A trio of out-of-conference games didn’t do anything to improve the record of the Kansas baseball team as the regular season nears its end.
KU lost two of three games over the weekend to Samford in Birmingham, Ala. KU went into the Saturday game with a chance to win the series but lost 9-7.
It was a late-inning loss at that. KU took a four-run lead in the sixth inning, but Samford scored six unanswered runs over the next two innings, and KU never recovered.
The Jayhawks are now 23-28 as they begin their final regular season series of the year on Thursday. KU will be playing Texas Tech with an outside chance of moving up in the conference standings. It will require, though, the Jayhawks sweeping all three games of the series. KU enters the contests with a 7-14 league mark, which has them in eighth place in the nine-team conference. Texas Tech currently is 10-11 in Big 12 play, so KU could tie the Red Raiders with a sweep.
The Jayhawks also might find motivation on the other end of the equation. KU is only one win better than last-place Baylor. If KU puts up multiple losses and Baylor puts up multiple wins, the Jayhawks could fall to the bottom of the standings.
KU did get some players hot in the Samford series. Redshirt sophomore Michael Brooks homered in back-to-back games and recorded three hits in Saturday’s loss. Brooks now has seven home runs on the season, with all seven coming in the last 15 games. Freshman Kodey Shojinaga also extended his hitting streak to 17 games on the season.
The second game of the series, played on Friday, was the highlight for KU. The Jayhawks pounded six home runs in a 12-4 victory. Janson Reeder, Collier Cranford, Chase Jans, Shojinaga, Brooks and Cole Elvis all hit home runs in the game.
The closest game of the series was the opener on Thursday. KU lost that contest 3-2. The Jayhawks tied the game at two on an opposite-field home run by Chase Jans in the eighth inning. Samford, though, bounced back with a solo home run in the eighth inning, which ended up being the game winner.
KU did get a quality start out of Collin Baumgartner. The hurler lowered his season ERA to 3.95 heading into the final regular season series.