After the two weekday games this week vs. Tabor and Baker the Jayhawks are entering a tough stretch on their schedule:
March 9 - 11: Three games @ #15 Arkansas.
March 13: Penn State visits for their first meeting ever vs. KU.
March 14: #23 Wichita State visits Hoglund for a single game at 6PM.
March 16 - 18: Three games @ #21 Texas A&M to open the Big-12 season.
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KU and Missouri have finalized their plans for a game at Kauffman Stadium. The game will be counted as a non-conference meeting and will be played April 25th at 7:00PM. Tickets will be $10 with free parking.
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A great new website is up for those of us who like to look over NCAA baseball statistics. College Baseball Splits. Here is the KU page. Take a look. More is always better.
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A few Jayhawks might break on to the team's all time Top-10 career homerun list in 2007. The current place holders are:
29 - Travis Metcalf (2002-2004)
28 - Ryan Baty (200-2004)
27 - Matt Gundelifinger (1978-1980)
26 - Jeff Niemeier (1990-1993)
25 - Josh Igou (1992-1995)
24 - Darryl Monroe (1991-1994)
23 - Jared Schweitzer (2004-2006)
23 - Jeff Berblinger (1990-1993)
22 - Joe Heeney (1981-1984)
21 - Kevin Wheeler (2000-2003)
Closing in are juniors Erik Morrison (19) and Ryne Price (16). I expect both will have cracked the top-10 by the end of the season, and if they stay for their senior year, might end up very high in the rankings. While Preston Land only has smacked 12 taters so far he has done so in only 70 games. I doubt he'll shake up the rankings during his sophomore campaign but he has a good chance of leaving KU with the record.
I'll admit, I don't know very much about #3 on that list, Matt Gundelifinger, but I probably should find out more about him. During his KU career he only collected 102 hits, but 27 of them left the park. He had a career batting average of .370 and a career slugging average of, ... wait for it .... .754! That is Ruthian territory. Plus the guy stole 14 bases in what amounts to only a bit more than one full year of NCAA baseball (276 total at bats in his stay at KU?) Clearly the man was a monster.
A few other bits I picked up about the big man, he was named a first team All-American in 1980 at the DH position. He was a 4th round pick by the Angels in that year's draft. He is one of only six KU baseball players to be placed in the school's Hall of Fame.
If anyone else can fill in information about Gundelifinger, Wikipedia, the Baseball Cube and Rock Chalk Talk can use your help.