Monday, April 7, 2008
Sitting at the bottom of the Big 12 standings and facing a slumping Baylor squad, this weekend was supposed to be Kansas’ opportunity to maneuver its way up the conference standings.
However, the Jayhawks’ series with the Bears proved to be the exact opposite.
Freshman shortstop Zach Thoma throws to first base for an out Tuesday afternoon against Tabor College. The Jayhawk's defeated Tabor 8-1 at Hoglund Ballpark, pushing their season record to 9-5.
With a 17-7, seven-inning victory on Sunday, Baylor (19-11, 6-6) finally looked like the nationally ranked team it was at the beginning of the season, completing its weekend sweep of Kansas (19-16, 1-8). The loss marked the Jayhawks’ sixth in a row in Big 12 play and dropped coach Ritch Price’s club to last in the conference.
“We went on the road, and our goal was to win a game and — if we won one of the first two — to win the series,” said Price, whose team was outscored 33-16 by Baylor. “We caught them at a time when they’re peaking. They’re the best team we’ve played so far all year.”
After losing the first two games of the series, Kansas’ only hope was to salvage the series finale yesterday. But the Bears extinguished all hope early on.
Facing Kansas junior left-hander Sam Freeman (4-1), Baylor put up seven runs before Freeman was removed after recording just four outs. For the second straight Sunday, Freeman failed to reach the third inning. In the process, his ERA continued its ascent from 6.75 to 8.59.
Freeman has been struggling with his mechanics as of late and, after Sunday’s performance, he will likely move to the bullpen and be replaced in the weekend rotation by freshman right-hander T.J. Walz.
“By putting him in the bullpen, it gives coach (Ryan) Graves more time to work with him and see if we can improve his mechanics and get him back in the strike zone a little bit better,” Price said.
But Freeman isn’t the only starter who’s struggled for Kansas as of late. For the weekend, Kansas got a total of 9.2 innings out of its starters, who were pounded for 15 runs. However, junior left-hander Nick Czyz pitched 4.1 of those innings and allowed just one of those runs Friday.
Conversely, Baylor got 18.2 innings out of its starters, who gave up 11 runs. Sunday, right-hander Willie Kempf (5-1) allowed three runs over 5.1 innings en route to victory.
Walz entered in the second inning for the Jayhawks, but couldn’t close the floodgates the Bears had opened up.
Walz surrendered two runs before escaping the second and two more runs in the third before throwing a scoreless fourth inning – the only inning in which Baylor didn’t score. However, in the fifth, Walz allowed the first two batters to reach, prompting Price to throw up the white flag and bring in senior right-hander Matt Lane.
Two batters into Lane’s appearance, Baylor shortstop Beamer Weems teed off for his fourth home run of the season to give the Bears a 13-2 lead. With the game all but over, both coaches began to clear their benches to give their substitutes some playing time.
Kansas’ offensive highlights centered around senior shortstop Erik Morrison. With one on, two out and a 3-0 count in the top of the fourth, Morrison had the green light, sending his third home run of the season to left field and putting the Jayhawks on the board. Morrison had been 0-for-6 in the series entering that at-bat.
The one-man wrecking crew wasn’t finished, though. Morrison capped off a four-run inning in the seventh with his second home run of the afternoon. The home run brought the Jayhawks within 10 but, with the run rule in effect, it wasn’t enough to prolong the game.
“Erik had a really tough weekend until today,” Price said. “I actually gave him the green light on 3-0 on the first home run he hit, trying to get him started. He railed that one out of the stadium and hit the second one good. He’s a streaky hitter, so hopefully that’ll get him started.”
— Edited by Daniel Reyes
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