Friday, April 6, 2007
Heading into the eighth, the Jayhawks were nearly in-step with the No. 7 Longhorns. Looking nothing like the 11-6 final, the 6-4 score through the seventh saw the duration of each starting pitchers’ six-inning performance and a solid intro for each staff’s reliever.
Sophomore pitcher Nick Czyz pitches in the fourth inning of the game against sixth-ranked Texas Thursday afternoon at Hoglund Ballpark. Kansas lost the game 11-6. Game two of the three-game series is tomorrow at 3 p.m. at Hoglund Ballpark.
Texas (27-9, 8-2) had nine hits to Kansas’ (17-19, 3-7) six during the back-and-fourth game, and the pitchers had given up a total of only four walks. The big inning that has plagued the Jayhawks throughout the season looked as if it had stayed away.
It showed up in the eighth.
“I actually thought it was a really good college baseball game for the conditions we’re playing in and how cold it is,” coach Ritch Price said. “I thought both starting pitchers pitched well, I didn’t expect that with these conditions. We got behind in the count and had to pitch with the fastball there in the eighth inning. They beat us up in the eighth inning.”
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A leadoff bean from Czyz to start the game didn’t amount to anything for Longhorns, but a two-out base hit from third baseman Bradley Suttle did. The sophomore drove one to the left side to knock in the first Texas run of the afternoon.
The Longhorns brought out the bats that put them in the nation’s Top 10 against reliever Hiarali Garcia in the visiting half of the eighth. Center fielder Nick Peoples tagged his first home run of the season to lead off the inning. The Longhorns ended up hitting for the cycle as they sent all nine batters to plate and came up with a triple, a double and a single to compliment Peoples’ homer.
Garcia also allowed a pair of walks in the five-run on five-hit eighth inning.
“We just got behind a little bit and they’re too good of hitters to get behind,” Freshman third baseman Robby Price said. “They’ve got a lot of first rounders. You can’t do that with a program like Texas.”
By the fifth, Texas seemed to be pacing the game, scoring every other inning. Although the lead stretched to 5-2 in the top of the fifth, junior right fielder Brock Simpson’s two-run shot to right put a wrench in the Longhorns’ pace.
The wrench turned out to be too small after the lopsided eighth inning, even though Simpson was one of two runs Kansas put across in its half of the eighth.
“I think the fact that we put the crooked number up was frustrating,” coach Price said. “If we could’ve held them to a one or two-spot, we’ve still got a chance in the ninth. But when we put the five-spot up we pretty much bury our club at that point in time.”
Before that, however, Price was correct about the quality of the game.
A leadoff bean from Czyz to start the game didn’t amount to anything for Longhorns, but a two-out base hit from third baseman Bradley Suttle did. The sophomore drove one to the left side to knock in the first Texas run of the afternoon.
The Jayhawks took it right back with a quick two-spot in the second. His first day off after 58 straight starts on Wednesday against Kansas Wesleyan did the trick for junior shortstop Erik Morrison. He led off the ’Hawks second with an infield single and scored on sophomore catcher Buck Afenir’s two-run double.
Making a game of the 30 degree April afternoon, Texas changed the lead again in its next at bat. First baseman Chance Wheeless took a Czyz delivery to the right-center field wall for a one-out double highlighting his offense’s two-run third.
Wheeless accounted for two of the nine hits Czyz surrendered. He took the loss after a solid start on Thursday, allowing just five Longhorn runs.
“A little bit,” Robby Price said of his frustration after game one. “But we’ve got to do a little bit more earlier in the game and capitalize when we have the chance and just stay with them.”
Kansan sportswriter Alissa Bauer can be contacted at abauer@kansan.com.
— Edited by Will McCullough
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