Jayhawks Trek to Stanford For Weekend Series

Watch Pac-12 LiveNotes Game NotesRadio ListenStats Live StatsCalendar ScheduleRoster RosterLAWRENCE, Kan. – The Kansas baseball team heads to California for one final tuneup series at national perennial power Stanford, March 18-20, at Klein Field in Sunken Diamond.

The Jayhawks (7-8) have won three of their last four games and look to use this weekend as a final preparation before Big 12 Conference play starts next week. Stanford (7-5) looks to get back on the diamond after taking a 12-day hiatus having played its last game March 6.

QUICK HITS

  • Kansas enters the two games with an all-time record of 1,842-1,757-17.
  • Head coach Ritch Price is in his 22nd season as a Division I head coach with a record of 638-604-3 (.514).
  • Price is in his 14th year at Kansas with a record of 422-375-2 (.530), and is just 17 wins from becoming KU’s all-time winningest coach (Floyd Temple, 438).
  • Kansas has posted a record of 4-1 in its last five games, outscoring its opponents 43-26.
  • During that span, the Jayahwks are batting .322 as a team with a .468 slugging percentage and .433 on-base percentage.
  • Over the last five games, KU has averaged 8.6 runs per contest, but have left an average of 10.4 runners on base.
  • Since 2004, Kansas and Stanford have met 15 times with the Cardinal holding the advantage, 12-3.
  • The Jayhawks last win over Stanford came at the hands of a 13-inning thriller on Friday night March 7, 2014 with a 4-2 score at Sunken Diamond.
  • Four of KU’s last five losses to the Cardinal have all been decided by one run.
  • Price is 4-23 all-time against Stanford, including his days at Cal Poly.

SERIES HISTORY
Kansas and Stanford have played 15 times in the histories of the two programs with the Cardinal holding the 12-3 advantage. The two squads played consecutive three-game series from 2004-07, before taking a brief hiatus before meeting again in 2014. Kansas has fallen short by one run in four of the last six contests, winning its last game against Stanford on March 7, 2014 (4-2, 13 innings). Dating back to his days at Cal Poly, head coach Ritch Price holds an all-time record of 4-23 against the Cardinal.

KANSAS-STANFORD CONNECTIONS
Any time a Midwest team like the Kansas travels to California, there is bound to be some players that have played against or with the other side. That is just the case with the Jayhawks and Stanford Cardinal. Former Leland High Charger Matt McLauglin, and Saint Francis Lancer Casey Douglas faced off with Stanford’s Nick Bellafronto when they both played against the Bellarmine Bells. Douglas also matched up with Kris Bubic, a grad of Archbishop Mitty, and Jack Klein from St. Ignatius High. Klein will look over to the Jayhawk dugout and see junior catcher Michael Tinsley again, as they matched up when Tinsley was a Serra Padre. Tinsley will also see Matt Winaker who lettered with the San Ramon Valley Wolves. Mikey Diekroeger and Tinsley go way back as the duo played on the same Little League and Babe Ruth All-Star Teams. Freshman Nickolas Oar for the Cardinal played for the College Park Falcons, and matched up against Ben Krauth and the Northgate Broncos. California may be a baseball production center, but the West coast is not the only place producing talent for the Jayhawks or Cardinal, as Jackson Goddard and Bryce Carter faced off in high school when Goddard played for Holland Hall and Carter rivaled him at Cascia Hall in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

STANFORD HEAD COACH MARK MARQUESS
Longtime coach and former Stanford athlete Mark Marquess enters his 40th season at the helm of the Cardinal baseball team. He entered the 2016 season as the third-winningest active coach in the nation with a career record of 1,554-839-7. Marquess’ long list of career accolades include being named NCAA Coach of the Year on three occasions and Pac-10 Coach of the Year honoree nine times. Under his direction, the Cardinal have made 29 NCAA Tournament appearances, been crowned the NCAA College World Series champions twice, won 16 NCAA Regional crowns and are 12-time Pac-10 regular season champions.

SCOUTING REPORT
Stanford relies on pitching and defense to win itself games as the Cardinal hold a 2.31 team ERA and a .989 fielding percentage. Stanford will run two righties in freshman Tristan Beck and junior Brett Hanewich and a lefty in freshman Kris Bubic to start all three games of the series. Beck (2-1) has thrown 14 and 1/3 innings and struck out 10 batters for a 2.51 ERA while Hanewich has thrown 18 innings and struck out 14 batters for a 3.46 ERA. Bubic (0-1) leads the trio with a 1.74 ERA in two starts, but has thrown just 10 and 1/3 innings on the year.  The Cardinal struggle at the plate as the squad is batting just .212 and averages 3.6 runs per contest. Freshman infielder Nico Hoerner leads Stanford with a .261 batting average in 12 starts including two doubles and four RBIs. Quinn Brodey and Mikey Diekroeger produce the majority of the runs as the duo has driven in a team-high eight apiece.

STRAIGHT DEALIN’
Senior lefty Ben Krauth was named the Big 12 Conference’s Pitcher of the Week after a remarkable performance Friday night (March 11) against North Dakota. Krauth (1-2) kick-started KU’s perfect 3-0 weekend when he threw the first complete-game shutout of his Jayhawk career in a 7-0 win over the Fighting Hawks. Krauth hit and then picked off the first batter of the game and after that, it was all domination. The southpaw cruised through nine innings in 112 pitches, tying a career-high nine strikeouts. He gave up four base hits, including two infield singles, and walked one batter. With that effort, he became the first pitcher in the Big 12 this season to toss a complete-game shutout. In fact, no one else in the league has even tossed a complete game. If that wasn’t enough, he is also the first Jayhawk to accomplish that feat since Jordan Piche´ threw a one-hit shutout at Baylor in 2014 (April 25).

GOTCHA
Senior lefty Ben Krauth has one of the best pickoff moves in the country. In four starts, Krauth has picked off five base runners and leads the nation* in that category among pitchers. Only one player has picked off more runners than Krauth, Evansville catcher Boomer Synek (6). Two other pitchers in the nation have tallied four pickoffs in UNC Asheville’s Jordan Carr (LHP) and East Carolina’s Jacob Wolfe (LHP). *Please note, Big West, NEC, Southland and Summit conferences yet to report updated stats.

WRAPPING WITH FOYLE
Freshman left fielder Devin Foyle boasted career numbers in a two-game set vs. Murray State (March 15-16). The rookie combined for a .571 average with a double, triple, inside-the-park home run and seven RBIs for a 1.429 slugging percentage and .700 on-base percentage. In the second game, Foyle reached base in five of his six plate appearances, driving in a run in each successful trip. He finished the day 3-for-4 with a RBI-single, a RBI-double, home run and two RBI-walks for five RBIs on the day. His only blemish came in the seventh inning when he struck out swinging after a six-pitch at bat. He was the first Jayhawk to hit an inside-the-park home since March 6, 2009, when Robby Price did the same against Northwestern.

UP NEXT
The Jayhawks return to action Wednesday, March 23 at Creighton, before returning home to open up the Big 12 Conference slate against West Virginia (March 25-27). All three games against the Mountaineers can be seen on ESPN3 with an audio broadcast available on the Jayhawk Radio Network via KUAthletics.com/Radio.
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