Jayhawks hold off Sooners in see-saw battle
Freshman pitcher improves to 4-0 with 6 2/3 innings of work
Kansas scored a team record of 39 runs in the weekend series against Oklahoma.
By Shawn Shroyer (Contact)
Monday, May 5th, 2008
How many times does it seem to happen that a player starts a rally after making a gold glove play in the field? Well, it happened in the seventh for Kansas.
With two outs, a runner on second and the score 5-4 in Kansas’ favor, sophomore second baseman Robby Price made a diving catch on a laser up the middle to end the inning.
Photo by Weston White
Freshman third baseman Tony Thompson makes a throw to first for an out. Thompson dove to his right on the play to knock the ball down. Kansas defeated Oklahoma 9-4 Sunday afternoon at Hoglund Ballpark.
“That was a great play. That takes the tying run off the board, and they’re not still hitting, and who knows what would have happened with the next guy in their lineup,” Kansas coach Ritch Price said.
Robby Price then led off the bottom of the inning with a bunt single. One batter later he touched home on a double by senior left fielder John Allman. Junior catcher Buck Afenir capped off the inning with a two-run home run to left field to stretch Kansas’ lead to 8-4.
The clutch inning sparked by Price helped clinch the weekend sweep for Kansas (29-22, 8-13) against Oklahoma (29-20-1, 6-14-1) as the Jayhawks won by a final score of 9-4 Sunday at Hoglund Ballpark. The victory moved Kansas within a half-game of sixth place in the Big 12.
“You always start to get hot late in the season, and I’ve been here long enough to see trends like that,” Allman said. “Every year it seems like we get rolling about this time – once the weather starts to perk up, we start swinging the bats better and the pitchers start feeling it a little better – and we’re just getting that synergy back as a team.”
While Robby stole the show in the seventh, his brother, senior right fielder Ryne Price, struck first in the bottom of the second with his 11th home run of the season. It just wouldn’t have been fitting for the first run of the game not to come via the long ball.
Not until the top of the fourth did Oklahoma scratch its first run off Kansas right-hander T.J. Walz (4-0).
Center fielder Aljay Davis was the catalyst in the inning, hitting a leadoff double to left. Back-to-back fly balls advanced him to third and then home to make the score 3-1.
Ryne Price earned a walk, stole two bases and scored in the bottom of the inning, though, to negate Oklahoma’s run. Oklahoma right-hander Ryan Duke (5-4) exited the game in the inning, having allowed four runs in 3 2/3 innings on five hits and two walks.
But Walz’ outing wasn’t much easier as the Sooners continued to chip away in the fifth. After allowing a one-out single, Walz gave up a two-run home run to shortstop Matt Harughty. The home run ball took off Allman’s glove as he reached over the fence to catch it. It also brought Oklahoma to within one, 4-3.
“I thought I got up to it, but my wrist kind of broke on the fence, and I lost my glove,” Allman said.
The teeter-tottering of runs continued in the bottom of the inning. Robby Price led off the inning with a single and scored three batters later on a throwing error by Harughty as he tried to turn a double play.
However, Walz ended the scoring streak in the top of the sixth.
After getting two quick outs to start the inning, Walz allowed back-to-back hits and found himself with two runners in scoring position. Kansas pitching coach Ryan Graves came to the mound to talk to Walz, but he stayed in the game and induced a foul pop out to get out of the jam.
“He just asked me if I had any more in me, and I said, ‘Yeah,’” Walz said.
But the Sooners inched back in the top of the seventh, ending Walz’ afternoon.
Harughty led the inning off with an infield single and went from first to third on a base hit. Harughty scored on a sacrifice fly from Davis. With that, Walz called it a day and was relieved by junior left-hander Sam Freeman.
That’s when Robby Price came to the rescue with his diving nab.
Kansas carried the momentum into the bottom of the inning to put the game out of reach and added a run in the bottom of the eighth. Junior reliever Paul Smyth came in for his 10th save of the season.
In 6 2/3 innings, Walz allowed four runs on nine hits and a walk, and he struck out two in the winning effort. With all the runs Kansas was scoring in the series – 39 in all; the most in a Big 12 series for Kansas – Walz felt at ease on the mound.
“You feel like you have a lot more breathing room, and you don’t feel like you have to be perfect,” Walz said.
— Edited by Daniel Reyes
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