Bears thump KU

By Staff     Mar 24, 2001

Look what the Bears dragged in.

Baylor shook off catcalls of, “Here kitty, kitty, kitty,” ringing from Kansas University’s dugout early in the contest and crushed the Jayhawks, 11-2, in Big 12 baseball on Friday at Hoglund Ballpark.

The kitty reference was in regard to the suspension of two Baylor players, who didn’t travel to Lawrence after being charged with killing a stray cat.

“We got thumped,” said KU coach Bobby Randall, who watched his squad strand 11 runners and four of his pitchers combine for nine walks before he was tossed in the bottom of the ninth inning. “We’re not executing with men on base. We didn’t create much in those situations and we should have.”

Baylor, the defending Big 12 champion and ranked as high as 16th nationally, bashed 14 hits eight for extra-bases to improve to 19-8 overall and 7-3 in the conference. KU dipped to 14-12 and 2-8, last in the Big 12.

BU senior third baseman Matt Williams did most of the damage, going 4-for-5 with three doubles, a home run and four RBIs.

“I just try to go out there and hit the ball hard,” said Williams, a Kansas City Royals draft pick in 1997. “I’ve been struggling this year and it feels good to have a good game. Today was my day.”

Williams, who turned 22 today, entered the contest with a .263 batting average and 12 RBIs. His two-run homer in the top of the seventh gave the Bears a commanding 9-1 lead.

“I haven’t been doing my job this year,” Williams said. “It was good to get a couple of RBIs and help the team win.”

Baylor jumped on KU early when junior catcher Kelly Shoppach smacked a towering two-run homer to right field with two outs in the bottom of the first. Shoppach finished 3-for-5 with three RBIs.

“We did a good job of coming out early and scoring a few runs and kept applying pressure as the game went along,” said Shoppach, who’s batting a team-high .474. “We never pulled off or let up. That’s good because with the wind blowing out like it was it today a couple of hits could have turned the game around.”

Shoppach’s RBI single in the fifth chased KU starting pitcher Justin Wilcher, who surrendered eight hits and three walks in four-plus innings. Wilcher fell to 1-4. BU’s Steven White was the winning pitcher, improving to 6-0 and lowering his earned run average to 0.98.

“Justin was not in command of the strike zone from the first inning,” Randall said. “When you’re not throwing strikes, it makes it a lot easier to hit.”

BU scored four runs on three hits and four walks in the fifth inning to build a 7-0 lead.

The Jayhawks left the bases loaded in the third inning and stranded two runners in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings. KU scored an unearned run in the bottom of the seventh.

KU junior third baseman Ryan Klocksien had two of the Jayhawks’ seven hits, including a leadoff homer to right field in the eighth inning. It was Klocksien’s first homer of the season.

“I didn’t imagine it’d take this long,” said Klocksien, who had six homers last season. “Baseball is a funny game. You can’t be too high or too low. You try to be constant throughout the season.”

Randall was ejected before the start of the bottom of the ninth while jawing with the third-base umpire. The KU coach had argued a play at third in the eighth.

“We disagreed on the call at third base,” Randall said. “I guess he didn’t want me to talk about it anymore. I guess he was tired of me. There was no profanity.”

KU and Baylor will play at 2 p.m. today at Hoglund before concluding the series at 1 p.m. Sunday. Senior ace Pete Smart (6-0) is scheduled to start on the mound for KU today.

srottinghaus@ljworld.com

The kitty reference was in regard to the suspension of two Baylor players, who didn’t travel to Lawrence after being charged with killing a stray cat.

“We got thumped,” said KU coach Bobby Randall, who watched his squad strand 11 runners and four of his pitchers combine for nine walks before he was tossed in the bottom of the ninth inning. “We’re not executing with men on base. We didn’t create much in those situations and we should have.”

Baylor, the defending Big 12 champion and ranked as high as 16th nationally, bashed 14 hits eight for extra-bases to improve to 19-8 overall and 7-3 in the conference. KU dipped to 14-12 and 2-8, last in the Big 12.

BU senior third baseman Matt Williams did most of the damage, going 4-for-5 with three doubles, a home run and four RBIs.

“I just try to go out there and hit the ball hard,” said Williams, a Kansas City Royals draft pick in 1997. “I’ve been struggling this year and it feels good to have a good game. Today was my day.”

Williams, who turned 22 today, entered the contest with a .263 batting average and 12 RBIs. His two-run homer in the top of the seventh gave the Bears a commanding 9-1 lead.

“I haven’t been doing my job this year,” Williams said. “It was good to get a couple of RBIs and help the team win.”

Baylor jumped on KU early when junior catcher Kelly Shoppach smacked a towering two-run homer to right field with two outs in the bottom of the first. Shoppach finished 3-for-5 with three RBIs.

“We did a good job of coming out early and scoring a few runs and kept applying pressure as the game went along,” said Shoppach, who’s batting a team-high .474. “We never pulled off or let up. That’s good because with the wind blowing out like it was it today a couple of hits could have turned the game around.”

Shoppach’s RBI single in the fifth chased KU starting pitcher Justin Wilcher, who surrendered eight hits and three walks in four-plus innings. Wilcher fell to 1-4. BU’s Steven White was the winning pitcher, improving to 6-0 and lowering his earned run average to 0.98.

“Justin was not in command of the strike zone from the first inning,” Randall said. “When you’re not throwing strikes, it makes it a lot easier to hit.”

BU scored four runs on three hits and four walks in the fifth inning to build a 7-0 lead.

The Jayhawks left the bases loaded in the third inning and stranded two runners in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings. KU scored an unearned run in the bottom of the seventh.

KU junior third baseman Ryan Klocksien had two of the Jayhawks’ seven hits, including a leadoff homer to right field in the eighth inning. It was Klocksien’s first homer of the season.

“I didn’t imagine it’d take this long,” said Klocksien, who had six homers last season. “Baseball is a funny game. You can’t be too high or too low. You try to be constant throughout the season.”

Randall was ejected before the start of the bottom of the ninth while jawing with the third-base umpire. The KU coach had argued a play at third in the eighth.

“We disagreed on the call at third base,” Randall said. “I guess he didn’t want me to talk about it anymore. I guess he was tired of me. There was no profanity.”

KU and Baylor will play at 2 p.m. today at Hoglund before concluding the series at 1 p.m. Sunday. Senior ace Pete Smart (6-0) is scheduled to start on the mound for KU today.

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