Kansas Splits Domed Doubleheader With EMU

February 23, 2010
By

Both Teams Finally Get Season-Openers In

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. - Senior Cameron Selik earned his first victory of the season, holding Eastern Michigan to

James Stanfield (KU photo)

one run on two hits over six innings, while the Jayhawks sent 12 men to the plate and scored six runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to down Eastern Michigan 9-5 in the second game of the doubleheader Monday night at the Metrodome.  EMU won the first game, 3-1.

Selik silenced EMU’s bats for most of the night.  He allowed just two base runners – an RBI double following an error and an infield single in the sixth – but was in control for most of the evening. He retired the first 10 men he faced, before EMU shortstop Aaron Crooks reached on an error with one out in the fourth.

Dating back to his NCAA Tournament victory against Coastal Carolina last May, Selik has allowed just one earned run on five hits over his last 12 2/3 innings.

His offense tallied single runs in each of the first three innings to help him earn his first win.

Senior Robby Price drove in runs in both the first and second innings, while sophomore James Stanfield tripled home Jimmy Waters in the third to stake KU to a 3-0 lead.

Kansas broke the game open in the eighth without the benefit of a base hit. The Jayhawks sent 12 men to the plate in the frame, drawing eight walks and a hit by pitch to score six runs. During the inning, seven-straight Jayhawks reached

Corey Chaffins (EMU photo)

base without the benefit of a base hit with two outs.

As a team, KU collected just four hits and none after Stanfield’s third-inning triple.

In the first game, EMU pitcher Corey Chaffins held the Jayhawks to one run on just three hits over seven innings. Junior Jimmy Waters drove in KU’s only run of the game with a fourth-inning RBI single to plate Brian Heere, who walked to lead off the inning.

Chaffins had everything working to shut down the Kansas offense in the season opener for both squads, as he went seven strong innings, yielding just one run on three hits while tallying eight strikeouts to earn the victory.

The victory in game one marks EMU’s second win all-time against the Jayhawks, while Jay Alexander earns his second straight season opening victory as the Eagles’ Head Coach. It marks EMU’s first win over a top 25 team since the 2007 season when the team topped No. 19 Tennessee.

The Eagles out-hit the Jayhawks in both games, 8-3 in game one and 7-4 in game two, but a disastrous eighth inning in game two in which the Eagles’ pitching staff allowed eight walks and a hit batsman proved too much to overcome, despite a late rally with four runs in the ninth inning to limit the deficit. The split moves the all-time series to 4-2 between the two squads, with Kansas holding on to the advantage.

The games were originally scheduled to be played on the Jayhawks’ home field in Lawrence, KS, but they were moved to the Metrodome due to snow and low temperatures across the Midwest.

(Releases & staff report)

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