Kansas To Face Nebraska In Big 12 Championship

May 7, 2008

LAWRENCE, Kan. –

Game Notes

<?xml:namespace prefix=”st1″ ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags”?>

Kansas To Face Nebraska In Big 12 Championship<?xml:namespace prefix=”o” ns=”urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office”?>

Seventh-seeded Kansas will face the No. 10 seed Nebraska Friday, May 9 at 5 p.m. in the opening round of the 2008 Big 12 Championship at the ASA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City. Should KU win, they will advance to play No. 2 Oklahoma on Saturday at 11 a.m.

KU’s Big 12 Championship games will be broadcast live on KLWN (1320 AM) with Alex Dingman and Theresa Becker calling the action. Live stats will be available for all KU games at kuathletics.com. The radio broadcasts can also be heard on KU’s website.

About Kansas

The Jayhawks split their final Big 12 series with IowaState to wrap up the regular season 37-18 overall and 7-11 in the conference. Junior Dougie McCaulley continues to lead KU with a .380 batting average on a team-high 63 hits, which rank second in the Big 12. Fellow junior Val Chapple has driven in 37 runs for the Jayhawks and scored 39 herself. She also has 12 stolen bases. Senior Betsy Wilson and freshman Liz Kocon have been important components to the KU team during conference play. Wilson shares the team lead with a .333 batting average in Big 12 play and Kocon has tallied a team-best 13 RBIs on 11 hits. In the pitcher’s circle, junior Val George paces the team with a 1.91 ERA and leads the league with 40 appearances. She has 183 strikeouts, fourth in the Big 12, in 175.2 innings of work.

Series History

KU holds a 50-45 edge in the all-time series with Nebraska, but the Cornhuskers are 4-1 in games played during the Big 12 Championship. However, in all four of KU’s losses to NU in the postseason, Nebraska was never seeded lower than No. 4. The teams split the series earlier this season in Lincoln.

Big 12 Championship Notes

– Kansas is the No. 7 seed for the second year in a row and the fourth time since the inception of the Big 12 in 1997. They have gone 5-5 as a seven seed.

– KU is 1-4 all-time against Nebraska in the Big 12 Championship but the Jayhawks have never faced NU when the Huskers were lower than a four seed.

– The Jayhawks are 15-18 all-time in the Big 12 Championship and have won one postseason championship (2006).

– Kansas is 8-3 when playing a lower seed in the postseason Big 12 tournament.

– Of KU’s 18-women roster, only seven players have experience playing in a Big 12 Championship game, four of which participated for the first time last season.

Winning Ways

With its win over IowaState on May 4, KU has collected 37 wins on the season, its most since 1997, coach Tracy Bunge’s first season at Kansas, when the Jayhawks recorded 38 victories.

I Love the 80’s

Kansas has put up some strong offensive numbers so far in 2008 posting some of its best stats in three decades in some cases. KU’s season totals in runs, RBIs and walks are second only to the team’s totals from 1980. In 2008, the Jayhawks have scored 250 runs (324 in 1980), 221 RBIs (271 in 1980) and 160 walks (164 in 1980).

Conference Milestone

KU’s conference win over IowaState on May 4 earned Kansas its 100th all-time Big 12 victory. The Jayhawks, who had their best league mark of 11-6 in 1997, are 100-134 all-time in Big 12 play.

McCaulley, Chapple Earn Spot In Record Books

Val Chapple cracked into three top 10 single season record lists and one career list on May 4 versus IowaState. The junior third baseman picked up her ninth home run of the season (8th in single-season), 39th run (8th single-season) and 37th RBI (7th single-season). She also brought her career home run total up to 14 to rank eighth on the career list. Dougie McCaulley also recently cracked into KU’s single-season hit list recording her 61st hit against OklahomaState on April 27 and has since added two more to sit in ninth in the single-season top 10 list.

Up Next

Should Kansas win its opening game with Nebraska, the Jayhawks will advance to play No. 2 Oklahoma Saturday at 11 a.m. Oklahoma earned a first round bye. The winner of the game with Oklahoma will head into to the semifinals and play the winner of No. 3 Missouri and No. 6 Texas Tech at 5 p.m. on Saturday.