Price's RBI Single Lifts KU Past North Dakota State, 4-3
March 8, 2008
LAWRENCE, Kan. –
Senior Ryne Price’s two-out single in the bottom of the 10th inning plated fellow senior John Allman and lifted Kansas to a 4-3 victory over North Dakota State in a non-conference baseball game played Saturday at Hoglund Ballpark. <?xml:namespace prefix=”o” ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office”?>
The Jayhawks improve to 6-5 overall, while NDSU falls to 0-4.
Kansas scratched out the winning run in the 10th inning on two singles and an error. Allman singled to left field with one out and, after a Preston Land fly out, advanced to third on a wild pick off throw.
Price worked the count to 3-and-2 and lined a single up the middle to score Allman and power the Jayhawks to their fourth straight victory. Price was the only Kansas player in the lineup to finish with more than one hit. He also drove in two of KU’s four runs.
In the bottom of the first inning, Price staked the Jayhawks to a 1-0 lead with a sharp single to right, which scored Allman.
The Bison tied the game in the top of the third on a leadoff double by Ricky Hefflinger and a two-out single by shortstop Ryan Langlais.
KU regained the lead in the fourth on freshman Tony Thompson’s first collegiate home run. Thompson drove a 2-1 pitch down the left field line and into the pine trees beyond the left field fence. The freshman is the fourth different Jayhawk to homer this season.
NDSU came back with single runs in the fifth and the sixth; however, Kansas took advantage of Bison miscues in the field to tie the game in the bottom of the sixth.
Senior Casey Larson led off the inning with a line drive to left field that eluded NDSU’s Kole Zimmerman and went for a two-base error. Larson moved to third on a wild pitch and then scored on an RBI ground out by Thompson.
On the mound, sophomore Shaeffer Hall got the start for KU and struck out a season-high eight Bison batters. Hall scattered seven hits over five innings, allowing two earned runs. He didn’t walk anybody.
Out of the bullpen, sophomore Brett Bollman and junior Paul Smyth combined for four innings of relief and struck out seven while allowing just two hits. Smyth was credited with his first victory of the season, pitching scoreless frames in the ninth and tenth.
NDSU outhit the Jayhawks 10-5, but left nine men on base and hit into a double play in the top of the tenth. With nobody out, pinch runner Chris Lovas took off from first, but could not tag up on a line out to center field.
The teams will meet in a doubleheader Sunday at Hoglund Ballpark, with the first game scheduled to get underway at 11 a.m.
