Baseball team struggles in Tulsa

Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Photo by Sarah Leonard

Ryne Price, junior infielder, slides back into first base after a hit is caught by Oral Roberts during the game in Oklahoma Tuesday. Oral Roberts scored seven runs in the first two innings and beat Kansas 9-1.

TULSA, Okla. — By the bottom of the sixth inning, coach Ritch Price had had enough.

No sooner had third-base umpire Terry Harrison let out a safe call, than Price, a normally reserved presence in the Kansas dugout, was on his way to vehemently object to Harrison’s face. Price, though, stopped himself short of getting ejected.

On the play, Oral Roberts’ Jake Kahaulelio dove into third base and appeared to be tagged just before reaching the bag. Harrison, however, ruled Kahaulelio safe for a triple.

Price declined to comment on the play after the game.

In reality, the play had little impact on the final result — a 9-1 score in the Golden Eagles’ favor — but it was symbolic of a game in which little went right for the Jayhawks.

Just three innings earlier, in the bottom of the third, a seemingly harmless pop fly by Oral Roberts catcher Brian Van Kirk to shallow right field led to a bizarre play at the plate.

With Oral Roberts’ Brendan Duffy standing on third, Kansas junior right fielder Brock Simpson caught the ball cleanly, but his throw toward home plate to keep Duffy on third wasn’t as smooth.

Simpson’s throw skipped in front of senior catcher Dylan Parzyk and glanced off his mask, flying to the backstop. That allowed Duffy to cross the plate and add to Oral Roberts’ bloated lead.

At the plate, the Jayhawks managed just eight hits and struck out 14 times.

“There’s definitely some guys struggling, no doubt about it,” junior shortstop Erik Morrison said. “Guys are going to struggle, especially with the young team that we have, and you just have to be the first one there to pat them on the butt and tell them, ‘You can do it.’”

The loss extended Kansas’ losing streak to four games — its longest since April 2005. Although three close losses to Stanford last weekend were respectable, the one-sided loss to Oral Roberts on Tuesday afternoon offered some proof that Kansas was still recovering from its inability to practice outside and an 11-day break caused by poor field conditions.

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Guys are going to struggle, especially with the young team that we have, and you just have to be the first one there to pat them on the butt and tell them, ‘You can do it.’

-Erik Morrison

Senior right-handed pitcher Chance Chapman started for Oral Roberts and recorded nine strikeouts thanks to an effective mix of breaking balls. Price said his players mainly struggled against Chapman because they hadn’t had many chances to face live pitching outside this season.

“The more we get outside, the better job we’ll do handling the breaking ball,” Price said.

However, Morrison didn’t want to fault Kansas’ performance on the poor weather in Lawrence.

“I don’t want to think that,” Morrison said. “It definitely hurts not being able to go outside for four weeks, but there’s no excuses.”

Luckily for the Jayhawks, their home opener is on the horizon. Kansas is scheduled to play a three-game set with Western Illinois at Hoglund Ballpark this weekend and the players believe it could be what they need to break out of their recent funk.

“Hopefully we can get home, get some good work in these next few days, get our confidence level up this weekend and play some good baseball,” Morrison said. “That should carry us into Arkansas and College Station and we should be right on track.”

For Price, the home series will almost be a bonus compared to having the opportunity to practice regularly outside.

“It’s crucial,” Price said. “The most important thing is we need to get outside on our field and be able to take batting practice and play a home game.”

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

— Edited by Ryan Schneider

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