Wednesday, March 5, 2008
This isn’t your typical home opener.
More times than not, Division I teams schedule directional schools for their home openers to help assure that opening day crowds will witness a victory. However, Kansas (4-5) opens its home slate today against Le Moyne College (2-6), which reached the NCAA tournament last season.
While the Dolphins, of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference, aren’t a household name when it comes to college baseball, they aren’t to be underestimated. Located in Syracuse, N.Y., Le Moyne went 34-19 last season and is coached by the eighth winningest active baseball coach in Division 1: Steve Owens.
With a career .683 winning percentage, Owens and his Dolphins have gotten off to an uncharacteristically slow start this season. In the midst of a 15-game road trip to start its season, Le Moyne was swept over the weekend by Oral Roberts.
Yesterday, Le Moyne took No. 25 Wichita State the distance before losing, 9-8, at Eck Stadium. Le Moyne led Wichita State most of the game until the Shockers piled on four runs in the last two innings to steal the victory.
In defeat, the Dolphins continued to receive production from their two best hitters. Infielder Matt Nandin and first baseman Corey O’Neill went a combined 3-for-9 with two runs.
breakbox
Enrollment: 2,300
Location: Syracuse, N.Y.
Colors: Green and Gold
Conference: Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference
Coach: Steve Owens (504-233-1)
Notes: The Dolphins open 2008 with a 15-game road trip and their home opener is scheduled for March 22 — a full month after their first game of the season…Le Moyne has never played Kansas in baseball before.
Today Le Moyne will throw left-hander Corey Nelson (0-0), whose only appearances thus far have been out of the bullpen. In five innings, he’s struck out four and has yet to allow an earned run.
The Jayhawks, on the other hand, shook off their rusty play during the weekend.
Kansas is coming off a 2-1 showing in the Music City Classic in Nashville, Tenn. The Jayhawk offense blew up for 21 runs Saturday and Sunday after scoring fewer than five runs in six of their previous seven games.
“It’s good to start waking the bats up a little bit more,” freshman third baseman Tony Thompson said. “I think we’re going to come through now.”
Leading the charge for Kansas was junior first baseman Preston Land and senior outfielder Casey Larson. Land was 4-for-5 with two home runs in a five-RBI performance on Saturday while Larson went 4-for-7 with two runs and two RBI in Kansas’ two wins. Both were named to the all-tournament team.
Junior center fielder and leadoff man Nick Faunce capped the weekend by going 4-for-5 Sunday, scoring three runs.
“I just think we had to see some pitching for us to get going a little bit,” Thompson said. “Our pitching has been doing really well and we just needed to support them with some runs. We finally did that the last couple games.”
Kansas coach Ritch Price will again look to sophomore left-hander Wally Marciel (1-1) to bridge the gap to the weekend.
Wednesday, Marciel allowed only two runs in 5 2/3 innings of work at Arkansas. In two starts, Marciel has a 2.31 ERA and six strikeouts to nine hits and four walks allowed.
Price is counting on another solid performance from Marciel today to give the home fans what they want to see — a home-opening victory.
“Wally Marciel pitched like a Big 12, Friday night starter,” Price said after the Arkansas game. “He’s improved his fastball command, improved his breaking ball and his changeup. Now he’s got three pitches.”
— Edited by Daniel Reyes
Kansas defeats Le Moyne in home opener
Despite heavy winds, the baseball team triumphed over Le Moyne in the ...
Baseball to face North Dakota State
Coach Ritch Price says the team has to do well this weekend ...
Heading to Arkansas
Jayhawks try to rebound from loss in Hawaii-Hilo series.
Big 12 baseball to start conference play
Big 12 baseball teams are going strong into the start of conference ...
Baseball wrap-up
Here's a look at the baseball team's games in Hawaii.
Baseball team releases schedule
Nobody will be able to doubt the strength of the Kansas baseball ...
