It's been two weeks since I last updated the Jayhawk individual performances. During that time KU went 4-6 including 2-4 in their first Big-12 contests. KU's overall record now stands at 15-14, however two of the wins were vs. NAIA teams and will not be counted towards their RPI ranking.
W Penn State 18-5
L (#12) Wichita State 3-18
L (#8) Texas A&M 3-9
W (#8) Texas A&M 17-13
L (#8) Texas A&M 9-10
W Northern Colorado 5-4
L Northern Colorado 2-4
L (#14) Oklahoma State 4-14
W (#14) Oklahoma State 6-3
L (#14) Oklahoma State 3-7
If a silver lining is to be found in this recent stretch it is that KU played 7 games in two weeks vs. ranked opponents so the competition was fierce. For the most part KU hung in there however they only won two of these key RPI games. They did avoid the getting the broom treatment (swept) by either Texas A&M or Oklahoma State, so they still have a pulse in the Big-12 standings.
_______ Andy Marks struck out ten batters in a loosing effort Sunday vs. Oklahoma State. In this picture third baseman Robbie Price pretends he is Andy Marks striking out a batter. (photo courtesy of KUathletics.com)
I am becoming increasingly unhappy with the ESPN Gamescore system I've been using to rank the starting pitching performances. It seems tailored to MLB style play and thus consistently ranks NCAA performances below what I think they might deserve after watching the actual game. I do not yet know what to replace this system with, but I'm open-minded. Any suggestions?
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| Pitcher | W-L | ERA | Excellent | Good | OK | Subpar | Poor | Ineffective | |
| Czyz | 2-4 | 3.69 | 60,63 | 55, 50, 58 | 39,37 | ||||
| Ashwood | 3-2 | 5.67 | 72 | 54,51 | 46 | 38 | 29,26 | ||
| Marks | 3-3 | 6.10 | 71 | 68 | 44 | 39,36 | 24 | ||
| Marciel | 2-2 | 6.46 | 56,56 | 40,44 | 19 | ||||
| Esquibel | 4-1 | 4.11 | 64 | 46 | |||||
| Marcin | 0-0 | 2.65 | 52 | 35 | |||||
| Team | 15-14 | 4.49 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 5 | 6 | 4 | |
The bullpen took most of the beating during this stretch. Garcia went down with an injury and what had seemed like a team strength was exposed as a shallow and fragile staff. Esquibel was pounded in three of his four appearances and now carries a negative balance on the year. Hayakawa and Marcin both suffered a pair of nightmarish appearances and their seasons now are sitting on the fence. Hopefully both will rebound. The only pen pitcher to make it through the stretch without collecting too many bruises was Paul Smyth.
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pitcher | ERA | Apperances last two weeks |
Relief Points |
Season Apperances |
Relief Points |
| Smyth | 0.82 | 6 | 10 | 15 | 72 |
| Garcia | 3.86 | 1 | -15 | 9 | 36 |
| Marcin | 2.65 | 3 | -28 | 9 | 31 |
| Lane | 3.18 | 5 | -11 | 9 | 17 |
| Ellenbecker | 0.00 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 12 |
| Marks | 6.10 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 |
| Marciel | 6.46 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 2 |
| Ashwood | 5.67 | 2 | -8 | 2 | -8 |
| Hayakawa | 6.60 | 4 | -27 | 10 | -11 |
| Esquibel | 4.11 | 4 | -105 | 9 | -56 |
| Team | 4.35 | 28 | -172 | 70 | 91 |
John "The Natural" Allman (photo courtesy of KUathletics.com)
On the offensive side, Ryne Price and John Allman had an excellent stretch, while Preston Land and Brock Simpson struggled. Land has been steadly loosing playing time to hot hitting Justin Ellrich. Land was picked as a pre-season All Big-12 second teamer so his slump is particularly frustrating for the team. Three DHers are swinging solid bats: Eric Snowen (.450), Ross Kelling (.320) and Joe Servais (.277). All deserving plate time but there is only so much to spread around. Most of the recent KU's losses cannot be attributed to lack of offense. The team has scored 7.0 runs per game during these two weeks. More is always better but seven runs should win most games.
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| Player | At Bats |
BA | OB% | Slug | OPS | HR | RBIs | Stolen Bases |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Morrison | 110 | .291 | .373 | .509 | .882 | 5 | 26 | 3 |
| Robby Price | 107 | .280 | .405 | .374 | .779 | 1 | 13 | 2 |
| Simpson | 104 | .250 | .344 | .356 | .700 | 1 | 25 | 6 |
| Murphy | 102 | .304 | .372 | .431 | .803 | 2 | 13 | 8 |
| Allman | 98 | .408 | .520 | .541 | 1.061 | 0 | 24 | 3 |
| Ryne Price | 96 | .302 | .438 | .563 | 1.001 | 4 | 16 | 4 |
| Land | 83 | .229 | .373 | .386 | .759 | 3 | 16 | |
| Afenir | 60 | .283 | .358 | .500 | .858 | 3 | 13 | |
| Ellrich | 53 | .302 | .339 | .415 | .754 | 0 | 6 | |
| Servais | 47 | .277 | .386 | .319 | .705 | 0 | 5 | |
| Larson | 32 | .281 | .429 | .344 | .773 | 0 | 9 | |
| Kelling | 25 | .320 | .367 | .480 | .847 | 1 | 7 | |
| Team | 1017 | .294 | .389 | .440 | .829 | 21 | 189 | 27 |
The Jayhawks will be road warriors for the next few weeks, not returning to Hoglund until April 5-7 for their series with Texas. That should be a great weekend of baseball.
Tuesday 3/27: @ Missouri State (RPI #83) 7:00PM
Friday 3/30: @ Missouri (RPI #25) 6:00PM.
Saturday 3/31: ibid, 1:00PM
Sunday 4/1: ibid, 1:00PM
Tuesday 4/3: @ Kansas State (RPI #38) 7:00PM