KU baseball needs wins at KSU this weekend

By Matt Tait     May 12, 2016

The Kansas University baseball team heads to Manhattan for the weekend, looking to keep alive its hopes of reaching the Big 12 Championship May 25-29 in Oklahoma City.

The Jayhawks (19-29-1 overall, 5-12 Big 12) enter the weekend a half game behind both Kansas State (24-25, 6-12) and Baylor for the eighth and final spot in the tournament.

And with just one series remaining after this, KU coach Ritch Price knows his team needs to show up and show well against the in-state rival Wildcats.

“When you’re in this position, you want a chance to play yourself in,” Price said. “And if you win (this) series you’re obviously ahead (in the standings).”

In order to do that, the Jayhawks are going to have to find a way to have some success beyond Game 1. Senior ace Ben Krauth has been solid all season in the opening game of each series, but injuries that crippled the KU pitching staff have made victories on Saturday or Sunday tough to come by. Kansas is 4-2 in conference in series openers this season but just 1-10 in Games 2 and 3.

While those numbers, which Price knows well, are important, they’re secondary to the big picture this weekend.

“It’s a really good rivalry series and, you know, we’ve got an amazing record against Missouri and Nebraska and Wichita State, but we have not done as well against K-State the last few years,” Price said. “We dominated ’em when I first got here but their left-handed hitters have given us fits and that’s gonna be the match-up. We’re gonna run two left-handed pitchers out there at ’em and they’re gonna have to pitch significantly better than they pitched (last) weekend to give us a chance to win this series.”

Price knows his team has to play well during the final two weekends of the regular season to have a shot at earning a trip to Oklahoma City. And he would not have it any other way.

“We don’t want to back in,” he said. “We gotta play good enough to get in.”

First pitch tonight is set for 6:30 p.m. at Tointon Family Stadium in Manhattan.

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Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.