KU's Goldsberry slams door against Huskies

GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas – Solidified by a perfect final four innings from redshirt-junior relief pitcher Blake Goldsberry, the Kansas baseball team defeated Northern Illinois, 8-1, Friday afternoon at AirHogs Stadium in the first game of a doubleheader.
 
Junior right-hander Ryan Zeferjahn (2-0) started the game on the mound for the Jayhawks (6-3) and gave up just one run over five innings pitched, while striking out six in the process. After his exit, Goldsberry shut down the Huskies (2-7) in order for the remainder of the ballgame. On just 45 pitches, the right-hander struck out two and lowered his season ERA to 1.80.
 
Offensively, juniors Benjamin Sems and Brett Vosik each contributed two RBIs on the day. Sems’ both came on a single in the seventh inning, while Vosik’s came on a single and a double in the third and eighth innings, respectively.
 
Sophomore first baseman Nolan Metcalf, sophomore third baseman Skyler Messinger and junior second baseman James Cosentino each added one RBI.
 
NOTABLES

• Sophomore first baseman Nolan Metcalf recorded his first-career double in the second inning against the Huskies.
• Sophomore third baseman Skyler Messinger stole two bases against Northern Illinois–the first time he’s reach that mark in his career.

QUOTES
Head coach Ritch Price
On redshirt-junior relief pitcher Blake Goldsberry’s performance…
“I think any time you’re playing doubleheader games right on top of each other, you want a quality effort from your bullpen. (Ryan) Zeferjahn was at 100 pitches after five innings on a really cold day, and there was no way we were going to send him back out in the sixth. (Blake) Goldsberry came in and was able to give us four quality innings. To close them out like that, that makes it a two-man game and you’ve got a fresh bullpen with three games happening in about a 24-hour span. It was a good thing we got that effort from both guys.”
 
On the performance of his offense…
“We did some good things offensively, but we still made some big mistakes. We made some base running mistakes over the course of the game. We didn’t execute our short game offense as good as we normally do. We can play a lot better than that. That will be our goal in the second game.”
 
UP NEXT
The Jayhawks will begin the second game of the doubleheader against Northern Illinois at 3:40 p.m. The game will be streamed on the Jayhawk Radio Network via KUAthletics.com/Radio.

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