Tigers' offense struggles, lose five straight games
Published May 2, 2008
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Kansas junior catcher Buck Afenir congratulates junior pitcher Paul Smyth after recording the final out of Tuesday’s game at Kauffman Stadium as MU junior first baseman Steve Gray walks off the field.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As the lights began to dim at Kaufmann Stadium in Kansas City, Mo., on Tuesday evening, Kansas junior pitcher Paul Smyth jumped up and down in joy. Not only did he close out a 3-0 victory for the Jayhawks, but the KU victory also gave rival Missouri their fifth straight loss.
In Tuesday night’s game, in front of 2,847 fans, Kansas took an early 1-0 lead in the second inning. While MU tried desperately to tie the score, the Jayhawks scored an additional two runs in the eighth inning off of a single by senior John Allman. They were then able to hold off another late MU rally, making the final score 3-0.
The loss marks the fifth straight loss for Missouri, who has not won a game since April 22, in an 8-6 victory against Eastern Illinois.
“It’s an issue of confidence right now,” junior pitcher Ian Berger said. “We’re just not playing good baseball. It’s just really frustrating when you have days that the pitchers pitch well and the offense just isn’t there, and other days when pitchers don’t do well and the offense is there. It’s a losing streak and it’s tough to get over.”
In the past several games, the offense has been the one struggling, scoring only two runs in the last three games.
Coach Tim Jamieson said the team needs to get its confidence back up.
“We’re still in a position to accomplish what we want to do accomplish, but its got to start happening. We’re not playing bad, we’re just not playing good. The only thing that I can do is stay positive and just get back to fundamentals. I wish I could wave a magic wand, but that’s just not possible.”
Coach Jamieson is trying to turn around the Tigers’ luck by making several adjustments, including changes to the pitching rotation. On Sunday, junior pitcher Rick Zagone went from the weekday rotation to the weekend rotation, since conference games are played on the weekends. Jamieson also moved Berger to the weekday rotation to make room for Zagone.
“Berger has struggled in conference his last two starts, and Zagone needed an opportunity and it’s worked out well,” Jamieson said. “Zagone pitched real well on Sunday and Berger pitched real well tonight.”
“Coach thinks it was the best idea for me to move back to the weekend role,” Zagone said. It’s been going real well so far.”
During Sunday’s game against Texas A&M, Zagone held the Aggies to only three runs, but MU still lost.
“We just need to go out there and play the way that we’re capable of playing,” Zagone said. “We have still yet to play up to our capability this year. Once we get everything together, we’ll be a pretty tough team to beat.”