After a six-game winning streak, Kansas University’s baseball team was grounded somewhat Saturday afternoon by a team it had pulverized in a 22-6 victory Friday.
Wisconsin-Milwaukee handed the Jayhawks their first loss of the year at Hoglund Ballpark, 9-7, by giving Kansas a taste of its own medicine — solid hitting.
On a sunny, windy day, the Panthers smashed 17 hits and posted at least one hit every inning.
“They played very, very well,” Kansas coach Ritch Price said of the Panthers. “They beat the dog out of our pitching. We had our opportunities. We just didn’t get it done on the mound.
“To their credit, we left the ball up, we left it hanging, and they were smoking that baseball today.”
Six KU pitchers attempted to slow down Panther batters, with none of them putting up stellar statistics. Starting pitcher Clint Schambach didn’t allow a run until the fourth inning. The junior worked out of a one-out jam with runners on second and third with two straight strikeouts.
Junior Andrew Rebar (0-1) took the loss for the Jayhawks, while Panther pitcher Jed Dolske (1-0) picked up his first win.
Although the Panthers had the best offensive production, KU wasn’t exactly asleep at the plate. The Jayhawks put up 12 hits but left too many men on base.
Similar to the five previous games, Kansas (13-8-1) scored first with a two-run first inning. Ritchie Price drove in fellow sophomore Matt Baty with a triple down the right-field line. Baty lengthened his hitting streak in the leadoff spot to nine games.
Price later scored on a Sean Richardson single.
Kansas had a 5-3 lead going into the top of seventh inning when the Panthers laced three consecutive singles, leading to three runs.
UW-Milwaukee held onto a 6-5 lead with two outs in the ninth inning before right fielder Ross McCoy belted a Mike Zagurski pitch over the left-field wall for a 9-5 lead.
Kansas tried to make things interesting in the bottom of the ninth. Senior Matt Tribble doubled — extending his hitting streak to 13 games — and Andy Scholl hit a two-run, two-out homer to close gap to 9-7.
“I had a good pitch, and I put it up in the jet stream a little bit,” Scholl said.
The Panthers (1-1) picked up their first win of the year.
“Early in the season we just have to battle as hard as we can,” Panther coach Jerry Augustine said. “Kansas is a good ball club. We just had a day today were we adjusted really well.”
Kansas will wrap up the three-game series with the Panthers at 1 p.m. today with junior southpaw Scott Sharpe scheduled to take the mound for the Jayhawks.
Kansas University’s unofficial men’s basketball battle cry for the rest of the season just might become, “Win It For Wayne.”
The Jayhawks, 21-6 overall and 11-2 in the Big 12 Conference heading into Saturday’s battle against Oklahoma State (20-6, 9-4), feel they owe Simien the same kind of effort the 6-foot-9, 255-pounder displayed while playing in pain the past four games.
“Wayne has the heart of a tiger,” said KU junior forward Jeff Graves, amazed at the grit displayed by Simien in his comeback from a dislocated shoulder — a comeback that officially ended Thursday when it was announced Simien was finished for the season.
Tipoff for Saturday’s Senior Day contest against Okie State is noon at Allen Fieldhouse. It will be the final home game for seniors Kirk Hinrich and Nick Collison.
Simien will undergo surgery in late March in New York and should be back on the court after four to six months of rehabilitation.
“He never gives up,” the 6-9, 250-pound Graves added of Simien.
Up one game on Oklahoma in the Big 12 standings with three games to play, KU will try to wrap up a regular-season conference title and claim a repeat trip to the Final Four without Simien, who averaged 14.8 points and 8.2 boards in 16 games.
Will the Jayhawks be able to press on without Simien?
“I’m sure that we will react well to it,” said Graves, who averages 5.0 points and 5.7 boards. “It’s going to be kind of hard seeing Wayne out now, but we’ve just got to bounce back and stay confident.”
The Jayhawks went 9-2 with Graves as a starter after Simien left the lineup after dislocating his shoulder Jan. 4 against UMKC.
“I think that sometimes, to me, it seems like I step up my game because I know what my role is now,” Graves said. “I know right now I need to stay confident and play my game.”
KU coach Roy Williams has confidence in juco All-American Graves, who has been hindered by foul problems.
“I don’t know where we would be today without him and how important he’s been to our team, and yet I’ve been pretty doggone tough on Jeff,” Williams said.
“There’s no question that he’s going to be asked to continue to be a big part of our team, but I think he was going to have to do that even with Wayne back. He has to stay out of foul trouble, because he really can do some nice things out there. The thing is, when he makes a mistake now, he immediately realizes it. He’s a very bright kid.”
KU sophomore Michael Lee says it might take a while to get over the shock of losing Simien for good.
“In the time that he (Wayne Simien) wasn’t playing, I think Jeff Graves really stepped up tremendously. It helps soften the blow a little bit, but just seeing after that Colorado game what we had been missing got everyone a little excited again,” Lee added of Simien’s 21-point, 13-rebound effort in 20 minutes Feb. 19 against CU.
“What happened last night kind (Simien reinjuring shoulder) kind of crushed everybody, but, like I said, we just have to get the best we can out of what we’ve got.”
Graves responds: Asked by a media throng about recent criticism of his teammates, questioning his devotion to hoops, Graves said, “This is like a brotherhood, a family. Your family wants you to succeed. If they didn’t say anything, it’d be like they didn’t care.”
McDonald’s game: KU signees J.R. Giddens and David Padgett will be teammates in the McDonald’s All-America game March 26 in Cleveland. Giddens, 6-5 from Oklahoma City, and Padgett, 6-11 from Reno, Nev., will play for the West team. KU signees Omar Wilkes and Jeremy Case were not selected.
An interesting scenario would have Giddens guarding the East’s LaBron James, a 6-7 phenom from Akron, Ohio, who is expected to go to the NBA straight out of St. Vincent-St. Mary High.
Mum on Latimore: Dennis Latimore, a 6-8, 238-pound sophomore, left Arizona’s basketball team Wednesday. Williams was asked Thursday if he had interest in Latimore as a possible KU transfer.
“I think it’d be considered a recruiting deal. I can’t even answer that,” Williams said, indicating it is against NCAA rules to talk about possible recruits.
Latimore chose Arizona over UCLA and KU his senior year at Halstead High.
Gibson picks UT: Daniel Gibson, a 6-3 guard from Houston, orally committed Thursday to the University of Texas over KU and Oklahoma.
“Last night it got really tough. It came down to Texas and Kansas,” Gibson told rivals.com. “I had a great time at Kansas. They had everything. But right now, with how well Texas is doing and them being close to home, put them over the top, because it was that close of a race.
“At Texas, their point guard most likely will be leaving to go to the NBA (after his junior season). At Kansas, their point guard could go to the NBA, but it’s not for sure. With that in mind, I thought I could go to Texas and have it be a Georgia Tech-type of thing … a school that has great guards and is guard-oriented.”
Famous doctor: Simien’s surgery will be performed by Russell Warren, team physician of the New York Giants since 1984. He is chief surgeon at The Hospital For Special Surgery in New York City.
The doctor is busy with the NFL Combine and other scheduled surgeries right now.
“This is a specialist who goes through all combine work in the NFL. His specialty is shoulders,” Williams said. “When they are talking about giving guys a $8-million bonus or $6-million bonus to a quarterback, he’s the one dealing with those type of players.”
Other specialists — including a Denver Nuggets and Broncos doctor — also have been consulted about Simien.
“I am proud of our doctors and have had complete confidence in our doctors,” the coach said. “I am 100 percent confident and comfortable with everything we did.”
