Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Coming off a week where Kansas allowed 51 runs in six games, coach Ritch Price called out his veteran pitchers. Junior left-hander Sam Freeman answered Price’s challenge Tuesday afternoon.
In six innings, Freeman dominated Chicago State hitters, striking out a season high six batters and improving his perfect record to a 4-0. With Freeman cruising on the mound, the Kansas offense didn’t have to do much, and it didn’t until the fifth inning. Eventually, the Jayhawk (16-9) bats gave Freeman enough support to pull away from the Cougars (3-16) for a 6-4 victory.
“He gets better as the game goes on,” Price said. “It happened in Texas, too, when his velocity was even better in the seventh inning than it was at the start of the game. He’s got a great arm.”
Freeman bided his time in racking up his six strikeouts. After not recording a ‘K’ in the first inning, Freeman struck out one batter an inning until setting down two on strikes in the sixth.
In his six innings of work, Freeman allowed just one run, which came in the third inning off a back-to-back triple and single. Freeman scattered six hits, hit a batter and surrendered no walks in a smooth, 74-pitch outing.
Junior pitcher Sam Freeman throws a pitch Tuesday afternoon. Freeman finished with six strikeouts against Chicago State University, moving to 4-0 overall. Kansas defeated the Cougar's 6-4, pushing their record to 16-9 on the season.
“That gives him four days rest before he pitches on the fifth day this weekend,” Price said. “I think he had 74 pitches, so that was just about perfect for his outing.”
However, not until the fifth inning did Freeman receive some assurance that his efforts would be rewarded with a victory.
Chicago State’s run in the third tied the game 1-1. Not until a double by senior left fielder John Allman in the bottom of the fourth that drove in sophomore second baseman Robby Price did the Jayhawks begin to pull ahead.
“I was really disappointed in our performance offensively,” Price said. “We just don’t string 27 quality at-bats in a row as a team.”
The fifth inning was when Kansas did its most damage. Freshman designated hitter Jimmy Waters sparked the Kansas offense with a two-out home run to right-center field, which was the first of his Kansas career. The Jayhawks tacked on three more runs in the inning to take a 6-1 lead.
But, yet again, Freeman found himself at risk of missing out on the victory as the Kansas bullpen made it interesting in the top of the ninth. Nine Cougars batted in the inning, forcing junior closer Paul Smyth to come in relief of junior left-hander Daniel Manos with no outs and the bases loaded. Smyth allowed a single and hit two batters to let Chicago State come within two runs before nailing down his sixth save of the season.
“Smyth has had some trouble in the past when the bases are loaded, for whatever reason that is,” Price said. “It was good that he got in the game and he got in trouble and he found a way to get out of trouble because that’s basically what his role is.”
At times it looked like Freeman neded to finish the game himself. If he wasn’t slated to pitch this Sunday, he said he could have.
“Oh, I could have finished,” Freeman said.
Notes
Kansas’ game today with Chicago has been moved up from 3 p.m. to 1 p.m. due to scheduling conflicts for the Cougars. Kansas added a nightcap with Benedictine College (9-7) today at 6 p.m. Sophomore left-hander Shaeffer Hall (1-1) will start game one and senior right-hander Hiarali Garcia (1-0) will start game two.
Senior right fielder Ryne Price has 31 RBI in March, putting him on pace for 79 this season, which would be just six shy of the school record for RBI in a season. Price, who’s had just four games without an RBI this month, had 31 RBI all of last season.
— Edited by Patrick De Oliveira
Kansas baseball team beats Iowa
Several home runs led to a 9-5 victory against Iowa this weekend.
Live from the bullpen
From three relief pitchers to more than six, the Kansas baseball team ...
Jayhawks continue to enjoy winning streak
Kansas extended its winning streak to six victories Sunday. Senior shortstop Erik ...
Jayhawks drop game, weekend series to Aggies
Sunday's loss against Texas A&M brings the Jayhawks to a 1-5 record ...
Huskers win first game of series
Nebraska's seventh inning propels it to a 7-6 victory against Kansas.
