Monday, April 6, 2009
Baylor shortstop Shaver Hansen crushed his third home run of the game to dead center in the top of the eighth inning, putting the Bears up 8-1.
Unfortunately for Kansas, that wasn’t the game score. The Jayhawks probably would have settled for that score.
Sophomore third baseman Tony Thompson gets a quick handshake from Kansas' third base coach after jacking a home run over the left field wall. Thompson batted 2 for 4 Saturday afternoon against Baylor, driving in three RBI and scoring one run in a 6-0 win against the Bears.
Instead that was the home run count as the Bears decided to have their own home run derby inside Hoglund Ballpark Sunday. Kansas lost the game with an even more lopsided score: 21-9.
“We just couldn’t stop them from scoring,” coach Ritch Price said. “The difference in the game was we hit one home run and they hit eight home runs.”
It was the Jayhawks’ biggest loss since 2002. The winter mix of rain, snow and high winds contributed to the power displayed by Baylor.
At times it seemed as though any ball popped up and hit into the air would clear the fence.
“Obviously if you hit a ball in the air you had a home run today with the way the conditions were,” Price said. “But at the same time we were behind in the count on almost every single hitter.”
No Jayhawk pitcher was immune to the scoring barrage. The only pitcher not to give up a run was freshman Kelson Boyer,and he only pitched the last third of the ninth. The eight home runs were the most given up by Kansas since it played Oklahoma State in 2006.
Sophomore third baseman Tony Thompson said the only thing to tell pitchers after a game like that was to stay positive.
“Tell them to stick with it and keep throwing strikes,” Thompson said. "But today the conditions were pretty hard to play in."
Freshman starter Lee Ridenhour played the fewest innings of any of his starts this season. In three innings he allowed seven hits and a career-high six earned runs. But Price isn’t ready to lash out against his pitching staff after one game.
After all it's the pitching that has allowed Kansas to be one of the most surprising teams in the Big 12 this season.
“One of the things I let everybody know is that our pitching has been fabulous,” Price said.
At least for the offense on Sunday, hitting wasn’t a problem. Nine runs on 14 hits is usually enough for most teams to win.
But down the stretch the Jayhawk lineup couldn't keep up. Kansas failed to score in the last three innings while Baylor scored 10 in those innings.
“I didn’t think we were going to have to score 22 runs to win,” freshman shortstop James Stanfield said. “But that’s just how it happened."
This was especially evident after Baylor scored five runs in the top of the sixth to extend its lead to 11-6. Kansas immediately responded with a three-run home run by Thompson in the bottom of the sixth to cut the lead to two.
Three home runs later in the top of the seventh saw Baylor up 16-9. The Bears’ sophomore reliever Craig Fritsch came into the game and shut out the Jayhawks for the rest of the day.
"He came in and basically dominated us,” Price said.
After Price got on to some of his seniors after some close games earlier this week, he wasn’t ready to bark negatives at his players after this game. Mainly he said this game should be forgotten.
"All you can do is flush that," Price said. “I think there’s no sense in beating your players up or saying something that would embarrass yourself later."
— — Edited by Brandy Entsminger
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