April 12, 2003
No. 18 Texas A&M (29-14, 7-4) defeated the Jayhawks (22-14, 2-8) 6-1 in Lawrence at Jayhawk Field on the campus of the University of Kansas on Saturday. Jessica Slataper got the start and the win as her teammates provided her with plenty of run support off of twelve hits including two Aggie home runs.
Selena Collins provided the Aggies' first runs of the day in the opening inning when she deposited the 2-2 count from Kansas pitcher Kara Pierce over the left field wall bringing in Adrian Gregory, who walked and stole second, giving the Aggies a 2-0 lead. The home run was Collins' 11th of the year and is tops among all Big 12 players this season.
The Jayhawks cut the Aggie lead in half in the bottom of the third inning when KU shortstop Destiny Frankenstein hit her third home run of the season over the left-center field fence.
In the top of the fifth Aggie junior designated player Lindsay Wilhelmson gave A&M its second two-run lead as she hit a laser into center field that cleared the wall and raised her season total to eight.
The Aggies added a fourth run in the sixth inning when freshman Kristin Gunter hit a double off of the left field wall scoring right fielder Rocky Spencer from second. Spencer reached on an infield single and advanced to second on a past ball.
In the seventh inning sophomore Jana James led off with her second double of the day and advanced to third on a Jennifer Davis single. Atkins came into pinch run for Davis and immediately stole second giving the Aggies runners on second and third with no outs. Cheryl Fowler reached on a walk and advanced to second when Adrian Gregory grounded out scoring James and moving Atkins to third. With a 5-0 lead A&M tacked one more run on as Atkins scored on a past ball increasing the Ags lead to 6-0.
A&M retired Kansas' first three batters in the bottom of the seventh ending the game and giving the Aggies the win.
With the win junior Jessica Slataper improved her overall record to 10-10 and moved to 4-3 in conference action. The right-hander from Humble struck out eight and allowed only one run on five Jayhawk hits.
As a team the Aggies have 34 home runs on the season which is one home run shy of tying the season team record of 35 set by last years squad.
A&M and Kansas face off again tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. at Jayhawk Field in Lawrence.