Jayhawks push past Huskers
T.J. Walz’s best friend burned some frequent flier mileage to make a quick trip back to Nebraska to watch the Kansas freshman pitch against ninth-ranked Nebraska in Haymarket Park on Sunday afternoon.
It seemed only appropriate, then, that by the end of the Jayhawks’ 6-3 victory, Walz had earned himself a nice upgrade.
Put in charge of giving KU a chance to leave Lincoln on a winning note rather than being swept in three games, the Omaha Skutt graduate scattered six hits while pitching a career-long 72/3 innings.
It was only the third career start for the right-handed Walz, a recruited walk-on who improved his record to 3-0.
“He came to my fall showcase, and he was 86, 88 (mph) last fall. But he had feel for his breaking ball, so we encouraged him to come and we guaranteed him a roster spot,” Kansas coach Ritch Price said. “Obviously, he’s the first guy that gets his upgrade next fall with the books and tuition. He’s earned it.”
Walz retired the first eight batters he faced. The only hit he allowed through five innings was a fourth-inning double by Mitch Abeita that would have been a routine fly had the wind not knocked the ball down in front of baffled right fielder Ryne Price.
By then, Walz’s friend, Brian Polodna, a student at Arizona State, needn’t wonder whether it’d been worth it to use his frequent flier mileage.
“He called me last night and I was like, ‘Oh, don’t worry about coming down,’” Walz said. “Then he called me this morning and said he was here. I couldn’t believe it.
“We have a saying and he said it to me — ‘Confidence, baby!’ — and I was thinking about that the whole time.”
Kansas (25-18 overall, 5-10 in the Big 12), was clinging to a 2-1 lead going into the seventh but scored three runs to give Walz and reliever Paul Smyth plenty of cushion.
A single by Erik Morrison and one-out walks by Joe Southers and Tony Thompson got NU starter Aaron Pribanic out of the game. Against Zach Herr, another Skutt grad, Casey Larson produced a sacrifice fly. Then, after Herr walked Robby Price, John Allman delivered a two-run single to make it 5-2.
Nebraska would never get any closer while losing for only the second time in 24 home games this season.
“They were a little bit better prepared and came out fighting in the first inning,” NU coach Mike Anderson said of the Jayhawks. “Our goal is to try to get on top, especially when you’re trying to sweep. We feel like if you can get a team down early from an emotional standpoint. … We didn’t do that. They did, and then kept us off balance the rest of the day.”
Most of that could be credited to Walz, who was dominant at Skutt and two years ago helped the Skyhawks to a third-place finish at the state tournament.
“We thought one of two things would happen,” Price said. “He’d come home, and if he got out of the first inning he’d be really good. Or he might not get out of the first inning if he let the nerves get to him a little bit. But, he’s an engineering major and he’s really calm and cool and poised — it’s a great performance.”
It came in front of a crowd of 5,964, which, with the exception of a small gathering of Walz supporters sitting in the grass berm beyond first base, were hoping the Huskers would give him a much ruder treatment.
“I grew up watching the Huskers, and it was nice to come in here and beat them,” said Walz, who after being promoted into the weekend rotation last week because of the ineffectiveness of others, got a win by limiting Texas Tech to a run over 51/3 innings. “I just tried to throw strikes and keep my team in the game.”
Nebraska, which won the weekend’s first two contests, had to settle for finishing with a 2-1 edge in the regular-season series against the Jayhawks for the eighth straight year.
The Huskers (28-7-1, 13-4-1) have almost no time to think about their second home loss in 24 games this season. They play host to Creighton at 6:35 p.m. Tuesday, then face the Bluejays at Omaha’s Rosenblatt Stadium on Wednesday at 6:30 p.m.
NU returns to Big 12 action with a three-game series at Baylor this weekend.
Reach Curt McKeever at 473-7441 or cmckeever@journalstar.com.
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