Tuesday, May 6, 2008
The atmosphere of an afternoon contest in Allen Fieldhouse is tough to top, and a full Memorial Stadium on a fall Saturday is a wonderful place to be, but neither venues hosted do-or-die, elimination events this year.
The basketball team breezed through its home schedule, and the football team dominated each of its unfortunate opponents.
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There’s something special brewing at the ballpark just south of Allen Fieldhouse, and there are only five more chances to check it out this season.
If you’re in search of Jayhawk home games with relevance, head to Hoglund Ballpark, where Kansas baseball has been busy winning its way out of the Big 12 Conference cellar.
The Jayhawks currently sit at seventh place in the 10-team Big 12 (Iowa State and Colorado do not field baseball teams). Since only the top eight teams earn a trip to the Big 12 Tournament, Kansas’ slim 1.5-game advantage over ninth-place Oklahoma doesn’t offer much margin of error. Only two games separate 10th-place Texas Tech and Kansas, giving the final two weeks of the Big 12 regular season a sudden death feel. One small slip-up could cost a team its postseason berth.
“At this point in the season, just getting into the tournament is our goal,” senior leftfielder John Allman said. “Once you get into the tournament, anything can happen after that.”
If the Jayhawks survive their next two series – against fourth-place Missouri and eighth-place Kansas State – and make the Big 12 Conference tournament, they certainly have Cinderella potential. Kansas scored 17 runs on Friday, added 13 on Saturday and scored nine to finish off a three-game sweep of Oklahoma.
The Jayhawks’ record-setting offensive explosion came on the heels of a lights-out pitching performance one week ago by sophomore Shaeffer Hall in a 3-0 victory against Missouri. During Kansas’ current hot streak, the team has won its last six conference home games and pulled itself from the bottom of the Big 12 barrel to the middle of the conference. Considering the Big 12 could be the third best baseball conference in the nation, Kansas’ recent success is no small feat.
Although, maybe it shouldn’t come as such a surprise that the Jayhawks have burst onto the scene of late: When the weather gets warm, Kansas usually does too. The team struggled through frequent rain delays and cancellations, played in snow flurries, and scrambled to reschedule early-season rainouts, sometimes to no avail. Now that the temperatures are in the 60’s and the sun is out of hiding, Kansas seems to have hit its groove.
“The reality is, it seems like we’re behind until about the middle of April,” Kansas coach Ritch Price said. “Then we’re finally able to catch up in every phase of the game.”
Allman used the term “synergy” to describe what the Jayhawks have felt the past few weeks. Freshman third baseman Tony Thompson said he was just settling in and getting comfortable as a college ballplayer – a statement backed up by his 3-for-3, two-RBI performance last Friday. Hall has realized his potential as a reliable long reliever, and diminutive freshman pitcher T.J. Walz is turning into the team’s best starting hurler.
There’s something special brewing at the ballpark just south of Allen Fieldhouse, and there are only five more chances to check it out this season. The Jayhawks will play their final non-conference contest Wednesday against a strong Oral Roberts squad before facing Missouri this weekend. The Tigers will send starting pitcher Aaron Crow, a future first round MLB draft pick, to the hill Friday to face the Jayhawks’ red-hot offense.
Kansas will finish its home season next Friday against Kansas State. The series could have major postseason implications, though whether it will be for seeding, or for a chance to make the tournament, remains to be seen.
With the overwhelming success of both basketball and football, it’s been a while since Kansas has had a lovable underdog squad to cheer for. That’s all the more reason to catch a glimpse of Jayhawk baseball’s late run to the postseason.
—Edited by Nick Mangiaracina
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