Wednesday, April 30, 2008
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — No wonder the Kansas City Royals are the lowest scoring club in the Major Leagues.
A year ago Kansas and Missouri scored a combined 46 runs in three games. Tuesday night at Kauffman Stadium the Jayhawks and Tigers combined for three.
Tiger killer and senior outfielder Ryne Price came through for the Jayhawks, blasting his 10th home run of the season — and fifth of his career against Missouri — which proved to be the game-winner as sophomore left-hander and Lee’s Summit, Mo., native Shaeffer Hall hurled seven shutout innings.
Behind the bat of Price and the arm of Hall, Kansas (26-22) took down No. 15 Missouri (29-15), 3-0. The game was a non-conference meeting, so the victory didn’t help Kansas in the Big 12 standings, but that didn’t suck any of the intensity out of the game.
“It’s a big rivalry, so we always get up for it. I like playing them and I obviously see the ball well. I don’t think they like me very much,” said Price, who was involved in a bench-clearing scuffle his sophomore year in the Big 12 Championship against Missouri.
Senior shortstop Erik Morrison turns a double-play during Tuesday night's game against Missouri at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Mo. The defense and pitching of the Jayhawks shut the Tigers out. Kansas defeated Missouri 3-0.
Price’s home run, which he placed in the Royals bullpen beyond the right field wall, came in the second inning. His run stood as the only one in the game until the top of the eighth inning. Kansas stranded four men in scoring position between Price’s home run and the eighth.
“It was crucial that we scored early,” Kansas coach Ritch Price said.
All the while, Hall (3-2) staved off one rally after another from Missouri.
In the first inning, Missouri second baseman Greg Folgia led off with a single, but right fielder Ryan Lollis lined into a double play. Hall gave up his second hit in the second, but then induced an inning-ending double play.
“I just let my defense play behind me. They did a great job tonight,” Hall said.
He got out of the fourth with two Tigers on base when he struck out Missouri shortstop Andrew Thigpen looking to negate the threat.
Hall gave up two more singles in the seventh. The first runner was caught stealing second, but the second runner swiped second successfully. Hall left him there, though, fanning third baseman Kyle Mach looking.
Every inning wasn’t a roller coaster for Hall, though, as he worked perfect innings in the third and sixth. Hall came out after the seventh with a clean slate. He surrendered only five hits and two walks while striking out four.
The outing matched Hall’s long for the season. He last went seven innings on March 1 against Xavier. He’d only made it to the fifth inning four times in nine starts entering Tuesday.
Although he had friends and family wearing crimson and blue — as well as black and gold — in the crowd, he said he wasn’t trying to give them more for their money.
“No, I really didn’t think that way,” Hall said. “I just took it inning by inning. Facing a good team like that, you’ve got to. You’ve got to focus on each batter, each inning and just go that way. I was just fortunate to go that long.”
Not until the eighth could Kansas bounce Missouri right-hander Ian Berger (3-4) from the game. In seven-plus innings, Berger allowed six hits and three walks while striking out six. But when he put Kansas’ first two batters on in the eighth he was pulled in favor of right-hander Nick Tepesch.
However, Tepesch couldn’t calm the Jayhawk bats. With Berger’s runners on second and third, senior left fielder John Allman slapped a single up the middle to drive them both in and extend Kansas’ lead to 3-0.
Allman led Kansas with three hits while four other Jayhawks collected one hit apiece.
With a three-run lead to work with, junior closer Paul Smyth entered the game and kept the Tigers off the board for his eighth save of the year.
Tuesday was the first time Kansas had shut Missouri out since March 24, 2000. After the game, it was obvious that Hall’s brilliant performance in the stadium he frequents every summer lifted a huge weight off his back.
“I’ve had the ability to pitch like this, but – earlier in the season, midseason – I really haven’t been showing it,” Hall said. “It was good to come out here and work through seven, instead of getting 3-2/3 or whatever.”
—Edited by Russell Davies
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