Shaeffer Hall is almost always very good.  About once a month he steps it up another level and is truly outstanding.  Tonight was one of the later nights.  Facing one of the better hitting line-ups in college baseball Hall dominated his opponents.  Shaeffer went the distance, giving up five hits and one run while striking out nine batters and issuing no walks.  With Hall lining them up and setting them down the game flew by.  Oklahoma State shortstop Tom Belza popped weakly to shortstop to make the 27th Cowboy out of the night barely two and half hours after the game started.  Hall (3-2) owned this game start to finish.

The Jayhawk offense gave Hall plenty of support scoring one or two runs in six separate innings.  Preseason All-American Andrew Oliver attracted more than a score major league scouts to Hoglund tonight.  If the only player they were interested in was Oliver they had an early evening.  Kansas hit Oliver hard and  chased him after 4.1 innings.  Oliver (4-4) gave up seven hits, five runs (three earned) and three walks.  He did strike out six Jayhawks but he never looked at peace out there on the mound.

The balanced Kansas attack was paced by Robby Price (3-3 with two walks, an RBI and a stolen base) and Tony Thompson (2-3 with a walk and three RBIs).  Thompson has 41 RBIs now.  We should start talking about that.  Emerging treat Zac Elgie finally rewarded Kansas fans by going yard for the first time in his collegiate career.  With the score 6-0 in the seventh inning Elgie took the first pitch he saw from OSU reliever Brett Davis out of the park to left field.  Elgie was greeted at home plate by the entire KU team.  This homerun has been a long time coming and it was clear he was loving the moment.  Elgie had just barely missed hitting a homerun in the fourth inning when he took an Oliver offering off the center field fence for a triple.  Brian Heere had a more quiet outstanding day.  The KU left fielder went 1-3 with a bunt single and a walk.  He also made a "get-on-your-feet-and-cheer-like-hell" catch in the first inning robbing Tyrone Hambly of a double.

Kansas improves to 21-12 overall and 5-5 in the Big-12.  Oklahoma State falls to 21-12 and 4-6.  It was crisp but not uncomfortable at the ball park.  The 900 fans got progressively louder as the night wore on.  The game wasn’t in doubt after Elgie’s shot but most of the crowd stayed in place just to give Hall the support he clearly deserved.  This might have been as good as I have ever seen a KU team play roster wide on a given night.  Tonight, it was all good.

First pitch on Saturday is at 2PM.  Come to the game, better yet, come early.  The KU softball game starts at 1PM.  Tomorrow is the Pink Diamond Challenge.  The softball team joins the Emily Taylor Women’s Resource Center in raising money for breast cancer research.  Students can watch the softball game for free with an ID.  Anyone else wearing pink will be admitted for $3.  What better way could you possible spend your day than catching the first hour of the softball game and then making your way over to Hoglund to cheer on the Hardball Hawks.  The weather will be perfect tomorrow. 

Photo and caption from the UDK.  Link for more detals about the benifit.  Photo Ryan McGeeney.

KU softball team members Ally Stanton, St. Louis junior outfielder, and Kolby Fesmire, Round Rock, Texas sophomore shortstop, have both been personally affected by breast cancer—both Stanton and Fesmire's mothers are survivors of the disease. Saturday, Stanton's mother will throw the first pitch at The Pink Diamond Challenge.

Link to KU recap and boxscore after the jump.

Apr 10, 2009 at Lawrence, KS (Hoglund Ballpark)

Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
Okla. St............ 000 000 100 -  1  5  1
Kansas.............. 102 111 20X -  8 10  1
-------------------------------------------