Baseball knocks off No. 1 Texas
Shaeffer Hall and clutch hitting helps lead Kansas to a 5-4 victory ...
Kansas snaps six-game losing streak
A solid all-around performance propelled the Jayhawks to a 9-5 victory against ...
Baseball experiences cloudy games in Florida
Almost all the games, victory or loss, were close in score, excluding ...
Bullpen works for WSU, not for Kansas
The Jayhawks and Shockers tried the same move in Wednesday night's baseball ...
Success hinges on pitching improvements
Kansas (15-9) will play Chicago State at 3 p.m. in Lawrence.
Jayhawks shut out Tigers at Kauffman 3-0
Senior outfielder Ryne Price hit his 10th home run of the season ...
Smyth closes down KU victory over UND
Senior closer records first save after blowing first two chances in 6-3 ...
Baseball wrap-up
Here's a look at the baseball team's games in Hawaii.
Strong-handed players
The wind usually blows into left field at Hoglund Ballpark, giving right-handed ...
Baseball rides pitching, offense to victory
The annual trip to Hawaii proved successful for the Jayhawks. KU swept ...
Kansas baseball hopes to improve for the ...
The Jayhawk baseball team hasn’t started a season at 2-4 since 1999. ...
Kansas falls to Texas A&M in extra ...
The Jayhawks dropped their second straight to the Aggies Saturday, losing 9-6 ...
Walz tosses 7-2/3 innings en route to ...
Kansas gave Nebraska their first home loss of the season and moved ...
Kansas rolls St. Mary 13-0
Senior Matt Berner’s offensive moves helped the team move to 19-13.
Jayhawks hold off Sooners in see-saw battle
Kansas scored a team record of 39 runs in the weekend series ...
Starting pitching struggles against Baylor
Bears sweep weekend series scoring 33 runs against the Jayhawks’ 16; Kansas ...
Shockers defeat Kansas
Jayhawks pitching improved from previous games, but Kansas couldn’t score runs.
Kansas to face competitive Oklahoma State
When the two teams played each other two years ago, they combined ...
Stanford Cardinal sweep Jayhawks
Errors, extra innings for baseball team in ...
A weekend of solid pitching could not make up for errors on ...
Offenses explode in Game one against Oklahoma
Kansas outlasted Oklahoma 17-15 in the highest scoring conference game since 1998 ...
Jayhawks drafted into the Major Leagues
Between the draft, summer leagues and contract negotiations, the baseball team had ...
Home opener breaks winter woes
The baseball team shattered a four-game losing streak with Sunday’s double-header at ...
Baseball road woes continue
The Kansas baseball team dropped its first two games of the weekend ...
Pitching leads to Saturday's baseball victory
After giving up 14 runs in the Friday game, Kansas was able ...
Junior pitcher keeps it all together
Despite an inconsistent weekend rotation, pitcher Nick Czyz has remained a constant ...
Wichita State baseball shocks Kansas
The Wichita State and Kansas baseball rivalry has never ended with such ...
Baseball to face North Dakota State
Coach Ritch Price says the team has to do well this weekend ...
Baseball team explodes in Nashville
Kansas had trouble scoring runs in the first game of the Music ...
Victory over Missouri State is #400 for ...
Coach Price brought home his 400th victory after the Kansas baseball team ...
Jayhawks enter season with experience
Putting last season’s disappointment behind them, team members look forward to a ...
Solid wins for Jayhawks in March
The Jayhawks kick-off spring break with a three game series against the ...
Pitching rotation deep for Kansas baseball
Last season, the Kansas baseball team started two sophomores and a freshman ...
Late-game pitching leads to loss
The game, a defensive battle against Arkansas, gave Kansas a 2-4 record.
Shockers defeat Jayhawks 6-4
Kansas’ loss to No. 14 Wichita drops the Jayhawks season to 25-19. ...
From left: Kimberlee Hinkle, Libby Johnson and Hannah ...
1 comment
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
Comments
Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.
Sign in to comment
Or login with:
OpenID