Arlington, Texas — The Kansas baseball team carried its penchant for comebacks into the postseason on Thursday night, as the Jayhawks turned a 6-2 seventh-inning deficit against Oklahoma State in the Big 12 tournament into a 7-6 win, walking off on a blooper by Mike Koszewski into shallow left field.
Kansas headed into the seventh having recorded eight straight outs and not having scored since the third, before sparking an eight-batter rally which culminated in a three-run home run by Brady Ballinger to tie the game at 6-6 and set the Jayhawks up for their sixth walk-off of the season.
“I did tell them when it was 6-2 in the seventh, I said, ‘Guys, you know what we’re going to do. I’d prefer we do something about it now, instead of waiting until the ninth,'” said head coach Dan Fitzgerald. “And you know, there’s just a looseness to them, and they’re a special group. And there’s no one more descriptive of that than Mike Koszewski.”
Kansas’ offense was largely nonexistent for much of the night after Derek Cerda and Ballinger had hit back-to-back doubles to start the game. Most notably, the Jayhawks failed to record a walk in the first six innings of the night, but Michael Brooks’ walk in the seventh sparked the rally that tied the game on Ballinger’s home run.
“I think walks are rally starters … and it’s huge, man, it gets the pitch count up, and obviously (OSU pitcher Harrison) Bodendorf was, you know, scattering hits, all that sort of stuff,” KU outfielder Jackson Hauge said. “So when you can get a guy like that out of the game, that’s a big deal. And walks are a huge part of that. So it’s something that we value as an offense in controlling the plate and not going away from that.”
OSU saved its ace in the Big 12 Co-Newcomer of the Year Bodendorf for its second game of the tournament, setting up a top-tier matchup as he took on Kansas ace Dominic Voegele.
But while Voegele got the better of Bodendorf in their first matchup back in March, Bodendorf came out on top in the postseason. After allowing two hits on his first two pitches, he locked down for six innings of two-run ball while Voegele had his second-shortest start of the year, going only four innings and allowing six runs on five hits and four walks. The biggest killer for Voegele was his unusual inability to get out of the inning with two outs, as the Cowboys scored all six of their runs off of him with two outs and drew three two-out walks as well.
But a walk forced Bodendorf out after 6 1/3 innings, setting up the four-run seventh in which Kansas tied the game at six and greatly skewed Bodendorf’s final line.
“That guy was rolling today, Bodendorf, again, was just hitting the spots for some weak contact, and started spraying, threw around, took advantage of it, and once we got him out of the game, we were able to do damage on the relievers,” Ballinger said.
Voegele started the night off looking like his dominant self, recording clean first and second innings while KU went ahead 1-0. But he imploded in the third, more than doubling his pitch count by throwing 35 pitches and giving up three runs with two outs in the inning.
The Jayhawks bounced back with a solo shot by Hauge in their half of the third to make it 3-2, but Voegele’s fourth inning got even rougher, as he gave up two hits and two walks with two outs as the Cowboys took a 6-2 lead and forced him off the mound.
After a one-out single by Brooks in the fourth, Kansas recorded eight straight outs while Manning West replaced Voegele on the mound and pitched 2 1/3 innings while allowing no runs. Breckheimer came on to grab the last two outs of the seventh, eventually throwing 2 2/3 innings of his own and recording the save.
After Breckheimer escaped the seventh inning, Brooks’ eight-pitch battle for a free pass was just what the Jayhawks needed, as a single by Sawyer Smith and sacrifice fly by Tommy Barth drove in their first run since the third and made it a 6-3 game. Ian Francis’ 10-pitch walk then got Bodendorf out of the game, setting up the two-out, three-run home run by Ballinger to tie the game in the seventh.
Breckheimer walked the tightrope in the eighth, entering his third inning of relief, as he allowed two singles but grabbed two three-pitch strikeouts to keep the Cowboys off the board and the Jayhawks alive for another inning. Brooks looked primed to start another rally in the bottom of the eighth after hitting a one-out single, but a double play ended the threat and brought Breckheimer back out for the ninth.
At one point he threw seven straight balls, but he ultimately blew two batters away for a scoreless inning to give Kansas its last chance for its 26th come-from-behind victory of the year.
“Coach (Brandon) Scott came out there, and I was sweating kind of profusely, and I used his sweatshirt a little bit (to wipe it off),” Breckheimer said. “He kind of laughed at me. He just told me he’s just giving me a break. Just reset, lock in, and just do what I’ve been doing all year, and just give it my best.”
Barth started things off with a walk before being moved up to second on a fielder’s choice by pinch-hitter TJ Williams. Williams almost beat out another fielder’s choice to load the bases, but was ultimately called out at second after review, leading the Cowboys to intentionally walk Ballinger to load the bases with one out.
“But just like the whole combination of all those guys, you know, going in and doing their job, and that’s what we’re huge on, is coming up to the ballpark every day, ready to do your job,” Hauge said. “And that’s just a huge example (of) that on the big stage.”
That brought Koszewski up to the plate after he’d come in the game to pinch-run for Hauge in the seventh. Koszewski’s role has been much different this season than in his past two years with the program, as he has mainly served as a late-inning defensive replacement. But he has embraced the role and made it his own, and he dropped a single into no man’s land behind third base for his second walk-off in Kansas’ past five games.
“We said it, like, over and over again, that we’re the never-say-die Hawks, and we truly, like, believe in that and that we’re going to get ours when it comes,” Hauge said. “And, you know, you never lose — you just run out of time. So we take it pitch by pitch, at-bat to at-bat, and try to make it a team game. And good things happen when you do that.”
Kansas will look to keep its Big 12 run alive on Friday at 7:30 p.m. when it takes on the winner of Thursday night’s Houston-TCU game in its second straight Big 12 semifinal, with Cooper Moore likely on the mound for KU.
Kansas pitcher Alex Breckheimer winds up during the game against Oklahoma State on Thursday, May 22, 2025, in Arlington, Texas.
Kansas infielder Brady Ballinger rounds the bases during the game against Oklahoma State on Thursday, May 22, 2025, in Arlington, Texas.
Kansas pitcher Alex Breckheimer releases a pitch during the game against Oklahoma State on Thursday, May 22, 2025, in Arlington, Texas.
The Kansas baseball team celebrates after winning the game against Oklahoma State on Thursday, May 22, 2025, in Arlington, Texas.
Kansas outfielder Mike Koszewski prepares for a pitch from Oklahoma State in the quarterfinal round of the Big 12 tournament on Thursday, May 22, 2025, at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas.
Davis Kuhn/Big 12 Conference
Val Montanez/Special to the Journal-World
Val Montanez/Special to the Journal-World
Val Montanez/Special to the Journal-World
Val Montanez/Special to the Journal-World
Val Montanez/Special to the Journal-World