Friday, March 16, 2007
Two days after a pair of blowouts, a victory and a defeat, Kansas begins its search for a happy medium tonight in College Station, Texas.
“It’s just one of those things,” junior shortstop Erik Morrison said Wednesday after Kansas lost to Wichita State, 18-3. “You get beat pretty bad, it’s almost like you walk in tomorrow like you’ve never played the game. We pick up where we left off before this game started. We just believe in each other and know that we’ve got what it takes to get it done. If we go out there and keep our confidence up, we’ll be fine.”
The weekend series against the No. 8 Aggies (18-2) marks the first time the Jayhawks (12-9) have opened their Big 12 Conference season on Texas A&M turf. Olsen Field has proven to be quite the advantage for the Aggies, who began the season unranked.
Texas A&M is 16-1 at home and has not left the friendly confines of College Station since Feb. 11, when the team wrapped up the three-day Houston College Classic at Minute Maid Park.
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We pick up where we left off before this game started. We just believe in each other and know that we’ve got what it takes to get it done.
Erik Morrison, junior shortstop
Since then, the Aggies have won 15 of their 16 games, losing only their second game of the season to the defending College World Series champions, No. 5 Oregon State. No. 14 Arizona State was responsible for the first loss.
The Aggies have the upper hand on the Jayhawks heading into the weekend. Texas A&M swept Florida last weekend. Relentless for the duration of the weekend, the Aggies outscored the Gators 26-7 in the three-game set.
On Sunday, junior outfielder Ben Feltner went 3-for-3 with an RBI in the series finale. The Temple Junior College transfer will be a new and dangerous face for Kansas. Feltner’s .375 batting average is second only to Aggie giant Blake Stouffer.
Stouffer, junior third baseman, is plenty comfortable with the bat. Last week’s co-Big 12 Player of the Week, he leads the Aggies in batting average (.429), triples (3), home runs (3) and RBI (28).
Numbers like that could be dangerous for a Kansas pitching staff whose ERA is almost a run higher at 3.69 than A&M’s staff at 2.75, but are exactly what the Aggies are hoping for if they are to redeem last year’s performance against the Jayhawks.
Although Texas A&M has a commanding hold on the series record at 35-13, last season it was all Kansas. The Aggies were the last regular-season opponent the Jayhawks faced. Their sweeping the Aggies kicked off the eight-game winning streak that resulted in a Big 12 Championship and ended in the NCAA tournament.
Several of the key factors that brought on the Aggie sweep have graduated or signed professionally, but not all of them.
Junior outfielder John Allman has remained the man of consistency in the Kansas lineup. His .408 average leads the team, as well as his .517 on-base percentage. Morrison provides power as he leads the Jayhawks in doubles (8) and RBI (23). While hitting a solid .329, his four home runs tie junior second baseman Ryne Price for the most on the team.
Regardless of who does the scoring, Kansas just wants to be sure it does. The 18-5 victory over Penn State on Tuesday night was refreshing, but the 18-3 defeat to Wichita State was unsettling. Either way, the Jayhawks have shifted mentality.
“That happens,” Morrison said. “We’ve blown a couple teams out here in the past couple weeks. It’s going to happen. You’ve got to go out there and play every play like you’re up by one. You don’t stop diving for balls, you don’t stop running hard, just because you’re losing doesn’t mean you give up. You keep playing.”
Kansan senior sportswriter Alissa Bauer can be contacted at abauer@kansan.com.
— Edited by Kelly Lanigan
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