March 02, 2013

Jayhawks Steal Win, 5-4

March 2, 2013

Kansas 5, Eastern Michigan 4 (10 innings)
QuikTrip Park//Grand Prairie, Texas

Junior Tucker Tharp was one of four Jayhawks with two hits in Saturday’s win.

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	R
EMU	0	1	0	0	0	2	0	0	1	0	4
KU	0	0	0	0	1	0	3	0	0	1	5

Box Score (.pdf)

Leaders – Batting
E. Michigan	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	HR
S. Ott	5	0	2	2	0	0
J. Simpson	3	1	1	1	2	0
Kansas	AB	R	H	RBI	BB	HR
M. Wheeler	3	0	2	1	1	0
D. Smith	4	0	2	1	0	0

Pitching
E. Michigan	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
B. Hill	6.0	5	2	2	1	7
B. Valente	2.0	4	2	2	0	0
J. Battistelli (L)	1.1	1	1	0	1	1
Kansas	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO
W. Benjamin	7.0	7	3	3	2	4
R. Kahana	1.0	0	1	1	1	3
J. Piche’ (W)	2.0	2	0	0	2	1

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – Senior Jordan Dreiling came home with the winning run in the bottom of the tenth after stealing third and scoring on an errant throw by the catcher as Kansas rallied for 5-4 victory in extra innings against Eastern Michigan in the first game of a doubleheader Saturday at QuikTrip Park.

The Jayhawks improve to 5-4 on the year, while the Eagles fall to 2-6.

In a 4-4 game in the bottom of the 10^th, Dreiling walked and moved to second when Alex DeLeon was hit by a pitch. With one out in the inning, the senior captain stole third and scored the deciding run when EMU catcher Adam Sonabend’s throw sailed wide of third base and into left field.

Kansas trailed 1-0 and 3-1 after six innings, but scored three times in the seventh to take a 4-3 lead. Freshman Marcus Wheeler and sophomore Justin Protacio collected RBI hits in the three-run inning.

EMU tied the score in the ninth when Jordan Piche’ walked in a run with the bases loaded, however the junior recorded the final out in the ninth and pitched a scoreless 10^th to earn his second victory of the season.

Wheeler, Dakota Smith, Tucker Tharp and Michael Suiter all collected two hits for the Jayhawks in the game. Sophomore Wes Benjamin scattered seven hits over seven innings, allowing three runs with two walks and four strikeouts.

The Jayhawks will play game two of the doubleheader later this afternoon.

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