.
Showing the same rally power they did against the Tigers last weekend, the Jayhawks scored a pair of their own in their next at-bat. Starter Todd Vogel also struggled with walks, walking junior left fielder John Allman and sophomore first baseman Preston Land to lead off the third.
Afenir’s single in the top of the third not only scored Land, but also marked his third multi-hit game in the last four.
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It is tough when we get a lead, like we did to start the game, and give it up right away. But it’s not out of our control right now, we’re just going to have to keep putting runs up.
-senior center fielder Kyle Murphy
Although Kansas reliever Ryotaro Hayakawa loaded the bases in K-State’s half of the fourth, just one scored. In fact, the Wildcats left 11 runners on base Tuesday night.
The Jayhawks also stranded 11 runners, but left them when it counted. Kansas narrowed the gap to 8-6 in the sixth but wouldn’t score again. Two Wildcat singles followed by a double down the left field line scored the final pair of runs, closing the door on any Jayhawk comeback.
“It is tough when we get a lead, like we did to start the game, and give it up right away,” said. “But it’s not out of our control right now, we’re just going to have to keep putting runs up.”
Kansas will play Kansas Wesleyan University (9-18, 3-5 KCAC) today. The first pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m. at Hoglund Ballpark.
Kansan sportswriter Alissa Bauer can be contacted at abauer@kansan.com.
— Edited by Ryan Schneider
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