Kansas defeated No. 12 Oklahoma State in the first game of a Big 12 weekend series.
Game Two didn’t go quite as well.
After dropping Saturday’s opener 6-4, Oklahoma State blasted Kansas 16-5 on Sunday at Hoglund Ballpark.
“We didn’t throw the ball over the plate today and I was real disappointed with that,” Kansas head coach Bobby Randall said.
The Cowboys (11-3, 4-1 Big 12) collected 12 hits and five hits off six Jayhawk pitchers. KU starter Dan Olson (1-2) lasted only 12/3 innings.
Olson was called on to start on short notice in place of Justin Wilcher.
“Wilcher came up sore … I think it’s just a minor thing, but we’re being careful with him,” said Randall, whose team fell to 7-5, 1-4. “We want him for the whole year so we just held him out of this game.”
OSU jumped on Olson in a six-run second inning. Olson was charged with five of the runs, while reliever Sam Gish gave up the other. Gish didn’t fare much better as OSU tacked on six more runs in the third.
“I felt like we stayed in the ball game close, but the ballgame was over after about the bottom of the third,” Randall said.
KU’s John Nelson smacked a run-scoring single to right field in the bottom of the third, cutting OSU’s lead to 12-1.
Oklahoma added two more runs in the fourth to increase its lead to 14-1 before Kansas attempted a comeback with a three-run fifth inning. Doug Dreher had a two-run double in that inning.
Nelson and Jason Appuhn both had two hits for Kansas.
Nebassett Brown sparked OSU with a double, triple, four RBIs and two runs scored. Luke Scott led the Cowboys with three hits.
OSU starter Nick McCurdy (3-1) allowed six hits and four runs in six innings.
“We’re not going to dwell on this, but we will talk about it,” Randall said. “We’re going to get this one out of our system and come back ready to play tomorrow.”
KU faces OSU at 1 p.m. today at Hoglund Park. Jake Wright is scheduled to start on the mound for the Jayhawks.
