{"id":12754,"date":"2012-04-28T21:31:14","date_gmt":"2012-04-29T02:31:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/?p=12754"},"modified":"2012-04-28T21:31:14","modified_gmt":"2012-04-29T02:31:14","slug":"missed-opportunites-highlight-kansas-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/2012\/04\/28\/missed-opportunites-highlight-kansas-loss\/","title":{"rendered":"Missed Opportunites Highlight Kansas loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Blake Schuster<\/p>\n

Twice in Kansas\u2019 8-1 loss to Oklahoma the Jayhawks had the Sooners in damage control \u2014 and both times the Jayhawks came up empty.<\/p>\n

In the bottom of the second inning, Kansas was able to load the bases with two outs. The Jayhawk lineup had been shaky all season \u2014 batting .248 on the year \u2014 but the top half of the order has been productive at getting men on base, and leadoff batter Tucker Tharp was strolling up to the plate. Tharp wasted little time in the batters box, ripping the first pitch he faced and sending it straight to the shortstop who promptly tossed the ball to first.<\/p>\n

Inning over.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a struggle for us all year,\u201d coach Ritch Price said of the Jayhawks clutch hitting.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
James Stanfield went 3-5 in the Jayhawks loss<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Kansas was, however, the first team on the board after a Jordan Dreiling sac-fly to right field in the third inning scored Kevin Kuntz from third, putting Kansas up 1-0.<\/p>\n

Yet the lead wasn\u2019t safe for long. In one of his only blunders on the day Wes Benjamin gave up a two-out, three-run homer to Max White after walking two batters before him in the top of the fifth.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe talk with Wes about reducing his number of walks,\u201d Price said. \u00a0\u201cHe can be more effective.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 3-1 lead wasn\u2019t daunting, but the offensively challenged Jayhawks have had troubling getting on base, let alone scoring. Fortunately, Kansas had another opportunity to put more runs up.<\/p>\n

In the bottom of the seventh, Kansas exploited the Sooners on a couple of mistakes. After Michael Suitor singled to start the frame, he was able to advance to second on a passed ball.\u00a0 One out later, Tharp reached on a walk and Kuntz followed with another single. Again the Jayhawks had the bases loaded, this time with two outs of breathing room and the power-hitting catcher \u2014 James Stanfield \u2014 up to bat.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

A quick meeting on the mound with Oklahoma\u2019s staff saw starter Jonathan Gray pulled in favor of lefty Steven Okert. The switch not only worked, but paid dividends. Stanfield took a 2-1 offering and grounded it right to the shortstop for a double play.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve brought in lefties a lot against me this year,\u201d Stanfield said. \u201cHe threw me a fastball, which is what I was looking for, it just got in on me a little bit. It could have been big.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inning over, again.<\/p>\n

The Jayhawks weren\u2019t able to recover from the wasted chance, and Oklahoma took full control. The Sooners scored five runs on six hits in the top of the ninth putting the game out of reach for Kansas.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no doubt double plays destroy rallies quicker than anything,\u201d Price said of the Jayhawks folly with bases loaded. \u201cThey talk about a pitcher\u2019s best friend and that\u2019s why right there.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Blake Schuster Twice in Kansas\u2019 8-1 loss to Oklahoma the Jayhawks had the Sooners in damage control \u2014 and both times the Jayhawks came up empty. In the bottom of the second inning, Kansas was able to load the bases with two outs. The Jayhawk lineup had been shaky all season \u2014 batting .248 on the year \u2014 but the top half of the order has been productive at getting men on base, and leadoff batter Tucker Tharp was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":12755,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12754","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/04\/Stanfield_Jamesmug1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12754"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12754\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kjhk.org\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}