Jayhawks take bye week to Furman
ONE-RUN GAMES
Kansas has played 12 contests that have been decided by one run – 30.7 percent of its games played (39) – including the last six straight. During that span, the Jayhawks own a record of 3-3 and overall, KU has earned a victory in four of the 12 decisions.
STREAKING
Senior center fielder Rudy Karre and junior catcher Jaxx Groshans lead the Kansas offense with hitting streaks of six and five games, respectively. During Karre’s six-game feat, he is batting .381 (8-for-21) with a double, home run, six RBIs and six runs scored. Groshans is also hitting a clip of .381 (8-for-21) during his streak with one double and three runs scored.
METCALF ON FIRE
Sophomore first baseman/designated hitter Nolan Metcalf has started the last three contests – one at designated hitter and two at first base – and leads the Jayhawk offense during that span. In three games, Metcalf is batting .429 (6-for-14) with one double, two home runs, seven RBIs and three runs scored. Only junior shortstop Benjamin Sems has a better average in that span at .455 (5-for-11).
‘SEMS’-ATIONAL
Since a hitless effort at then-No. 11 Texas Tech (April 6), junior shortstop Benjamin Sems has been on a tear at the plate and has raised his batting average .064 points to its current .309 clip, good enough for second-best on the team. During the nine-game span, Sems has recorded multi-hit affairs six times to increase his season total to 12. Sems also leads the Jayhawks in the last nine games with a .500 average (17-for-34) with six doubles, six RBIs and six runs scored. Only junior catcher Jaxx Groshans has more multi-hit games than Sems at 13.
JAYHAWKS HOT IN SERIES FINALES
The Jayhawks hold a 7-2 record in series finales of three games or more this season. In those games, they have outscored their opponents by a narrow 55-52 margin.
LUCKY NUMBER SIX?
In their last 10 games, the Kansas bats have scored 60 runs averaging an even 6.0 runs per contest. That average bodes well for the Jayhawks as they hold a record of 16-1 when they score six or more runs in an outing.
DITZENBERGER WALKS IT OFF TWICE
Redshirt-freshman Dylan Ditzenberger walked it off twice for the Jayhawks in their first Big 12 series win against Oklahoma State (April 13-14). In the second game of the series Ditzenberger singled to send in the winning run and doubled to win it in the series finale.
COME BACK KINGS
This is the second time in two seasons the Jayhawks have lost a Friday opener giving up more than 20 runs and coming back to win the series. The last time came against West Virginia (May 4-6, 2018) where KU lost Friday, 21-3, but won Saturday (13-3) and Sunday (5-2) to complete the series victory.
ZEFERJAHN TIES A CAREER HIGH IN STRIKEOUTS
Junior starting pitcher Ryan Zeferjahn punched out a career-high 14 batters against Oklahoma State (April 13). In his six innings of work, he faced 25 batters, striking out more than half of them.
JAYHAWK TRAVELERS
The Kansas baseball team spent 31 of the first 42 days of the season on the road after weather forced two home series to be moved to Texas. The season opened on Feb. 15 and the Jayhawks played their first home game Saturday, March 30 against Baylor. In March alone, Kansas spent 22 of 27 days away from Lawrence.
LONGEST ROAD SPAN SINCE 1978
The home opener against Baylor Saturday, March 30 (DH) is the latest the Jayhawks have opened up Hoglund Ballpark since the 1978 season when they played Benedictine College on March 29.
RACKING UP THE MILES
That long road span forced the Jayhawks to travel a total of 12,680 miles round trip the first six weeks of the season. To put that into perspective, the United States is 2,680 miles wide while Earth is 24,901 miles around at the Equator. Kansas could have traveled coast-to-coast almost five times (4.73) or about halfway around the world.
SEASONED VETERAN
Kansas head coach Ritch Price is the most tenured skipper in the Big 12 Conference as he has coached in 419 league games – 260 more than any other current coach.
1. 419 – Ritch Price, Kansas (17th season)
2. 159 – Tim Tadlock, Texas Tech (Seventh season)
3. 154 – Jim Schlossnagle, TCU (Seventh season)
4. 155 – Randy Maze, West Virginia (Seventh season)
5. 154 – Josh Holliday, Oklahoma State (Seventh season)
THE PRICE IS RIGHT
With the sweep over Northern Illinois (March 1-2), head coach Ritch Price reached the 500-win mark as the Jayhawks’ skipper. Price is already the all-time winningest coach in program history with 74 more victories than legendary head coach Floyd Temple (438).
PRICE NAMES 2019 CAPTAINS
Head coach Ritch Price announced that James Cosentino, Ryan Cyr and Rudy Karre will represent the 2019 squad as captains. The trio is each holding the honor of captain for the first time in their careers and represents what the Kansas baseball program is all about.
UP NEXT
Kansas continues its five-game road trip when the Jayhawks travel to Air Force for a two-game midweek set at Falcon Field April 30 – May 1.
