Monday, March 5, 2007
Hoglund Ballpark has a way of curing Kansas’ woes.
Entering game one of Sunday’s doubleheader, Kansas was fighting a four-game losing streak and averaging 3.6 runs through its last seven games. But it came as no surprise that those trends were derailed in Kansas’ home opener.
Behind the best offensive output of the season, Kansas run-ruled Western Illinois 15-5 in eight innings in the first game.
“When you’re on a four-game losing streak, you need a ‘W’ first,” coach Ritch Price said. “We certainly needed that and we certainly needed to be on our own field.”
The Jayhawks took their time lighting up the scoreboard, though. Before coming up to bat in the fourth, Kansas was up just 2-1.
Up until the fourth inning, Western Illinois starting pitcher Quinn Leath (0-2) had pitched admirably, but his luck soon ran out. Junior shortstop Erik Morrison led off the inning with a single. Leath walked junior outfielder Brock Simpson and designated hitter Joe Servais not long after, bringing sophomore catcher Buck Afenir to the plate with the bases loaded.
Afenir connected with the second pitch for a grand slam over the left-center field wall. He said he had no idea it was going out when he hit it.
“I just kept running hard,” Afenir said. “I almost passed the guy at first.”
Leath’s outing ended after the fourth, but he actually fared far better than the pitcher who followed him — Frank Zenisek.
After seven batters and 18 pitches, Zenisek had allowed back-to-back home runs, a triple, a single, two walks, six runs, a wild pitch and just six strikes.
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Our home opener just kept getting pushed back and pushed back and we’ve been anxious to get out here and play in front of our home crowd, so it feels great.
-junior outfielder Brock Simpson
Sophomore first baseman Preston Land hit the first of the home runs, sending his over the high wall in dead center, driving in junior left fielder John Allman, which resulted in a pitching change.
In the midst of Kansas’ offensive onslaught in the first five innings, three Jayhawks snapped out of slumps. Morrison and Afenir had been struggling a bit at the plate entering Sunday. Morrison had one hit in his last 10 at-bats while Afenir had one in his last eight at-bats. However, Simpson was stuck in a monumental funk, with just one hit in his previous 31 at-bats.
The trio feasted on Leatherneck pitching, though, going a combined 8-for-10. Morrison ended game one just a triple shy of hitting for the cycle, with two RBI, three runs and a stolen base. Afenir added a single to his grand slam. Simpson, who hit in the seventh spot in the order instead of his usual leadoff spot, had two triples, two RBI, three runs and a stolen base.
Heading into his final at-bat, Morrison said he knew he needed a triple for the cycle, but when Price held the runner ahead of him at third base, he had no choice to settle for another double. Had Price sent the runner, it would have been a different story.
“I was going for it, I wanted the cycle,” Morrison said.
On the mound for Kansas, junior left-hander Zach Ashwood (2-1) stretched his scoreless inning streak to seven innings before an unearned run scored in the fourth inning. Ashwood didn’t wear down until the sixth inning, allowing four runs on three hits.
“He did a really nice job,” Price said. “For five innings, the only run we gave up behind him was an unearned run. If he can give us five innings and keep us in the ball game, as good as our bullpen is, then we like our chances.”
Ashwood was relieved by freshman right-hander Thomas Marcin in the seventh and the Jayhawks pushed their 15th run across the plate in the eighth inning to end the game prematurely.
As it turned out, Kansas’ home opener proved to be worth the wait.
“Our home opener just kept getting pushed back and pushed back and we’ve been anxious to get out here and play in front of our home crowd, so it feels great,” Simpson said.
Kansan sportswriter Shawn Shroyer can be contacted at sshroyer@kansan.com.
— Edited by Stacey Couch
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