Finally, after an evening of missed opportunities, it appeared as if the Kansas University baseball team was about to take control of its series-opening Friday night game against West Virginia. Surely, two runners would score, and Colby Wright would be standing on second with a two-run, two-out double and a two-run lead in the seventh inning.
West Virginia center fielder Bobby Boyd didn’t let that happen. Moving with the sound of Wright’s loud bat, Boyd turned, sprinted toward the wall and made a catch that amounted to sock in the gut to the home dugout.
West Virginia’s Ryan McBroom, on the game’s next at-bat, greeted KU’s freshman lefty closer Stephen Villines by hammering one over the left-field fence to take the lead in the top of the eighth.
What a horrible omen. McBroom, as in sweep. At that point, it was difficult not to wonder: What if Kansas gets swept? Could that prevent an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament?
We’ll never know. KU’s center fielder Tucker Tharp, known for making spectacular catches himself, caught a 95 mph fastball from Mountaineers reliever Sean Carley with his bat for a two-run home run in the eighth, spurring Kansas to a 5-3 victory.
The shot into the trees just to the right of the 375 sign in left-center put a charge into the stadium and enabled Kansas, in third place in the Big 12 standings, to improve to 13-9 in conference play.
Baseball, the ultimate game of failure, forever delivers punches to the gut such as the ones Boyd and McBroom delivered to the Jayhawks. But the beauty of playing for a team on a roll such as Kansas, winner of eight of its last nine, is that the players get their wind back at the slightest hint of hope. They start to believe something good forever is around the corner.
Terrific defense, much of it from shortstop Justin Protacio, kept Kansas ahead, 2-1, through six innings, but Boyd’s catch for West Virginia had a feel of finality to it, even though the game was tied, 2-2.
“That was a fantastic catch, one of the best catches I’ve seen all year,” Tharp said. “It was over his head, and he caught it and ran right into the wall. It was one of the best catches I’ve ever seen.”
Which made it so tough to take.
“It was deflating,” Tharp said. “You could see it in our dugout. That’s kind of the way the game goes. You just have to keep your head up, keep your chin up.”
Tharp did. Then he put a fastball up, up and away, where Boyd would have needed a jet pack to catch it.