Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Seniors are hard to come by on the Kansas roster. In fact, there are only four of them.
That’s why it’s understandable that senior catcher Buck Afenir has a little more invested in tonight’s game against Wichita State than the 32 players on Kansas’ roster with eligibility remaining after this season.
“Honestly, I want to win. We haven’t beat these guys in a long time,” Afenir said. “A win against Wichita State is always a good thing for the program.”
The truth is that victories against the Shockers have been hard to come by for the Jayhawks during the past three years. The Shockers have taken the last five matchups dating back to 2006.
“I think it’s important that we get this streak stopped and headed in our direction,” coach Ritch Price said.
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TODAY
Kansas vs Wichita State
6 p.m.
Hoglund Ballpark
Radio: 1320 AM
Admission is free for students with a KU ID.
Fortunately for Kansas, this isn’t the same Wichita State program it’s accustomed to facing. The Shockers enter this evening’s game with a pedestrian 6-5 record. They weren’t even picked to finish first in the Missouri Valley Conference in the preseason. A program that is used to playing in the NCAA tournament now is hoping just to keep its winning record.
The only record Afenir cares about, though, is the series history between the two teams. He knows that the Shockers are a quality program and should be treated as such every season.
“They’re a tough club, always every year,” Afenir said. “They always roll out somebody that’s pretty crafty, so hopefully we can keep the bats going.”
And the bats sure are going right now. Kansas clubbed six home runs in its series sweep of Northwestern last weekend. The Jayhawks didn’t hit a home run until sophomore third baseman Tony Thompson went deep in their sixth game. But Price sees potential power in his batting order, even though he isn’t ready to make any guarantees.
“Buck has hit double-digit home runs before, and that’s our expectation of Thompson,” Price said. “There are other guys in the lineup capable of hitting four or five and then we can be OK.”
So is Kansas a small-ball oriented team that has to manufacture runs, as it showed in the first six games of the season? Or is it the power-hitting team that roughed up Northwestern pitching?
“I’m hoping the second one — that would be real nice,” Thompson said with a smile. “I think we’ve got the potential to put up some pretty good power numbers.”
Regardless of whether or not the power surge continues, one thing is certain. The Jayhawks can pitch.
Kansas has a team ERA of 2.82, a vast improvement on last year’s 5.49 mark. It’s one of the main reasons why the Jayhawks (8-3) have a better record than the Shockers entering the two team’s first meeting of the season.
“Certainly, our strength is our ability to play defense and our pitching is vastly improved,” Price said. “As long as we continue to pitch, I think it’s a good mix.”
— — Edited by Andrew Wiebe
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