Mathematical is just about the only chance Kansas University’s baseball team has of playing in the postseason.
After dropping the finale of its weekend Big 12 series with Teas Tech, 12-4, on Sunday at Hoglund Ballpark, KU fell to 22-23 overall, 8-16 in the league.
Tech (27-19 and 15-9) won the first and third games in the series, sending the Jayhawks to their sixth 2-1 Big 12 series loss of the season with two series to play. Kansas beat Iowa State, 2-1, but was swept in three games by Nebraska.
“After dropping two, we know we have to win a lot of games,” KU senior first baseman Shane Wedd said. “We’re probably to the point we have to count on some people to lose some games. (But) this is the first time our players have had a shot at the end. There’s some hunger on this team to make it to the next level.”
Mathematically, KU has the best chance of catching Texas A&M (21-28, 10-14) for the eighth and final berth into the Big 12 postseason tournament, but the Jayhawks will play their final six league games on the road at mighty Baylor and at archrival Kansas State. The Aggies have Texas and Missouri left.
Kansas went into the Tech series thinking it needed to win seven of its last nine to qualify. Afterward, KU coach Bobby Randall revised that figure downward.
“It could be done with less,” Randall said. “But other teams would have to lose a lot. I still think we have to win at least three to have any chance, and that might not be nearly enough.”
After dropping two, we know we have to win a lot of games.
Shane Wedd
The Jayhawks would have loved to have made up ground in the finale against Tech, and Randall thought they had a chance, what with a scintillating 4-0 shutout victory over the Raiders on Saturday and Brandon O’Neal, the Jayhawks’ hard-throwing right-hander, on the hill.
But O’Neal was touched for seven runs off 11 hits over 61/3 innings, including a three-run Chaz Eiguren bomb that turned a 4-2 Tech lead through six into a 7-2 edge in the seventh.
“We’d been throwing the ball past Eiguren all weekend,” Randall said. “We sure didn’t throw that one past him. He hit that a long way.”
Jason Rainey followed with a solo shot off Sam Gish to make it 8-2. The Red Raiders put up another four-spot in the eighth to take the mystery out of the outcome.
“I felt good about the game going in with Brandon pitching,” Randall said. “But he wasn’t the best pitcher out there today. Cory Metzler was very good for them. They handled Brandon real well. (Metzler) had good stuff, a great breaking ball, and we didn’t adjust. The only balls we hit hard were outs. And I don’t think Brandon had great stuff. He was up, and his breaking ball had no snap.”
Metzler (4-2) allowed four runs off 12 hits over the full nine innings. He walked none and struck out three.
Wedd, Casey Spanish, Doug Dreher and Matt Oakes each had two hits for the Jayhawks.
“All we have to worry about is winning the next game,” said Spanish, the Jayhawks’ freshman second baseman. “We put ourselves in a hole, but we’ve kept fighting. The next two series are real big.”
Kansas will play host to Washburn on Tuesday, then travel to Baylor on Friday.