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In his first start against a Big 12 team, he had pitched like he belonged. He was throwing a shutout. But still, MU’s Kurt Calvert, the possible tying run, stood on second base with two outs in the seventh inning.
Hall, a sophomore left-hander from Lee’s Summit, hurled his best slider — one he had been saving up for years — and struck out Missouri third baseman Kyle Mach looking. KU went on to beat No. 15 Missouri 3-0 in front of 3,847 fans at Kauffman Stadium.
After his last pitch of the night, Hall walked off the field and doled out some of the most energetic high-fives of his life.
“I just got a little pumped up,” said Hall, a graduate of Lee’s Summit West. “I don’t really show my emotions that much, but tonight, I had to. I was playing at Kauffman against Mizzou.”
When Hall got to Kauffman Stadium on Tuesday afternoon, about three hours before the first pitch, he couldn’t stop grinning. Sure, he was the Jayhawks’ No. 4 starter. Sure, he brought a 6.02 ERA into the game. Sure, Big 12 batters were hitting .435 off him. But he knew Tuesday was his night.
“I was anxious all day,” Hall said. “I’ve grown up being a Kansas City Royals fan my whole life, and this is my first time playing in Kauffman Stadium. Every summer, I come out to 10 or 15 games. It’s unbelievable.”
Hall looked around the ballpark he knew so well. He never knew it like this, from the field, in uniform, with the ball in his hand on the mound. Hall tried to block out the cheers of his friends, family and former Lee’s Summit West teammates. But he couldn’t.
“It’s kind of hard to explain,” Hall said. “Pitching in Kansas City, in front of people you know, where you grew up, it’s just for real, you know?”
Hall showed his nerves early, getting behind in some counts. But great defense behind him helped nudge him along. Once he got comfortable, Hall started to look like a weekend starter. Hall’s final line against the Tigers: Seven innings, five hits, two walks, four strikeouts, 97 pitches. Missouri never had a runner get past second base.
KU coach Ritch Price understood the importance of Hall’s strikeout of Mach. He would not let Hall throw another pitch, turning the final two innings over to closer Paul Smyth.
“We wanted Shaeffer to walk off that mound in front of his hometown,” Price said, “and let him feel tremendous about his performance.”
A second-inning solo home run from right fielder Ryne Price and an eighth-inning single from left fielder John Allman that drove in two runs were more than enough for Hall.
Before Hall’s masterful performance, the Jayhawks, 26-22, had lost four in a row and six of their last seven, falling into last place in the Big 12 standings at 5-13. While Tuesday’s game did not count as a conference game — KU and MU play a three-game series May 9-11 in Lawrence— the victory should give Kansas some much-needed momentum heading into a crucial eight-game home stand.
And more faith in their No. 4 starter.
“He was huge,” Ryne Price said, “to walk in here and not be nervous and pound the strike zone. He let us play for him.”
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