Kansas Concludes 2014 Regular Season with Iowa State

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas hosts Iowa State in its final three games of the 2014 regular season at Arrocha Ballpark. The Jayhawks have a four-game winning streak over the Cyclones heading into the weekend series. KU will honor its 2014 senior class on Saturday, which includes Nikki Bruce, Taylor Hatfield, Ashley Newman and Alex Jones. The final two games of the series will air on the Jayhawk Television Network/ESPN3.
 
AROUND THE BALLPARK
Friday: Celebrate Arrocha Ballpark; giveaway includes a mini Jayhawk bat. Faculty, Staff & State employees receive free admission with valid state employee ID.
Saturday: Senior Day; $3 admission for senior citizens and trading card giveaway. Family Fun Zone & Bike Helmet Fair starting at 11:30 a.m.
Sunday: Mother’s Day; free admission for mothers and grandmothers, who will receive carnations. Brunch in the Park; build your own pancakes for $2. Ice Cream Sunday; $1 floats.
 
FOLLOWING THE JAYHAWKS
The final two games against Iowa State will air on the Jayhawk Network/ESPN3 with Steven Davis and Maggie Hull-Tietz calling the action. Live stats are offered for all the Jayhawks’ games during the 2014 season and are available via KUAthletics.com. Kansas softball’s twitter account (@KUSoftball) will also have in-game updates during each game of the season. Fans can also listen to every home game through Jayhawk Digital Passport, which is available at KUAthletics.com.
 
LEADING OFF FOR KANSAS

• Kansas reached the 30-win plateau for the fourth-consecutive season under head coach Megan Smith after the 5-2 win at Texas on May 3. KU closes out the season at home with its final three-game series of 2014 against Iowa State.
• KU has outscored opponents 217-141 after 51 games. Kansas has a 26-5 advantage when scoring first in the ballgame. The Jayhawks have outhit opponents in 31-of-51 games this season. Kansas owns a 27-5 record when out hitting its opponents.
• The Jayhawks concluded the 2013 season with the eighth-best fielding percentage (.976) in the country. Currently, Kansas has the second-best fielding percentage in the Big 12 and fourth-best in the country (.978) after committing only 29 errors in 336.1 innings.
• Four Jayhawks are hitting above .300 on the season. Chaley Brickey leads the offensive charge with a .383 batting average. 
• Brickey walked her way to the top of Kansas’ single season base on balls record with a pair of walks on April 26 against Baylor. She has 39 walks this season besting the previous mark of 36 set by Tracy Bunge in 1985.
• Brickey leads KU’s offense with the highest batting average (.383), slugging percentage (.667) and on-base percentage (.519), while recording a team-high home runs (10), walks (39) and runs scored (39).

 
KANSAS VS. IOWA STATE: THE SERIES
Kansas owns a 48-33 advantage over the Cyclones in the all-time series. Kansas has a four-game winning streak heading into the three-game series and has won six of the last seven contests. The series began in 1980 when KU won the series opener, 7-1. The Jayhawks have a 17-11 mark against Iowa State when playing in Lawrence. The longest winning streak against the Cyclones is six games from 2004-07.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Kansas concluded the 2013 regular season with a 12-3 win over Iowa State in five innings on May 12. The Jayhawks put up four runs in three-consecutive innings to land 12 runs and totaled 15 hits. Maggie Hull went 3-for-4 for the second-straight game and racked up her 49th and 50th career doubles in the process. Kelsey Kessler (12-6) made her third appearance of the weekend and she picked up her fourth-straight victory in the circle. Kessler walked one and struck out six in her 10th complete game of 2013.
 
SCOUTING THE CYCLONES
Iowa State snapped a four-game losing streak with a midweek win over Drake before heading to Lawrence for a three-game series against Kansas. The Cyclones are 23-28-1 on the season and have a Big 12 mark of 2-13. ISU’s two conference victories were over Texas Tech and Oklahoma State. Coming into the weekend, Iowa State owns a 6-10 record on the road.
 
Offensively, the Cyclones have the second-best team batting average in the league at .325. Six Cyclones are hitting above .300 and two are nearly batting .400 on the season. ISU has tallied 451 hits in 2014, including 103 for extra bases. Iowa State has posted 47 stolen bases in 62 attempts. Brittany Gomez leads the team with a .391 batting average and 70 hits. She also has stolen a team-best 22 bases. Aly Cappaert leads the team in home runs (10) and RBIs (42), while hitting .355.
 
Iowa State has a staff ERA of 6.77 with 171 strikeouts in 325.2 innings of work. The Cyclones’ pitching staff has tossed a total of five shutouts and 25 complete games, while allowing 228 walks and opponents to hit .341. Katie Johnson has a 18-17 mark in the circle with a 4.57 ERA. She has thrown four shutouts, 20 complete games and 139 strikeouts in 206.2 innings pitched.
 
SENIOR SALUTE
On Saturday, head coach Megan Smith and Kansas softball will honor the 2014 senior class, which includes: Nikki Bruce, Taylor Hatfield, Alex Jones and Ashley Newman. The 2014 seniors have helped KU to 158 wins. The four have combined for 446 hits, 93 RBIs and 265runs scored. In the circle, Jones has tallied 21 wins and 159 strikeouts in 56 appearances during her career.
 
THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE HOME
Kansas made its 2014 debut at home with a doubleheader against South Dakota State on March 11. The Jayhawks are 7-4 at home this season. KU concludes the 2014 regular season at home, May 9-11, when Iowa State comes to Lawrence for a three-game series. In 2013, KU played 10 games at home and was 4-6 at Arrocha Ballpark a year ago. 
 
SETTING THE STANDARD
KU’s win at Texas on May 30 marked the 30th victory of the season. That equals four-consecutive 30-win seasons in head coach Megan Smith’s five years. The Jayhawks also have at least one upset over a top-25 team in each season under Smith, which Kansas extended after a 7-5 win over then-No. 8 Kentucky (3/23/14), to five-straight seasons.
 
FAREWELL TO ARROCHA
In 2014, the Jayhawks have played their final season inside Arrocha Ballpark before moving to the newly-constructed Rock Chalk Park in 2015. Arrocha Ballpark has been the home of Kansas softball since 2004 and was named in honor of Demostenes Arrocha, a Panamanian immigrant and the father of KU benefactor Cheryl Womack.

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