Paul Smyth won’t admit there was a monkey on his back, but the senior closer can at least look back at his early struggles now with a smile.

Smyth finished off a 6-3 Kansas victory yesterday afternoon against North Dakota (0-6), completing a two-game sweep and finally putting a number next to his name in the save column rather than the loss column.

“It took a little bit longer than I wanted it to,” Smyth said with a smile. “It always feels great to break into it, and I’m ready to get some more now I guess.”

It wasn’t as pretty as Tuesday night’s six-run victory, but some of the same story lines in that game — pitching and early runs — appeared in some form yesterday.

Except for one difference. This time the Jayhawks finally got a ball over the fence. Sophomore third baseman Tony Thompson’s three-run home run in the first inning propelled Kansas (4-3) to five runs during the first two innings. “I thought it was a relief because we haven’t put up the big power stats,” Thompson said. “It turned out to be a big hit for us, helped us win the game so that’s the most important thing.”

Even coach Ritch Price admitted he was worried about the lack of pop in the Jayhawks’ batting order thus far. He believes the next step in Thompson’s maturation is the development of consistent power.

“It was good to see Tony go big fly,” Price said. “One of the things him and I have talked about is that he’s got to hit double-digit home runs to take himself to the next level of the player he’s trying to get to.”

After junior second baseman Robby Price’s RBI single in the bottom of the second made the score 5-0, the Jayhawk bats didn’t put up much of a fight the rest of the way against Sioux starting pitcher Mike Lueck. They scored one run for the rest of the game and collected three more hits.

Luckily, junior starting pitcher Travis Blankenship (1-0) quieted the North Dakota bats, allowing only three hits, no walks, one unearned run and three strikeouts through five innings of work.

“I thought he did a nice job today against their left-handed hitters,” Price said of the left-handed transfer from Johnson County Community College. “Because he has that unique delivery, he gives himself an advantage when facing left handers.”

Blankenship was able to stay ahead in the count against the Sioux hitters. He said he was able to be more aggressive towards the strike zone, especially with an early lead.

“I was more excited than anything,” Blankenship said. “I had a lot of backup from the guys, run support. It made it a lot easier to go out there and throw strikes.”

After North Dakota scored two runs in the seventh inning to make things interesting, the one-two combo of sophomore Brett Bochy and Smyth closed the door in the eighth and ninth innings.

Smyth said he has put his two blown saves in his first two outings in the past and out of mind.

“It’s something I’ve done my best to forget,” he said. “That’s something that you just try to put behind you and get off to a fresh start. I was confident that I was going to be able to do so.”

— — Edited by Andrew Wiebe