Jayhawks to face Shockers tonight

By Josh Bowe

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

A hundred and sixty-three miles south on Interstate 35, Wichita State is waiting for revenge.

Two months ago, the Jayhawks did something they normally don’t do against the Shockers: shut them out.

Not only was it a shutout, but Kansas also put quite a few runs on the scoreboard. The 8-0 drubbing of Wichita State was an early highlight of the season and a turning point for Kansas.

breakbox

TONIGHT

No. 23 Kansas vs. Wichita State

7 p.m.

Eck Stadium, Wichita

Radio: KLWN (1320 AM)

But don’t expect the Shockers to be pleased with the Jayhawks when they match up again today at 7 p.m. in Wichita.

“It’ll be a huge rivalry game for them after we spanked them so good at our place,” coach Ritch Price said. “They are going to give it everything they got to try to make sure they even the series for the year.”

Kansas will try to continue its success after winning two out of three against then-No. 9 Oklahoma last weekend. Price plans to start freshman right-hander Lee Ridenhour, normally a weekend starter, because he didn’t pitch past the first inning in Sunday’s game against Oklahoma.

photo

Photo by Jerry Wang

Junior infielder David Nardowski high-fives other Jayhawks as he returns to the dugout after crossing home during the team's 8-0 shutout against Wichita State March 11.

Ridenhour’s last midweek start was the 8-0 shutout. He went eight innings while striking out five in that game.

Price said he hoped this game would snap Ridenhour back into form after he had a rough week.

“I’ll run him out there Wednesday night — give him a chance to redeem himself,” Price said.

Sophomore third baseman Tony Thompson isn’t worried about Ridenhour’s performance. Thompson said Ridenhour had worked wonders all season.

breakbox

The pitching wasn’t as sharp against Oklahoma as it’s been all season, but two of the starters did enough to keep Kansas in the game to win. The other starter was freshman Lee Ridenhour, who didn’t even make it past the first inning before being pulled. Ridenhour has the opportunity to bounce back tonight against a team he dominated back in March.

★★★✩✩

Just when it looked as though the bottom of the order was ready to contribute, the No. 6 through 9 hitters went a combined 1-for-16 during Sunday’s loss. But the offense still hasn’t had trouble scoring runs, averaging 7.7 runs per game in the Oklahoma series, more than enough considering the quality of Kansas’ pitching. Sophomore outfielder Casey Lytle has been struggling since becoming the No. 6 hitter, perhaps contributing to sophomore Tony Thompson’s mini slump. Lytle needs to become more consistent to allow Thompson to see more pitches.

★★★★✩

Kansas just had its best road series of the season, taking two of three from Oklahoma last weekend. Kansas has reached its highest ranking in the polls all season, climbing to No. 23. The quality of the Big 12 kept Kansas from moving anywhere in the conference standings, though. This isn’t a Big 12 game, but the atmosphere will certainly feel like it.

— Josh Bowe

“He’s been great for us. We have the utmost confidence in him,” Thompson said. “He’s going to have good starts, and everyone has bad starts, so you can’t be too disappointed with him.”

Ridenhour has been able to work most of this season using primarily two pitches: his fastball and his slider. He has been working on perfecting his changeup, but against Oklahoma the changeup wasn’t working and the Sooners’ lineup, which is stacked with left-handers, took advantage.

“It’s still part of his development,” Price said. “Until he develops that changeup he still doesn’t have a pitch to attack left-handed hitters with.”

Ridenhour will have to perform well in front of about 7,000 fans for Kansas to have a chance to win tonight.

“They’ll want to beat us pretty good, but we need to go in there and it’s going to be a great game,” Thompson said. “It’s going to be a tough place to play — we need to find a way to pull it out.”

breakbox

The Shockers’ bats went dead last time they played the Jayhawks. They mustered only three hits in Lee Ridenhour’s eight innings of work, and senior Paul Smyth threw a perfect ninth. Only five runners reached base. Don’t expect that to happen again, as the Shockers have been held scoreless only once since then. First baseman Clinton McKeever is the biggest threat, with a .351 average and five homers.

★★★✩✩

Wichita State will throw Brian Flynn, a 6-foot-8 lefty who played his high school ball with Kansas’ James Stanfield. Flynn started against the Jayhawks in their first meeting and threw three perfect innings before surrendering two runs on only one out in the fourth and picking up the loss. Flynn is 1-4 with a hefty 5.93 ERA.

★★★✩✩

The Shockers desperately want this one. Not only are they trying to avoid a series sweep by their in-state rival, but they want to prove KU freshman Lee Ridenhour wrong. Ridenhour, who chose to attend Kansas instead of Wichita State, said he made his choice because Wichita State was a program on the decline. It added insult to serious injury, as he made the comments just after shutting out the Shockers 8-0.

— Tim Dwyer

The nonconference game will be huge for Kansas’ NCAA tournament resume.

“It’ll be a hostile environment. There will be over 7,000 people there, rooting for Wichita State,” Price said. “We just have to continue to play like we’ve played these last two weeks.”

— — Edited by Jesse Trimble

Advertise Here

Comments

Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.

Advertisement