Thursday, May 10, 2007
It’s not over yet.
After Kansas took the two-game sweep from Kansas State last weekend, the Jayhawks (23-28, 8-15 Big 12 Conference) fell back into last place in the Big 12 standings, and their fate after the regular season looked dim.
Running out of time, the Jayhawks needs victories to keep its postseason hopes alive.
They started with an 8-5 victory against Missouri State on Wednesday.
“I’m proud of how resilient this team has been,” Coach Ritch Price said. “I’m not going to let them quit. We’re going to play this thing out and try to sweep Chicago State on the weekend and see if we can get back to .500 and see if we can get some help in the last weekend.”
Run support has been hard to come by as of late for sophomore lefty Andy Marks (4-6). In his last three starts, his guys had given him just one run.
The Jayhawk bats thanked him heartily on Wednesday.
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
Kansas’ consistency duo, senior Kyle Murphy and junior John Allman, teamed up in the Jayhawks’ first at bat. Murphy dropped a single into shallow left to lead off the game before Allman blasted a Sean Toler delivery to right-center field.
“It was really nice,” Marks said. “Anytime you put up eight runs you win a lot of ballgames.”
Four straight Jayhawks reached base to start the fourth, including a two-run blast from junior second baseman Ryne Price deep to right. His ninth of the season was just the beginning of the six-run fourth. This was the first six-spot the Jayhawks have strung together since blowing out Texas 14-6 on Apr. 6.
“Me, Buck and Brock were like ‘let’s try to do something productive with these ABs,” Ryne Price said. “It’s kind of funny ‘cause Buck singled and so did Brock, it just hopefully got us going a little bit.”
Price opened the gate for junior right fielder Brock Simpson to follow up with a single.
Sophomore first baseman Preston Land took his turn next, slugging only his second triple of his career.
Murphy, who went 4-for-5 on Wednesday night, struck again in the fourth. His RBI double to right was the last hit Toler would allow. He was lifted for Chris Mackey after walking freshman third baseman Robby Price.
“It’s funny how baseball works,” Murphy said. “It’s probably not the best day that I’ve swung the bat. I wasn’t necessarily hitting the seats, but some days you hit them hard and go 0-for-5 and sometimes you hit off the handle and go 4-for-5.”
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Despite their final efforts, Kansas kept the squad at bay.
When Mackey entered the game, it wasn’t much of a game. The 8-0 lead Kansas had collected by the fourth appeared to have the makings of a blowout.
Missouri State, however, was in no mood for a slaughter. Facing an 8-1 deficit, junior right-hander Andres Esquibel took over for Marks.
Esquibel watched his first pitch sail over the batter’s eye in centerfield off the bat of catcher Kyle Paul. Paul, hitting in the eight-hole, had his way with every Jayhawk pitcher he saw on Wednesday, going 4-for-4 with four RBI and two home runs.
“He’s obviously trying to get out of it for him and for me,” Marks said of his reliever. “Unfortunately for that kid, he made a mistake and he hit it. He’s a pretty good hitter, I don’t know why the hell’s he’s hitting eighth.”
Paul’s second bomb pushed the gap even tighter. He took Esquibel yard again in the top of the eighth, narrowing the Jayhawks lead, 8-5.
Despite their final efforts, Kansas kept the squad at bay.
“We need to win every game this week,” Marks said. “This was a good start, hopefully we’ll carry it into the weekend and carry it into the last week of the season. You never know what could happen after that.”
Kansan sportswriter Alissa Bauer can be contacted at abauer@kansan.com.
— Edited by Mark Vierthaler
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