Thursday, March 29, 2007
BY ALISSA BAUER
The most frequently asked questions this preseason revolved around how Coach Ritch Price and his staff planned on replacing the pitchers Kansas lost to graduation and the Major League Baseball draft.
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
Baseball looks to get back on track. Kansas (15-15, 2-4) lost four of its last five in the last week.
Price knew that putting the 2007 rotation together would be time consuming and require much tweaking. Now, what was expected to be the weaker component of the team is beginning to come together.
What Price didn’t worry about was retaining his high powered offense.
Recently, though, the offense has been the problem.
“Our players all thought we were as good as we were last year,” Price said. “But those seven guys that signed are all playing pro ball now. They know how to play in the clutch. We’re still learning and still growing as a team.”
Center fielder Kyle Murphy is the lone senior in the Jayhawks’ starting lineup, a big switch from the senior-laden crew that carried the offense in 2006. Though Murphy is one of only two starters hitting over .300 as of Tuesday, his consistency at the plate just isn’t enough.
Kansas (15-15, 2-4) lost four of its last five in the last week, including dropping a three-game series to Oklahoma State last weekend.
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We need to get in and get work. Hopefully we can maintain the composure and keep our confidence up and get the big hit and roll from there.
- Erik Morrison, junior
“Now we’ve just got to find a way to go on the road and win a series on the road at Missouri and set ourselves up to beat Texas again,” Price said.
That may be easier said than done with an unexpected struggling offense. The Jayhawks entered Big 12 play two weeks ago hitting a solid .308.
Now, Kansas has fallen to .289 as a team.
Eleven points shy of .300 is no reason to panic, last year’s squad finished 2006 with .294, but it’s the declining run production that presents the bigger problem.
While losing its last four of five, Kansas has been out hit by opponents, 50-33.
However, in two of those five games, the Jayhawks actually recorded more hits than their opponent. The alarming part is the 39 Jayhawk runners left on base in those five games.
“We need to get in and get work,” junior Morrison said last Sunday. “Hopefully we can maintain the composure and keep our confidence up and get the big hit and roll from there.”
The leadership role will likely be a catalyst in Morrison’s quick offensive turnaround, something most of the Jayhawks need to spark in order to bring their Big 12 record above .500.
“I keep telling our coaching staff, we’ve got to stay as positive as possible,” Price said. “We’ve got to get to the middle of April with four series left when we should be in position where those freshmen are now sophomores and our sophomores are now juniors.”
Kansas’ pitching staff’s ERA at the midpoint of the season is 4.60. Last season, the Jayhawk pitchers’ ERA 4.82.
Although they have allowed 24 home runs, to their own 22, the pitchers are doing something right.
The Jayhawks have 261 opposing batters. This put the pitchers on pace to strike out more than 500 batters this season, blowing past the 2006 staff’s 407 total.
“I actually thought with how physical their team was that Ashwood’s performance was a positive and I think Marks’ performance was a positive,” Price said after the Oklahoma State series. “Obviously Smyth went three innings for the save situation and a couple guys out of our bullpen came in and put up zeros.”
With a commanding 0.76 ERA, sophomore closer Paul Smyth has five saves in 16 appearances.
Smyth has a 3-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio, and has yet to give up a home run.
Kansan senior sportswriter Alissa Bauer can be contacted at abauer@kansan.com.
— Edited by Mark Vierthaler
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