clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

KU Baseball Update: March 25, 2007

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?


Games as Starting Pitcher

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.


Relief Pitching

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.

.

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