KU Baseball preview

Thanks for the writeup JQ...

On February 1st the University of Kansas Jayhawks will open their baseball season with a five game series in Hawaii.  

Thursday, Feb 1st, @ Hawaii-Hilo @ Midnight CST
Friday, Feb 2nd, (Double Header) @ 8PM CST
Saturday, Feb 3rd, @ 6PM CST
Sunday, Feb 4th, @ 6PM CST

It appears that KLWN (1320 AM) will not send a radio team to this series, so unless Hawaii-Hilo web casts their radio coverage (which they did not last year) Jayhawk fans will only be able to follow the games via Gametracker or read about the results the following day.

The home opener will be the following week:

Friday, Feb 9th, 3:00PM vs. South Dakota State @ Hoglund BallPark
Saturday, February 10th, 1:00PM "
Sunday, February 11th, 1:00PM, "
Thursday, February 15th, 3:00PM, North Dakota State @ Hoglund BallPark
Friday, February 16th, 3:00PM, "
Sunday, February 18th, Noon, "

The Jayhawks have again scheduled for early success.  All three of these opponents fielded teams which finished in the bottom part of last season's RPI rankings.  It is very possible that the Hawks can take an 11-0 record into their first tough series of the year, three at Stanford Feb. 23rd - 25th.

Hawaii-Hilo finished last year with a 15-34 record overall, 11-30 vs. Division I opponents, with an RPI ranking of 256th, (KU finished 33rd last year.)  The Jayhawks took four out of five games in their 2006 annual season opening trip to the Rainbow state.  KU's overall record vs. UHH is 19-7.

SDS and NDS have more in common than just geographic proximity; both schools are also coming off poor 2006 showings.  SDS (23-29, Div I 15-27) finished with an RPI ranking of #274, while NDS (12-41, Div I 11-40) tagged along one slot lower, sliding in at #275.  Since there were only 293 Division I NCAA baseball programs that year, these rankings clearly indicate that these programs were among the least competitive.  KU swept a two game series from NDS last year and hold an overall record vs. NDS of 6-0.  I believe the SDS series will be the first time the Jayhawks have played vs. this university.

I know that NCAA baseball tends to attract a much smaller following than football and basketball.  I suspect many more people would enjoy following the sport if they had a little background information from which to build.

>How many games are played?  
>How many scholarships can a team give out each year?
>How many teams make it to the post season?
>How do post season double-elimination tournaments work?
>When can college players be drafted into the pros?
>Why do players who have already been drafted by an MLB team choose to play in college?
>Why do college teams use those ridiculous aluminum bats?
>How does the college game differ from the pro game?

I will write up a series of postings to answer some of these questions and hopefully draw a few more fans into Hoglund Ballpark this year.  

For students and employees the games are free, for the public tickets are $6.  Hoglund is a beautiful and modern park.  There are few better ways to spend a warm spring day than to sit in the belchers and feel the sun on your face.   While historically KU's has fielded a middling team, over the last three years substantial improvement has been shown.  Even if the Jayhawks had not surprised the Big-12 by winning the conference tournament last year, they still would have made the 64-team NCAA field as an at-large, something last accomplished in 1994.   If you like baseball, and you live anywhere near Lawrence, it would be a good thing to make some time in your life to follow the team.