Sunday, March 30, 2008
If Kansas sees Brooks Raley again, it will be too soon.
Just one day after earning a victory for the Aggies as a pitcher, Raley drove in the game-winning run at the plate for Texas A&M as a late-inning substitution.
With the bases loaded and nobody out in the top of the tenth inning, Raley singled to center field, breaking a 6-6 tie. Texas A&M (20-6, 5-3) added two more runs in the inning, clinching the series from Kansas (18-11, 1-4) with a 9-6 victory.
“The big thing is, I think you saw today the experience of their team to make adjustments within at-bats,” Kansas coach Ritch Price said.
The extra-inning loss was crushing for Kansas, which took the lead twice in the game, including a 6-3 advantage after six innings. But when each team’s starters were forced from the game, the Aggies won the battle of the bullpens.
Texas A&M relievers Kyle Thebeau and Travis Starling (3-0) pitched 4.1 scoreless innings. For Kansas, sophomore right-hander Brett Bollman and junior right-hander Paul Smyth (1-2), surrendered three runs apiece in 4.2 innings of relief, allowing the Aggies to tie the game and take the lead.
“Our bullpen’s been very, very good and that’s the first time our bullpen’s been beat up late in a game,” Price said.
The Kansas bullpen’s inability to hold the lead wasted a solid start from junior left-hander Nick Czyz. A day after having to go to its bullpen in the first inning, Kansas needed Czyz to eat some innings and that’s just what he did. Czyz lasted 5.1 innings, striking out five and allowing three runs on six hits and four walks.
“It was imperative that he got into the fifth, sixth or seventh inning for us,” Price said. “Today he was able to compete for us. He got into trouble and he got out of trouble and he gave us an opportunity to come from behind.”
Despite going down on strikes 12 times, the Kansas offense displayed timely hitting to take an early lead.
Already down 1-0 in the first inning, Kansas turned around and claimed a 2-1 advantage in the bottom of the inning. After senior left fielder John Allman was hit by a pitch with two outs, junior catcher Buck Afenir sent a Barret Loux pitch deep to right-center field for his fourth home run of the season.
In the bottom of the third, the Jayhawks extended their lead to 3-1. Freshman third baseman Tony Thompson collected his first single of the day to start off the inning. With two outs, Allman brought him home with a single to left.
By the bottom of the sixth, all momentum was on Kansas’ side. Loux, who struck out eight batters in the game, ran out of steam in the inning, walking two batters, moving both runners up with a balk and coughing up a two-run, two-out double to junior first baseman Preston Land. Kansas tacked on its final run of the inning on Thompson’s second base hit of the game.
“They have some really good pitchers on that team,” said Thompson, whose average has climbed 24 points in the series. “If I do well against them, I feel I can do against any team we face.”
The Jayhawks took a 6-3 lead into seventh, but Thompson’s RBI would be the last run Kansas produced Saturday.
Kansas will try to salvage game three of the series Sunday at 1 p.m. at Hoglund Ballpark.
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