Kansas baseball off to WSU

By Matt Tait     May 7, 2013

The first meeting — an 11-inning affair a week ago today that featured a dozen hits, a single run and a guest appearance from a baseball-loving squirrel at Hoglund Ballpark — went to Kansas University’s baseball team, 1-0.

At 6:30 tonight at Eck Stadium, the Jayhawks and Wichita State will meet in a rematch. No word on whether the squirrel will be in attendance.

Although tonight’s match-up means nothing for the Jayhawks in their quest to win the Big 12 regular season title — the Jayhawks, at 12-9 in conference play, are just percentage points behind Kansas State, Oklahoma and West Virginia, who sit in a three-way tie for first at 11-7 — the team is treating it like a World Series game.

“Every game from here on out’s pretty much a playoff game,” KU senior third baseman Jordan Dreiling said. “We need to get our record up so we can get a regional bid, and I think everybody knows those mid-week games are just as important as the Big 12 when we’re trying to get an NCAA regional bid. We just have to keep that same mentality and compete every pitch.”

With just one Big 12 series remaining on their schedule — KU (30-18 overall) will play host to K-State this weekend — the Jayhawks know that every opportunity to pad their résumé for the postseason is crucial.

“It’s obviously a huge week,” KU coach Ritch Price said. “We were in the NCAA Tournament when we went to West Virginia (April 26-27), and we played ourselves out, and we turned around and played ourselves back in this weekend.”

Tonight, senior righty Tanner Poppe (3-3, 4.38 ERA, 33 K, 16 BB) will start on the mound for the Jayhawks, who are 6-3 in their last nine games, seven of which were decided by one run.

PREV POST

KU honors seniors

NEXT POST

89737Kansas baseball off to WSU

Author Photo

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.