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Baseball easily handles Kansas Wesleyan

‘Freshman game’ used as a confidence builder for pitching staff.

By Shawn Shroyer

Thursday, April 5, 2007

Games against teams like Kansas Wesleyan don’t do much for Kansas’ RPI, but they can certainly be confidence boosters for the freshmen.

Coach Ritch Price called the game a “freshman game” and gave three of his freshman hurlers the opportunity for some positive reinforcement.

During the 11-4 drubbing of Kansas Wesleyan, freshman left-hander Wally Marciel, freshman right-hander Thomas Marcin and freshman left-hander Max Ellenbecker all took the mound for the Jayhawks.

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It felt pretty good coming out strong, throwing the ball for strikes.

- freshman left-hander Wally Marciel

“Wally needed a start,” Price said. “We ran him out there against Wichita State, and some of the other national powers like Oral Roberts, so it’s good to see him have a chance to go out there and pitch five innings and do well.”

Marciel took advantage of his chance to start, tossing five shutout innings, striking out four and allowing only four hits.

Marciel had been off-and-on as of late, giving solid performances against Big 12 competition and struggling against non-conference opponents. In his last four appearances, he pitched a combined three shutout innings against Oklahoma State and Missouri, but against Northern Colorado and Missouri State, he allowed five runs in 4.2 innings.

“It felt pretty good coming out strong, throwing the ball for strikes,” Marciel said.

Marcin entered the game in the sixth and saw mixed results. While striking out two in 1.2 innings, he also allowed four runs, two of which earned, on three hits, one walk and two hit batters.

Despite the runs surrendered, Marcin showed more control than he had in his two previous outings. In 1.2 combined innings against Texas A&M and Northern Colorado, he walked two batters and plunked four more.

“It’s good to see Marcin back on the field,” Price said. “His bullpens have been good the past couple weeks and he struggled a little bit out there, but I think that’s a huge step forward for him.”

In seven of Kansas’ previous eight games, its pitching staff allowed five or more runs, but Ellenbecker put an end to the skid.

Ellenbecker was the last pitcher Kansas used on Wednesday and he put forth his longest and best performance of the season. He lasted two innings, struck out two and allowed only one hit.

With Marciel and Ellenbecker on track, the team has focused on keeping Marcin’s confidence up.

“He knows he’s struggling, but he’s still working hard out there,” Marciel said. “We just keep telling him, ‘Don’t get frustrated.’ You’re always going to get frustrated with yourself when you’re not pitching up to your potential.”

Kansan sportswriter Shawn Shroyer can be contacted at sshroyer@kansan.com.

— Edited by Jyl Unruh

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