Kansas (26-14) vs. Missouri (21-20) at Kauffman Stadium

Kansas and Missouri will meet for the second annual Border Showdown game at Kauffman stadium Wednesday at 7PM.  Last year Kansas received a brilliant start from Shaeffer Hall and shut out Missouri 3-0.  This was the first game that really brought Hall notice in the Big-12.  One year later and he is recognized as one of the better weekend starters in the conference.

For Kansas and Missouri, 2009 has gone pretty much in opposite directions.  Missouri was picked in most national polls as one of the top twenty teams in the nation.  The Tigers got off to a 1-7 start and are just now regaining their footing.  Kansas was picked by the Big-12 coaches to finish last in the conference.  Instead the Jayhawks have surprised just about everyone and positioned themselves to finish in the top half.   Tonight’s game will not count in conference standings but is very meaningful to both teams.

Update: Kansas 7 - Missouri 3 FINAL

After the jump more preview notes and a recap of KU’s 11-2 win over Baker with boxscore.

The pitching matchup tonight will be Brett Bollman for the Hawks and Jan Berger for the Tigers.  Bollman, a junior, is putting together a breakout season.  In seven games (five starts) he is 4-0 with an ERA of 1.74.  Last year Bollman’s ERA was 5.83 in 24 relief appearances.  While Bollman’s 2009 success has largely been built facing less competitive clubs I think skepticism is out of order.  Twenty-two of Bollman’s 31 innings this year have come facing at worst average D-I offensive teams and in those innings he has a 1.22 ERA (22 innings vs. Western Illinois, Northern Colorado, Creighton and Texas Tech, Bollman has given up 17 hits and 2 walks while striking out 19.)  Bollman seems set to make a statement tonight similar to the one Hall made a year ago.

Missouri will send Senior Ian Berger to the mound.  Berger put together back to back solid seasons in 2007 and 2008, a combined 9-6 record with a 4.31 ERA in 137.2 innings.   This year has not gone so well for him.  He has a 5.68 ERA in 38 innings (41 hits, 14/30 BB/K.)  Interestingly Berger was Missouri’s starter last year for this game.

Kansas has the better offensive club this year.  The Jayhawks, at 7.1 runs a game, are averaging a run more than Missouri.  Greg Folgia (#10) is leading MU.  The junior outfielder is hitting .331 with 7 homeruns and 42 RBIs.  Kansas is paced by third baseman Tony Thompson (#8).  With a batting line of .386/.433/.719 and counting stats of 12 homeruns and 54 RBIs, complimented by excellent defense at the hot corner, the sophomore is in the running to be named conference player of the year.

First pitch is at 7PM.  It is going to be a beautiful night.  I wouldn’t be surprised to see six or seven thousand show up for the game.  The game will be broadcast on KLWN AM 1320 in the Lawrence area and KTGR AM 1580 in the Columbia area.

Full KU stats here  -   Full MU stats here

Tuesday Game: Kansas 11 – Baker 2

Kansas built an 8-1 lead through three innings and cruised to victory over Baker last night at Hoglund.  David Narodowski hit his first two homeruns of the season, back to back, in the first and third innings last night.  Tony Thompson collected four RBIs giving him 31 in the last 16 games.

Cameron Selik got the start for the Jayhawks and went 2.2 innings giving up 3 hits, 2 walks and a run while striking out four.  Selik did not look sharp but considering this is his first outing in two weeks the main goal was probably to shake off some rust.  Kevin Burk (2-0) went 4.1 innings in relief for the win.  Burk got through the scoreless outing on 56 pitches, his longest outing of the year.  Thomas Marcin and Colton Murray combined to finish out the final two innings.  Marcin gave up a run in the 8th and walked the bases loaded in the ninth before Murray came on to strike out the side and prevent Baker from scoring .  The last ten pitches Marcin threw were all balls.

A nice crowd showed up for the game, announced as 840.  In the third inning the sun was out and there were at least 500 fans in the park, probably 200 of which came out to support the Wildcats.

Link to KU recap

 Apr 21, 2009 at Lawrence, KS (Hoglund Ballpark)

Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
Baker............... 001 000 010 -  2  7  3
Kansas.............. 422 003 00X - 11  9  0
-------------------------------------------