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Last week the news was all over the place. This Kansas team was solid. The Jayhawk pitching staff was among the best in the Big-12. KU was ready to assume its place in the upper half of the Big-12. I guess the memo never got to Lubbock.
For the second straight day the Red Raiders punished Kansas starting pitching. On Friday Shaeffer Hall had perhaps his worst outing as a collegiate pitcher. Twenty-four hours later, for the first time all season T.J. Walz couldn’t find the strike zone and slogged through a slow painful beating. Walz threw 90 pitches, only 49 of which hit the strike zone. After walking three of the first seven batters he faced Walz was compelled to work the heart of the plate to control his pitch count and stop handing out the free passes. T.J. managed to buy seven more outs at the cost of three singles, two doubles and a homerun. By the time he was taken off the mound KU was in a 6-0 hole from which they never could quite dig out.
Brett Bollman pitched extremely well and muzzled the TTU attack over the final five innings. The Kansas bats warmed up and the Hawks slowly ate into the Red Raider lead. Buck Afenir opened the Kansas scoring by hitting a two run homer in the 6th inning, his fifth long-ball of the year. Preston Land hit his second homerun of the weekend the following inning to narrow the TTU lead to 7-3. The Jayhawks mounted a final rally in the ninth inning. Robby Price hit a two out double to cut the lead down to two before Chad Bettis got Brian Heere to ground into the 27th out. The final score rested at 7-5.
Kansas fell to 24-14 and 7-7 in the Big-12. Texas Tech improved to 18-23 and 9-8. The two teams meet for the final game Sunday at 1PM. Kansas will by trying to avoid being swept. If Kansas gets out of Lubbock with one win in three games the weekend will feel like a nasty bump in the road. A sweep will feel a lot more like an actual road block.
Link to KU recap and box score after the jump.
Apr 18, 2009 at Lubbock, TX (Dan Law Field)
Kansas 5 (24-14,7-7 Big 12) |
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| Player | ab | r | h | rbi | bb | so | po | a | lob | |
| Narodowski, David ss | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | |
| Price, Robby 2b | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | |
| Heere, Brian rf | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | |
| Afenir, Buck c | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 0 | |
| Thompson, Tony 3b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | |
| Lytle, Casey lf | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Waters, Jimmy dh | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| Land, Preston 1b | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 0 | 0 | |
| Brunansky, Jason cf | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | |
| Walz, T.J. p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | |
| Bollman, Brett p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Totals | 32 | 5 | 9 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 24 | 12 | 7 | |
Texas Tech 7 (18-23,9-8 Big 12) |
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| Player | ab | r | h | rbi | bb | so | po | a | lob | |
| Rueda, Willie 2b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 0 | |
| Reed, Michael lf | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Kenworthy, Joey ss | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | |
| Richburg, Chris 1b | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 1 | 1 | |
| LeJeune, Scott dh | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Ashby, Taylor cf | 4 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1 | |
| Berry, Justin 3b | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | |
| Totten, Garrett rf | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Brown, Logan rf | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Mayo, Jeremy c | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 1 | 0 | |
| Ramos, AJ p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| Large, Cory p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Monreal, Kellen p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Head, Louis p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Bettis, Chad p | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | |
| Totals | 29 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 27 | 13 | 6 | |
Score by Innings R H E ------------------------------------------- Kansas.............. 000 002 102 - 5 9 2 Texas Tech.......... 201 400 00X - 7 8 1 ------------------------------------------- |
| E - Thompson, T.; Walz, T.(2); Mayo(10). DP - Texas Tech 3. LOB - Kansas 7; Texas Tech 6. 2B - Price, Ro. 2(7); LeJeune(8); Ashby(13); Mayo(7). HR - Afenir, B.(5); Land, P.(2); Richburg(11). HBP - Narodowski; Rueda; Kenworthy. SH - Rueda(6); Reed(4). CS - Brunansky(1); Ashby(5). Reached on CI - Waters, J.. |
| Kansas | ip | h | r | er | bb | so | wp | bk | hbp | ibb | ab | bf | fo | go | np |
| Walz, T.J. L,4-1 | 3.1 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 20 | 3 | 4 | 90 |
| Bollman, Brett | 4.2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 14 | 17 | 6 | 5 | 61 |
| Texas Tech | ip | h | r | er | bb | so | wp | bk | hbp | ibb | ab | bf | fo | go | np |
| Ramos, AJ W,4-3 | 5.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 16 | 20 | 3 | 5 | 83 |
| Large, Cory | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| Monreal, Kellen | 0.0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| Head, Louis | 1.1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 22 |
| Bettis, Chad | 2.1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 10 | 3 | 4 | 30 |
| Win - Ramos (4-3). Loss - Walz, T. (4-1). Save - None. HBP - by Bollman, B. (Kenworthy); by Bollman, B. (Rueda); by Bettis (Narodowski). BK - Bollman, B.(1). CI - Mayo. Pitches/strikes: Walz, T. 90/49; Bollman, B. 61/38; Ramos 83/48; Large 8/5; Monreal 9/3; Head 22/15; Bettis 30/18.
Umpires - HP: Ken McQueen 1B: Doyle Sooter 3B: Doug Williams |