Marciel Out For Season
Sophomore pitcher Wally Marciel tore a ligament in his elbow and will ...
Baseball avoids first conference sweep
Freshman left-hander Wally Maricel's first Big 12 Conference start lasted 5 2/3 ...
Baseball rides pitching, offense to victory
The annual trip to Hawaii proved successful for the Jayhawks. KU swept ...
Jayhawks have their work cut out as ...
After Texas swept Kansas, Kansas desperately holds on and aims for victory.
Kansas falls to Oklahoma 14-4
The Sooners capitalized on a four-run sixth inning to defeat the Jayhawks
Baseball team takes two of three from ...
Kansas has won four of its last five games against No. 1 ...
Late-game pitching leads to loss
The game, a defensive battle against Arkansas, gave Kansas a 2-4 record.
Baseball splits series with Northern Colorado
Last season, Northern Colorado defeated Kansas twice, but this year it could ...
Missed chances lead to baseball loss
The Kansas baseball team faced its toughest competition of the season so ...
Baseball falls at Texas A&M
The Kansas baseball team lost twice this weekend in its Big 12 ...
Well-balanced team goes 3-1 in weekend series
Women get blanked, twirl own shutout, end weekend with run-rule victory
Baseball easily handles Kansas Wesleyan
Wally Marciel shone as a starter by striking out four in five ...
Jayhawks claim victory against top-ranked Horned Frogs
Junior pitcher Colton Murray, the game’s closer, gave up only seven hits ...
Kansas to face competitive Oklahoma State
When the two teams played each other two years ago, they combined ...
Big 12 Baseball: February 27, 2007
Here's the latest from Big 12 Baseball.
Baseball takes first Big 12 victory
After a notoriously bland conference season, the Jayhawks brought home their first ...
Kansas wins 3 of 4 in series ...
Solid pitching and timely hitting helps Kansas win the series.
Big inning, big problems
Oral Roberts deals defeat to visiting Kansas. The Golden Eagles bested the ...
Home opener breaks winter woes
The baseball team shattered a four-game losing streak with Sunday’s double-header at ...
Kansas wins easily
Pitching rotation deep for Kansas baseball
Last season, the Kansas baseball team started two sophomores and a freshman ...
Big 12 Baseball
K-State pitcher Brad Hutt pitched a whole game against North Dakota State, ...
Errors, extra innings for baseball team in ...
A weekend of solid pitching could not make up for errors on ...
Kansas baseball team beats Iowa
Several home runs led to a 9-5 victory against Iowa this weekend.
Stanford Cardinal sweep Jayhawks
Kansas baseball loses series to Michigan State
Kansas comes out of weekend with a 7-8 record.
Baseball hopes for first Big 12 victory
Here is the Big 12 baseball lineup for the week. Check out ...
Hawks catch victory against Red Raiders
The Kansas baseball team rose to seventh place in the Big 12 ...
Softball still perfect after 4-0 winning weekend
The Jayhawks sweep their home Fall Invitational, besting Butler County, Washburn and ...
Softball team comes out ahead during spring ...
The KU softball team stayed busy during break with the Kansas Invitational ...
Dominated from the start
Kansas surrendered eight runs in the top of the first inning and ...
Success hinges on pitching improvements
Kansas (15-9) will play Chicago State at 3 p.m. in Lawrence.
Big 12 Baseball
Kansas will play Missouri in hopes of a conference series victory. Kansas ...
Kansas softball wins again in Jacksonville
Kansas advances to 4-0 after a victory over Jacksonville University.
Kansas Jayhawk fans hold aloft a reproduction of ...
2 comments
Erin Saupe, a Ph.D. student from St. Cloud, ...
1 comment
0 comments
Armed robbers continue to threaten.
3 comments
Lecture from Greg Mortenson, co-author of New York ...
0 comments
KUnited presidential candidate Libby Johnson and vice presidential ...
1 comment
Comments
Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.
Sign in to comment
Or login with:
OpenID