Land's Homer Lifts No. 25 Kansas Over No. 2 Clemson
March 11, 2006
CLEMSON, S.C. –
Freshman Preston Land’s solo home run in the eighth inning broke a 5-5 tie and led No. 25 Kansas (15-5) to a 6-5 victory over No. 2 Clemson (9-3) in front of an overflow crowd of 5,261 fans at Doug Kingsmore Stadium in Clemson, S.C.<?xml:namespace prefix=”o” ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office”?>
Senior Don Czyz picked up his second win of the season, pitching the final 2.1 innings. Czyz struck out three batters while holding the Tigers to two hits and no runs.
After Clemson scored four unearned runs in the first inning, KU’s senior starting pitcher Ricky Fairchild settled in and threw 6.1 solid innings. The Dallas, Texas, native scattered five hits and allowed one earned run in the seventh.
Trailing 4-0 in the fourth inning, sophomore Brock Simpson recorded a two-out RBI single to score senior Jared Schweitzer. Schweitzer led off the frame with a single and moved up to second on another single by sophomore John Allman.
Junior Dylan Parzyk led off KU’s two-run fifth inning with a single to left field. Junior Kyle Murphy reached second base on a throwing error by CU’s catcher, Parzyk moved up to third and scored on a ground out by senior Ritchie Price. Schweitzer picked up an RBI when he reached on a fielding error by Clemson’s shortstop.
Senior Gus Milner singled and reached second on a throwing error, the wild throw allowed Schweitzer to move up to third base. P.J. Zocchi came in relief of CU’s starting pitcher Jason Berken and promptly struck out Allman and Morrison to end the inning.
Kansas took a 5-4 lead in the eighth inning with a two-run double by Morrison. The double scored Ritchie Price who led off the inning with a single and Allman who walked.
Clemson senior Ben Hall tied the game in the bottom of the eighth with a solo home run to left field. After hitting Herman Demmink, Fairchild was relived by freshman Nick Czyz. A wild pitch allowed Demmink to move up two bases to third. Czyz than coaxed Brad Chalk to ground to second base, holding the runner at third.
With two outs, Nick’s older brother Don entered the game and got Taylor Harbin to ground out on his first pitch to end the threat.
Kansas out-hit Clemson 11-7. Schweitzer, Allman and Simpson each had two hits on the game.
The two teams will play a rubber match Sunday at noon central time. Senior Kodiak Quick (3-1, 1.65 ERA) will toe the rubber for KU against Clemson junior Stephen Faris (1-0, 1.50 ERA).
Game Notes: In the first inning Ritchie Price was hit by a pitch for the 48th time of his career, 22 more times than the second place KU player (Casey Spanish) on the all-time list … Gus Milner extended his hitting streak to nine games, tying a career best … Kansas is now 3-3 this season against top 10 teams and 12-14 under coach Ritch Price … Kansas is now 2-1 all-time against Clemson.
