The late American cartoonist Al Capp made famous the character Joe Btfsplk in his Li’l Abner comic strip. Btfsplk was known as the “world’s worst jinx” and a dark rain cloud for one constantly hung over his head.

Until Sunday, the Kansas baseball team knew how it felt to be Joe Btfsplk during last week’s Florida Spring Classic in Bradenton, Fla.

The goal for Kansas last week was simple: play eight games in five days in the Florida sun and, more importantly, win those games. However, the Jayhawks were behind the eight ball before they even got to Florida.

“It’s been a tough week,” coach Ritch Price said. “We had all those flight delays and cancelations and ended up coming in three different groups on Tuesday.”

Because of flight delays out of Dallas Tuesday, Kansas played its first game of the week Wednesday without 12 members of the team, and lost 11-9 against Illinois. On Thursday, rain in the Bradenton area postponed Kansas’ doubleheader, but the games were eventually played, with the Jayhawks squeaking out two victories against Central Connecticut State and Dartmouth.

The Big 10 again humbled Kansas on Friday as Ohio State pummeled Kansas 16-5 before Kansas won a low-scoring affair with UMBC, 4-1. On Saturday, more rain completely wiped out Kansas’ doubleheader with Northwestern.

But with one swing of the bat Sunday, senior shortstop Erik Morrison chased off the rain cloud that had been hovering over the Jayhawks all week and drove in Kansas’ go-ahead run in the top of the eighth. Entering the eighth, Morrison was 0-for-4, but his clutch single gave Kansas a 12-11 lead over Northwestern (4-8) that – unlike the Jayhawks’ previous leads in the game – Kansas (15-9) held onto.

“He had opportunities earlier in the game where he had really bad at-bats, so it was nice to see him put a good swing on the ball, 3-2, and find a way to get a base hit to literally help us win a baseball game,” Price said.

Morrison’s eighth-inning RBI completed Kansas’ comeback from five runs down early in the game.

Northwestern capitalized on erratic pitching by Kansas junior left-hander Nick Czyz to put the Jayhawks in an early 8-3 hole and jettison Czyz from the game in the second inning. In one-plus inning of work, Czyz allowed seven runs (six earned) on four hits and three walks, hitting one batter and throwing a wild pitch.

Junior catcher Buck Afenir didn’t help Czyz’s cause, committing a throwing error and allowing one batter to reach on catcher’s interference while Czyz was on the mound.

Despite his shortcomings in the field, Afenir made up for it at the plate, batting cleanup for the first time all season. Afenir went 3-for-5 with two runs, five RBI and a home run. His two-run home run in the top of the fourth gave Kansas a 9-8 lead, its first since jumping out to a 3-0 lead in first inning.

“If we can get him to eliminate the absolutely awful at-bats he has during a course of a game, he can be a special player,” Price said. “Unfortunately, it’s like he has a really good at-bat, and then he has two bad at-bats, and then he has another good one, but that two-run homer he hit today was obviously huge.”

But even Afenir’s numbers were eclipsed by Northwestern first baseman Jake Goebbert, who terrorized Kansas pitchers, going 4-for-5 with three runs and six RBI. His two-run homer in the bottom of the fifth regained the lead for Northwestern, 11-9.

Such ludicrous production on offense made it a rough day for pitchers.

Kansas’ bullpen allowed four runs in four innings until sophomore right-hander Brett Bollman (2-1) stopped the bleeding with the score tied 11-11 in the sixth. The turning point in the game came when Bollman induced an inning-ending double play in the seventh with Goebbert at the plate.

With the ball finally rolling its way, Kansas took the lead for good in the eighth on Morrison’s single. The single came off Northwestern right-hander Matt Havey (0-1), who’d shut Kansas out since entering the game in the sixth.

Junior closer Paul Smyth entered in the bottom of the eighth for Kansas and finished the game with two perfect innings of relief, clinching the victory for Bollman and his third save of the week.

“Our bullpen was pretty good all week,” Price said. “I’m pleased with the fact we showed some courage and some life and were able to battle back from behind, but we basically played the entire week from behind.”

— Edited by Matt Hirschfeld