Jayhawks Ready for Texas

Watch Longhorn NetworkNotes Game NotesRadio ListenStats Live StatsCalendar ScheduleRoster RosterLAWRENCE, Kan. – The Kansas baseball team heads to Austin to resume Big 12 play at Texas, Friday, April 15 at UFCU Disch Falk Field.

The Jayhawks (13-18, 2-6 Big 12) look to get back on track in the conference as they take on a Longhorn (14-19, 5-4 Big 12) team who has been struggling to score runs. With severe weather expected, the two teams will now play a doubleheader on Friday starting at 4 p.m. Saturday’s 4:30 p.m. game will still go on as scheduled.

JAYHAWK RADIO NETWORK
All three games can be heard on the Jayhawk Radio Network via KUAthletics.com/Radio with Friday’s first game and Saturday’s contest on the dial on KLWN 1320 AM and KWOD 1660 AM, respectively.

ON THE WEB
KUAthletics.com/Radio

MOBILE
Kansas Jayhawks app – search “Kansas Jayhawks”

LONGHORN NETWORK
All three games against the Longhorns can be seen live on the Longhorn Network and on ESPN3 where available. ESPN3 can be accessed on TV, on the web and on mobile and tablet devices, see below:

ON TV
Amazon Fire TV; Apple TV; Chromecast; Roku; Xbox One; Xbox 360.

ON THE WEB
WatchESPN.com; ESPN3.com

ON MOBILE/TABLET
WatchESPN app; ESPN app

QUICK HITS

  • Kansas enters the midweek game against Omaha with an all-time record of 1,848-1,767-17.
  • Head coach Ritch Price is in his 22nd season as a Division I head coach with a record of 644-614-3 (.512).
  • Price holds a record of 428-385-2 (.527) at Kansas, and is just 11 wins away from becoming KU’s all-time winningest coach (Floyd Temple, 438).
  • The Jayhawks trail Texas 45-22 in the all-time series and are 16-26 under Price – they have won just nine games at UFCU Disch Falk Field.
  • The last time KU made the trip to Austin (March 13-15, 2014), the Jayhawks took the series against a then-No. 10 Texas team.
  • Kansas has won six of the last 10 games played against the Longhorns and two of the last three series.
  • Junior catcher Michael Tinsley and senior third baseman Ryan Pidhaichuk are each riding seven-game hitting streaks.

SERIES HISTORY
Kansas and Texas have played 67 times in the histories of the two programs with the Longhorns leading the all-time series, 45-22. The two squads first met in 1906 where UT won, 4-2. It would be 85 years later until March 12, 1991, when the teams would meet again and another five years until they started playing a three-game series annually. Kansas has won just one series in Austin coming in 2014 when the Jayhawks defeated a then-No. 10 ranked Longhorn team. However, KU has won just nine games total at UFCU Disch Falk Field, including three in their last six tries.

KANSAS CONNECTIONS
The Jayhawks will see some familiar faces when they face off against Texas, as freshman righty Blake Goldsberry and head coach Ritch Price have played and coached against some current Longhorns. Goldsberry stems from Cherry Creek High School, and beat Matthew Schmidt’s Regis Jesuit, 6-5, in Colorado. Price and head coach of the Longhorns, Augie Garrido, both coached at Cal Poly prior to coaching at their respective Big 12 schools.

LONGHORNS’ HEAD COACH AUGIE GARRIDO
Augie Garrido has made a reputation for himself in 47 years of coaching college baseball, including the 19 years spent guiding the Texas Longhorns to eight College World Series appearances, most recently in 2014 and two National Championships (2002 and 2005). Under the guidance of Garrido, the Longhorns have won seven Big 12 conference championships (2002, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2011) and four league tournaments (2002, 2003, 2008 and 2009). Garrido is the most winningest coach in all divisions. He has also been named National Coach of the Year five times (1975, 1979, 1984, 1985 and 2002), while being honored as regional coach of the year six times and conference coach three times; he is the first and only coach to take two different teams to national titles (Cal State Fullerton and Texas) and lead squads to National Championships in four different decades. Prior to coaching at Texas, Garrido served as head coach at Cal State Fullerton, Illinois, Cal Poly and San Francisco State. Upon graduating, he played six years in the minor league system under the Cleveland Indians before retiring and starting his coaching career.

SCOUTING REPORT
Texas enters the weekend with the seventh-ranked offense and third-best pitching staff in the Big 12 Conference, and sit in third place in the league standings. The Longhorns bat .260 as a team with 57 doubles, six triples, 19 home runs and average 4.7 runs per game. Patrick Mathis is the lone UT player batting .300 or better with five doubles, one triple, five home runs and 14 runs scored.  Tres Barrera leads the squad with 21 RBIs while Kody Clemens has scored a team-high 20 runs.

On the bump, Kansas will see Morgan Cooper game one, Kyle Johnston game two and Ty Culbreth in game three. Cooper holds a 2-1 mark and 3.74 ERA in 33 and 2/3 innings pitched. Johnston has struck out 41 batters in 41 innings and has compiled a record of 1-1 with a 2.85 ERA while Culbreth leads the team with 50 strikeouts, a 6-2 record and 2.68 ERA.

LUCKY NUMBER SEVEN
Junior catcher Michael Tinsley and senior third baseman Ryan Pidhaichuk are both riding seven-game hitting streaks. During that span, Tinsley is batting .480 (12-for-25) with four doubles, five RBIs, eight runs scored, a .640 slugging percentage and a .594 on-base percentage. Pidhaichuk is right in line with a .438 average including three doubles, two RBIs, two runs scored, a .625 slugging percentage and a .571 on-base percentage. The duo has combined for 29 percent of KU’s hits during those seven games and seven of the Jayhawks’ 15 doubles.

TWO TIMES IN A SEASON
Junior centerfielder Joven Afenir continues to find himself on “SportsCenter” after diving head first into the wall to make a catch Wednesday (April 13) against Omaha. On a full sprint, Afenir dove at the warning track catching the ball simultaneously as his head hit the wall padding. That catch came in at No. 3 and is the second time this season he has earned recognition for his defense. Against Northern Colorado (Feb. 22), Afenir ran down a hard-hit ball in the gap and laid out only to make the diving snag. That play came in at No. 5. In total, Afenir has made three appearances on #SCtop10 in the last two seasons with his first coming against Utah (March 6, 2015).

LEADING THE WAY
In his first plate appearance as the Jayhawks’ new leadoff man, senior right fielder Joe Moroney blasted his first career home run to lead off the game against then-No. 6 TCU (April 8). Moroney became the first player at Kansas to lead off a game with a home run since Tucker Tharp accomplished the same feat against Kansas State, April 25, 2012 and helped the Jayhawks defeat the Horned Frogs, 4-3, in that Friday night contest.

LEFTY ACE
For the fifth-straight start, senior lefty Ben Krauth struck out at least nine batters – a first for a pitcher in the Ritch Price era – en route to winning back-to-back Friday night conference games. Combined in his last five starts, Krauth has thrown 38 innings and allowed just five earned runs for a 1.18 ERA. During that span, he has struck out 50 batters and averaged 10.0 strikeouts per start, all while holding opponents a .178 batting average. He leads the Big 12 Conference in innings pitched (55.0), shutouts (1) and complete games (2); ranks second in strikeouts (62), sixth in opponent batting average (.178) and seventh in ERA (2.29).

UP NEXT
The Jayhawks return home to Hoglund Ballpark to host in-state rival Wichita State Tuesday, April 19, before hitting the road to Birmingham, Alabama, for a three-game weekend set at Samford.

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