Here is the series preview from Baylor Baseball on the Branzos:

Turning to Kansas, The Jayhawks (19-13, 1-5) defeated St. Mary's [Kan.] 13-0 at home Wednesday night to snap a four-game losing streak. Kansas is 10-9 away from home this season, including a 2-4 record on opponents' home fields. The Bears hold a 33-5 advantage in the all-time series. The Bears have not lost a Big 12 series to the Jayhawks since dropping two of three in the first meeting as conference foes in 1997. The Bears have won 28 of the last 31 meetings, sweeping seven of the last 10 season series and nipping the Jayhawks 2-1 in 10 innings at the 2005 Big 12 Tournament first round.

Baylor will turn to sophomore Kendall Volz (3-2, 5.40) to get things rolling in a positive direction for the Bears against Junior Nick Czyz (1-3, 7.24). After facing difficulties in his last two starts, at Missouri, at Oklahoma, Volz will look to return to early season form in which saw Volz taking the Big 12 Pitcher of the Week on Feb 24th. Red Shirt Freshman Shawn Tolleson (2-1, 3.58) will look to build upon recent success on Saturday evening as he is slated to face Senior RHP, Andres Esquibel (2-1, 2.68 ERA). To cap off the weekend, Sophomore Willie Kempf (4-1, 3.41) will face southpaw Sam Freeman (4-0, 6.75) Sunday afternoon at 1pm.

The key to the series comes down to run support for Baylor's starting pitching. In six combined Big 12 Conference starts, RHPs Shawn Tolleson and Kendal Volz have garnered a total of 12 runs of support (2.0 per game). The Bears are 0-3 in Volz' three Big 12 starts, scoring seven runs in those three games. The Bears are 1-2 in Tolleson's three Big 12 starts, scoring five runs in those three games. Baylor's lone Big 12 victory in a game started by Tolleson or Volz was a 3-0 victory over Oklahoma State in which Tolleson pitched a two-hit shutout. In fact, 16 of Tolleson's 37 runs of support this season came in one game -- a 16-11 victory at Mississippi State. Likewise, Volz earned 20 of his 34 runs of support this season in one game -- a 20-6 victory over Illinois.

Kansas suffered yet another tough loss last night in Waco.  After trailing 3-1 Ryne Price hit a two-run two-out homerun in the top of the 8th inning to tie the game up.  Paul Smyth stayed cold and gave up the winning run in the bottom of the ninth.  Once more Smyth had trouble with the strike zone.

Ninth Inning
Hornung Walk.
Miller Double.  Men at 2nd and 3rd.  No outs.  Score 3-3
Price brings the infield in
Campbell Intentionally Walked.  Bases loaded.
Ware Pop Foul to 1B.  One out.
Ringenberg.  Smith goes 2-2 on him before walking him on 8 pitches.  4-3 Baylor.

KU Recap and boxscore.

Here is part of the recap from Baylor Baseball on the Brazos.

The Bears were unable to capitalize on the poor Kansas pitching, stranding 15 runners on the base paths. Kansas starter Nick Czyz went 4.1 innings, allowing 1 run and 4 walks in 97 pitches. Czyz faced 23 batters, throwing first pitch strikes to only 7 of them. Despite the Bears undisciplined nature at the plate, Aaron Miller would get the scoring started on the night for the Bears as he scored via a hit-batsmen in the bottom half of the 2nd, evening the score at 1 run apiece. The 6th inning for the Bears would be pivotal as Gregg Glime and Beamer Weems would both score putting the Bears up 3-1. Baylor could have had more in the inning if it was not for an outstanding catch made by the Kansas left-fielder John Allman, as he robbed Shaver Hansen over extra bases.

I don't have any strong differences with this analysis.  Kansas was lucky to be in this game until the ninth.  Nick Czyz' final line was 4.1 Innings, 5 hits, 4/6 BB/K.  It took him 97 pitches to get 13 outs.  He faced 23 batters and allowed 10 to reach base.  He gave up five fly outs and only induced two ground outs.  If I were only given these numbers I would have expected him to give up four or five runs.  The fact that he only surrendered one run is a testament to his ability to overcome problems of his own creation by striking out batters when needed (six Ks).

T.J. Walz and Wally Marciel were not effective in long relief, allowing two runs to score during their 1.2 innings of middle work.

On the other side of the game, offense, KU struggled as well.  Kendal Volz and Tim Matthews struck out 13 Jayhawks as opposed to two walks.  KU collected eight hits (seven singles and a homerun).  Minus Ryne Price's homer the Jayhawks score only one run all night.

A few other positives worth mention.  Buck Afenir went 3-4 with an RBI.  He is looking like a possible All Big-12 selection at catcher.  The Hawks did not commit an error.  Ryne Price is building a most impressive season.  He now has 8 homeruns and 41 RBI's in a little more than half of a season.  For his career he now has 32 homeruns and 136 RBIs.

KU falls to 19-14 overall and 1-6 in the Big-12.  Game two will be tonight at 6:30.  No local media due to the basketball game.  Hopefully KU will rebound.

The Jayhawks received a real beating in Waco.  After hanging tough on Friday before dropping a 4-3 decision in the bottom of the ninth the Hawks were blown out Saturday and Sunday by a combined score of 29-13.  That's right, Kansas' pitching staff gave up 29 runs in two games.  Pitching of this caliber simply eliminates any chance of winning Big-12 games.

Andres Esquibel gave up seven runs in his start on Saturday and did not stick around to start the fifth inning.  Sam Freeman gave up six runs Sunday afternoon while only recording four outs.  Performances like this should have opened the door for T.J. Walz and Shaeffer Hall to get auditions in the weekend rotation, but neither impressed when brought in for long relief work.  Over two games Walz pitched four innings and gave up seven runs of his own.  Shaeffer Hall pitched 1.2 innings on Saturday and surrendered three runs.

I'm throwing my hands up in the air right now.  Coming into the season I looked at the starting staff as deep and talented.  I had great confidence in Marciel and Czyz providing consistent quality outings.  Freeman, Hall, Esquibel and Garcia were all very respectable fall back options.  Add the surprise March emergence of T.J. Walz and I would have expected a pretty fierce competition to develop among a plethora of good choices.  As it has developed right now I would be thrilled to see a starter pitch into the sixth inning on the weekend without giving up more than four runs.

Best to move on to the positives of the weekend.

• Ryne Price is putting together an amazing senior season.  On the weekend he went 12-3-5-6 with two doubles and two homeruns.  With at least 25 games left in the season he already has hit 9 homeruns and driven in 45 RBIs.  His previous career highs for single seasons were 10 homeruns and 40 RBIs.  He is on pace for 15 homeruns and 77 RBIs.
  
• Tony Thompson has also been hot at the plate.  He collected five hits this weekend including his second homerun of the season.  After a very slow start his seasonal averages are starting to look pretty respectable.  .255/.298/.311.
  
• Kansas also went the entire weekend without committing an error.

Saturday Boxscore, BU 12 - KU 6.
Sunday Boxscore, BU 17 - KU 7.

KU falls to 19-16 overall and 1-8 in the Big-12.  Next up, a fairly good Northern Colorado team visits Lawrence to two games Tuesday (6PM) and Wednesday (3PM).  Northern Colorado has beaten KU three of their four meetings over the last two years.  These should be tough games, but wins the Hawks could really use.