Baseball loses for second straight game

Monday, May 7, 2007

On Saturday, while all of Lawrence celebrated for Cinco de Mayo, the Kansas baseball team was excluded from the holiday’s events.

After nearly four hours of baseball Saturday afternoon, Kansas dropped its second straight game to Kansas State, conceding the series to the Wildcats and falling into last place in the Big 12.

With one conference series remaining, it looks as though Kansas will become the first Big 12 team to win the Big 12 Tournament one season but fail to qualify for the tournament the next. It appears that Kansas’ youth will prevent it from reaching the Big 12 Tournament.

Last season, Kansas earned its best records since 1993 behind the leadership of seven seniors. The defining moment of the season for those seniors their response to being swept by Texas late in the season.

Following the sweep, Kansas won seven games in a row, going 9-2 and solidifying a spot in the conference tournament. The Jayhawks eventually won the conference tournament and reached the NCAA tournament.

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They play every day and they’re almost oblivious to that kind of thing, More experienced teams do have a tough time recovering after they give one away they had a chance to win. These guys don’t play like that. They’re not mature enough or experienced enough yet to let that kind of thing bother them.

-coach Ritch Price

Kansas found itself in a similar predicament this weekend.

The Jayhawks entered the weekend tied for eighth in the conference behind seventh-place Kansas State. Considering Kansas State has never been a factor in the Big 12, having gone without a conference tournament appearance since 2002, a series victory — if not a sweep — looked possible for Kansas. A victory might have catapulted the Jayhawks as high as sixth in the conference.

However, a reenactment of last year’s seniors proved to be too much for a Kansas squad composed of nine young players who regularly start.

On Friday, sophomore left-hander Andy Marks allowed only one hit in seven innings but his fellow underclassmen didn’t offer him much support.

Sophomore catcher Buck Afenir went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts while sophomore first baseman Preston Land went 0-for-3 with three strikeouts. Land’s struggles spilled onto the field in the bottom of the eighth when sophomore right-hander Paul Smyth came in for Marks.

After Smyth surrendered the tying run and loaded the bases, Land committed a fielding error with two outs allowing Kansas State to pull ahead for good.

Kansas got more of the same from its younger contributors on Saturday.

Sophomore left-hander Nick Czyz started for the Jayhawks, but didn’t last long. In just 2/3 of an inning of work, Czyz was charged with four runs, putting Kansas in a hole.

With Kansas trailing 5-4 in the seventh, coach Ritch Price went to Smyth to keep the game within reach for the Jayhawks, but Smyth gave up two runs in the eighth.

At the plate, freshman third baseman Robby Price went 0-for-4 and Land’s toils continued as he went 0-for-2, dropping his batting average on the season to .200.

One strength coach Price found in his young players is that they don’t dwell on their failures. Instead, they look forward to their next opportunity to succeed.

“They play every day and they’re almost oblivious to that kind of thing,” Price said on Friday. “More experienced teams do have a tough time recovering after they give one away they had a chance to win. These guys don’t play like that. They’re not mature enough or experienced enough yet to let that kind of thing bother them."

Shroyer is a Mound City junior in journalism.

— Edited by Katie Sullivan

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