Kansas Bats Ignite, Run-Rule Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 11-3
Feb. 22, 2013
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas –The top of the Jayhawk order went a combined 11-for-12 with six RBIs and helped Kansas erupt for seven runs in the bottom of the sixth, defeating Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 11-3, in the Jayhawks’ first game of the Islanders Classic, Friday morning at Chapman Field.
Less than a full day after falling to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (3-9), Kansas (8-3) came back ready to play. The Islanders kept the game close, taking the early 1-0 lead, but Kansas responded with a three-run fourth to open the gap, 4-1. The host team kept at it, narrowing its deficit to a run, 4-3, but the Jayhawks cranked out eight-consecutive hits – including three doubles – to end the game early with seven runs in the sixth.
Redshirt junior Alex Jones and senior left fielder Maggie Hull finished the game a combined 8-for-8 at the one and two spots in the lineup. Jones 4-for-4 day was a career high, while Hull’s four hits tied her personal best. Sophomore designated player Maddie Steinfollowed them in the three spot and added a 3-for-4 effort with a double and three RBIs.
Jones scored a career-high tying three runs, while Hull scored once and drove in three RBIs with her team-leading sixth double of the year. The senior captain is now in sole possession of the fourth place in the Kansas career RBI race with 111. Fellow senior captain Mariah Montgomery drove in a pair of runs in the game to put her right behind Hull with 110.
After catching a similar illness to Hull’s prior to Thursday’s game against the Islanders, sophomore third baseman Chanin Naudin played through it and finished with a 2-for-4 day, including the final double of the game that knocked in KU’s 10th and 11th runs.
Making her first start at second base this season, junior Ashley Newman joined the multi-hit action with a 2-for-3 performance and two runs scored.
Freshman Kelsey Kessler (3-2) dispersed eight hits over her five innings in the circle, allowing three runs and striking out three to earn her third win of the year. Sophomore Alicia Pille entered the game in the top of the sixth, with the Jayhawks leading just 4-3, to qualify for her second save of the year. She struck out one in her 1-2-3 sixth.
By the top of the first, the Islanders had totaled the number of runs scored through the entire game on Thursday. A one-out double got TAMU-CC on the board with a 1-0 lead by the middle of the first frame.
The Jayhawks looked to answer immediately in the bottom half of the inning, but string of odd events worked against them. Although all three of KU’s hitters at the top of the lineup singled to start the game, but when Jones and Hull were called to double steal, Jones was tossed out at third base.
Although Hull moved up on the play, she was soon out as well when Stein’s single struck Hull in the foot for the interference out. A pop-up ended the inning despite the fact that three of the four Jayhawks collected hits.
A dropped pop-up fielder’s choice and another runner’s interference call would go against the Jayhawks in a game that was filled with oddities. In the bottom of the fourth, however, the Jayhawks took over for good.
Senior right fielder Rosie Hull beat out an error and Newman joined her with an infield single. Maggie Hull knocked in her sister before Stein’s two-run single put the Jayhawks ahead, 4-1.
The Islanders answered with two runs in the fifth, which closed the gap and prompted Pille to start the sixth, but the Jayhawks were unstoppable by the bottom half of what ended up as the final inning.
With Constance Bradenburg called into pitch, the Islander pitcher who shutout the Jayhawks on Thursday, the Jayhawks attacked. After Bradenburg worked a 1-2-3 fifth, she never recorded an out in the sixth inning as eight-straight Jayhawks went to the plate for the breakout inning. When the dust cleared, Kansas came up with five singles, three doubles and seven runs to end the game via run rule, 11-3.
UP NEXT
The Jayhawks stay on the field for their second matchup against SEC foe Auburn this season.
KUAthletics.com: The official online source for Kansas Athletics, Williams Education Fund contributions, tickets, merchandise, multimedia, photos and much, much more.
