Marks, Murphy Power KU in Series Finale, 4-1

Feb. 11, 2007

Final Stats

MINNEAPOLIS –

Senior Kyle Murphy went 2-for-4 with a pair of stolen bases, while sophomore Andy Marks took a shutout into the seventh inning Sunday as the <?xml:namespace prefix=”st1″ ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags”?>University of Kansas earned a series victory over South DakotaState, 4-1, at the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome.<?xml:namespace prefix=”o” ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office”?>

The Jayhawks, who also completed a suspended game earlier this morning, move to 7-1 on the season, while SDSU falls to 1-2.

Marks scattered four hits over 6 1/3 innings Sunday to pick up his second victory of the season. The sophomore southpaw allowed just three baserunners over the first six innings, before Cal Lewis led off the seventh with a solo homer to left field.

Marks recovered to strike out Chris Iverson before giving way to the bullpen in the seventh. The KU starting pitcher struck out a season-high eight Jackrabbits, while walking just one.

KU’s bats gave Marks an early lead to work with.

The Jayhawks took a 1-0 lead in the second on an Erik Morrison double and a Joe Servais sac fly to center field. KU tacked on two more runs in the third with the help of a pair of SDSU errors. Murphy led off the inning with a single, stole second and then scored on a throwing error and a dropped fly ball. Junior Brock Simpson, who reached on the error by the center fielder, scored the second run of the inning on Ryne Price’s RBI ground out.

After SDSU cut the lead to 3-1 on Lewis’ solo homer, Murphy helped the team tack on another run with a double and a stolen base. He scored on another Jackrabbit error.

Murphy was one of three Jayhawks to produce a multi-hit game in Sunday’s finale. Junior John Allman went 3-for-4 with three singles, while first baseman Justin Ellrich chipped in a 2-for-4 effort.

Freshman Thomas Marcin pitched an inning and a third of hitless relief, while junior Hiarali Garcia recorded the final out in the eighth and all three outs in the ninth for his first save in a Jayhawk uniform.

KU (7-1) will play host to North DakotaState in a three-game series, beginning Wednesday at 3 p.m. at Hoglund Ballpark.

Game Notes: KU is now 6-1 all-time against South Dakota State, dating back to 2005 … Kyle Murphy went 5-for-10 in the series and scored four times. After hitting just .153 last season, Murphy is the team’s top hitter at .381 through eight games this year … Andy Marks is in a three-way tie with Nick Czyz and Zach Ashwood for the team lead in strikeouts (14). However, Marks has the fewest walks (2) among KU starting pitchers.