clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Tony Thompson’s two homeruns power Jayhawks to a 7-4 victory over Leathernecks

Tony Thompson hit his fifth and sixth homeruns of the season today at Hoglund park, driving in three runners.  This proved to be the difference in Kansas’ 7-4 win over visiting Western Illinois.  Kansas ended a five game home stand with a perfect 12-0 record at Hoglund.  The Jayhawks hit the road this weekend for a key conference series at Texas A&M.

 

After the jump additional game notes and something new!  A boxscore.  (Is this is good additon?)

 

After starting six bench players yesterday Ritch Price went with his first string today.  WIU starter Austin Brough accounted for himself well by keeping Kansas off the scoreboard through the first three frames.  Tony Thompson broke up the scoreless game by taking the first pitch he saw in his second at-bat over the left field fence for a two run homer.  Poor defense by the visitors again came into play as KU added a third unearned run in the inning.  The Leathernecks put up a fight by responding with two runs of their own the following inning.  Both runs came after a Tony Thompson throwing error.  I think this is Thompson’s first error of the year.  It was certainly the first time I have seen him fail to execute in the field this year.

 

The Jayhawks stretched their lead to 5-3 in the bottom of the sixth on a manufactured Brian Heere run and Thompson’s second long ball.  Both Thompson home runs were to left field and came on the first pitch.   Western Illinois miscues allowed KU to score two more runs in the 8th aided by a wild pitch and a throwing error by shortstop Lorenzo Gallaga.  It was their third error of the game and seventh of the two game series.  The Leathernecks scored a single run in the seventh off KU reliever Kelson Boyer.  In the 9th inning Tyler Metcalf continued to punish Kansas by hitting a solo homerun off Paul Smyth.  Metcalf's homerun hung up forever before just clearing the centerfield fence.  This was Metcalf’s third homerun of the series.  I guess his older brother, former KU great Travis Metcalf, left a few Hoglund homeruns swings behind for his brother to collect when he got to town.

 

Brett Bollman got the start for the Jayhawks and pitched well.  He went five innings, gave up 5 hits, 2 runs (1 earned), one walk and struck out five.   Colton Murray and Travis Blankenship pitched scoreless innings in relief.

 

It was a cold and overcast day at the park which resulted in a low turnout of maybe 250 fans.  Late in the game I introduced myself to a couple who were sitting behind me cheering for the visitors.  It turns out they were Mom and Dad Metcalf.  They report that Travis is doing fine and still fighting for a roster spot on the Rangers with one week left in spring training.  They were good people making just the right amount of noise for their son today. 

Kansas improves to 15-7 while Western Illinois falls to 3-12.

 

KU recap and box score here.

 

2009 Kansas Baseball
W Illinois at Kansas
Mar 25, 2009 at Lawrence, KS (Hoglund Ballpark)

W Illinois 4 (3-12)

Player   ab    r    h  rbi   bb   so   po    a  lob 
Cooper Stewart c 
Jared Wolf lf 
Drew Laidig 3b 
Kenny Price rf 
Tyler Metcalf 1b  10 
Dan Johnson 2b 
Darren Spicer dh 
  John Koszulinski ph/dh 
Andrew Hagins cf 
Lorenzo Gallaga ss 
Austin Brough p 
  Randon Lingle p 
Totals  32  10  24  11 
  

Kansas 7 (15-7)

Player   ab    r    h  rbi   bb   so   po    a  lob 
Narodowski, David ss 
Heere, Brian rf 
Price, Robby 2b 
Afenir, Buck dh 
Thompson, Tony 3b 
Waters, Jimmy lf 
  Lytle, Casey pr/lf 
Land, Preston 1b  11 
Lincoln, Joe
Faunce, Nick cf 
Bollman, Brett
  Murray, Colton p 
  Blankenship, Travis p 
  Boyer, Kelson p 
  Bochy, Brett p 
  Smyth, Paul p 
Totals  34  11  27  13 

Score by Innings                    R  H  E
-------------------------------------------
W Illinois.......... 000 020 011 -  4 10  3
Kansas.............. 000 320 02X -  7 11  1
-------------------------------------------
E - Metcalf(4); Gallaga 2(5); Thompson, T.(1). DP - Kansas 3. LOB - W. Illinois 4; Kansas 6. HR - Metcalf(5); Thompson, T. 2(6). HBP - Faunce, N.. SH - Johnson(1); Narodowski(4). SF - Gallaga(1). SB - Gallaga(1).

W Illinois   ip  er  bb  so  wp  bk  hbp  ibb  ab  bf  fo  go  np 
Austin Brough L,0-4  4.2  20  23  66 
Randon Lingle   3.1  14  14  54 
  
Kansas   ip  er  bb  so  wp  bk  hbp  ibb  ab  bf  fo  go  np 
Bollman, Brett W,2-0  5.0  17  20  60 
Murray, Colton   1.0  14 
Blankenship, Travis   1.0  16 
Boyer, Kelson   0.2  13 
Bochy, Brett   0.1 
Smyth, Paul   1.0 

Win - Bollman, B. (2-0). Loss - Brough (0-4). Save - None. WP - Lingle(4). HBP - by Brough (Faunce, N.). BK - Brough(1). Pitches/strikes: Brough 66/44; Lingle 54/37; Bollman, B. 60/40; Murray, C. 14/9; Blankenship 16/10; Boyer, K. 13/8; Bochy, B. 6/3; Smyth, P. 7/7.

Umpires - HP: Shane Friebe 1B: Josh Schepis 3B: Scott Wycoff
Start: 3:15 pm Time: 2:22 Attendance: 655
Weather: Overcast, cool, 51 degrees