Things Kansas University’s baseball team likely won’t see come opening day in February: a 33-year-old designated hitter, players leaving and re-entering a game, gift exchanges, team photos with an opponent and the use of wooden bats.

But the Jayhawks saw all that and more in an 8-0 exhibition victory against the Croatian national team Sunday evening at Hoglund Ballpark – KU’s only non-intrasquad game during a 45-day fall practice season.

Jayhawks head coach Ritch Price used nine pitchers – one in each inning – to combine on a two-hitter against a Croatian team not used to facing the velocity of Division I college pitching.

Up until the seventh inning, Croatia had more broken bats (one) than hits (none). But Croatian shortstop Jason Popishil ended the no-hit bid with two outs in the seventh, lining a single into left that was trapped and barely escaped the grasp of John Allman’s glove.

“I tried to dive and sell it to the umpire, but it didn’t work out,” Allman said. “It was a good sell though, right?”

Kansas broke the game open with a four-run fifth inning, culminating in catcher Buck Afenir’s two-RBI, ground-rule double to center. The Jayhawks added three more runs in the seventh, and Paul Smyth closed out the game after giving up Croatia’s only other hit in the ninth inning.

Kansas University's Robby Price gets tagged out at home by Ernesto Pereira (24). Despite the out, the Jayhawks beat the Croatian national team, 8-0, in an exhibition Sunday at Hoglund Ballpark.

So how does a team from Croatia end up in Kansas in the first place?

It turns out Kansas City, Kan., is a sister city of Croatian manager Krunoslav Karin’s hometown of Karlovac. Karin first brought a group to play area teams three years ago. When the opportunity arose for him to bring his national team to compete against community colleges and the likes of KU this time around, he jumped at the chance.

“We just came here to prepare ourselves,” Karin said, comparing the experience to spring training. “You don’t care too much about winning or losing, but obviously you would like to win.”

The game was Croatia’s last stop before entering the European baseball championships next week in Barcelona. The winner earns an automatic qualification to the 2008 Summer Olympics.

For KU, Sunday was only the second day of its fall baseball practice season. Price sent 18 hitters to the plate in an effort to get as many players as possible playing time.

Allman, Afenir and Justin Ellrich paced KU’s nine-hit attack with two RBI each.

After using the NCAA maximum four hours to practice the day before, Price expressed satisfaction, particularly with his pitching staff.

“I think the big thing was there was command within the strike zone,” Price said.

Even though the game was merely an exhibition, Price still thought players were feeling the pressure of keeping the no-hitter going.

“You could kind of see some smiles a little bit (from other pitchers) when that guy got that first liner to left that thank God it wasn’t against them,” Price said. “But overall, I thought our guys did a nice job on them.”

Outfielder Nick Faunce was just glad to get out and face other competition, even it that meant facing an overmatched opponent.

“Obviously, the velocity and the hitting wasn’t the same as Big 12 opponents, but it was good for starting off the fall, getting a live game and getting to see who we have on the team and what they can do,” Faunce said. “I think it was a good experience for us in that aspect.”