While the weather was different for the final game of the series between Kansas and Utah on Saturday, the result was not. The Jayhawks took home a 13-9 victory over the Utes amid whipping wind and brisk temperatures at Hoglund Ballpark.
Pitching was a struggle for both sides all weekend long. The teams combined for 26 runs on 32 hits and 11 walks on Thursday night, which included four home runs for the Jayhawks in the ninth inning to walk it off, and 23 runs on 24 hits and 13 walks on Friday afternoon.
On Saturday, it was the same story. Kansas scored 13 runs on 10 hits, walking seven times, while the Utes scored nine runs on 13 hits, along with five walks.
A key moment in Saturday’s series closer for Kansas came in the bottom of the seventh inning. With the Jayhawks trailing by one run, a one-out error and a walk put two men on for senior right fielder Jordan Bach, who knotted things up with a fielder’s choice that forced a throwing error, which in turn left two runners on base for junior second baseman Cade Baldridge.
After working a 2-1 count, Baldridge rocketed a three run, 428-foot blast over the right center field wall and sent the Jayhawks dugout into a frenzy and gave Kansas a 13-9 lead.
“Well, I got sprayed with a squirt gun and I didn’t see who did it,” Kansas head coach Dan Fitzgerald said after the game. “I think everyone got sprayed with the squirt gun. At one point, there was a traffic cone in the dugout. We have a new chain that has a Jayhawk on it, that spins I think and everyone in the dugout was wet and it didn’t rain, so it was total carnage.”
Fitzgerald said that he was happy that Baldrige got the chance to make an adjustment after he grounded out in a similar situation on Friday.
“I thought I put a lot of good swings on the ball this weekend,” Baldridge said. “The biggest disappointment for me was just not being able to get on base for the hot lineup that’s behind me, so when I was able to come through in that situation, that was big for me.”
While Baldridge was the player who came through for the Jayhawks on the offensive side, it was sophomore right hander Mason Cook who stepped up for Kansas on the mound. The JUCO transfer tossed four innings of one-run ball and struck out six Utes in his longest relief outing of conference play.
“Everything felt comfortable,” Cook said. “Curveball, cutter, sinker, slider, it just all connected and felt great.”
After striking out a batter looking to end the eighth inning, Cook walked off the mound with some emotion and entered a raucous Kansas dugout.
“I’ve only been here for, I don’t even know, like eight months? And this team is unreal,” Cook said. “We bonded like crazy, like it’s actually unreal. The dugout’s on fire every game and it’s just like if someone goes down, the other guy’s got their back, the chemistry is unreal on this team.”
Kansas junior right hander Dominic Voegele got the start and made it through three innings allowing just one run before the wheels fell off in the fourth and Utah tagged him for six in the frame, ultimately chasing him from the game.
“I think if anyone in college baseball knows it’s up and sometimes it’s down, it’s a starting pitcher in their third year of starting literally every weekend,” Fitzgerald said of Voegele. “I don’t think Dom’s surprised by a whole lot, period, and I think you couple in the fact that he’s a very stoic, mentally tough competitor.”
Fitzgerald said that Voegele had to get six outs in the fourth and that was one of the reasons for his struggles. Utah reached base on a high pop fly that the Jayhawks were unable to track in the wind and another flyout that junior left fielder Brady Ballinger struggled to read in the conditions. The Utes also received the benefit on a close play at first that was reviewed by the umpires, but the call was confirmed, allowing Utah to plate its sixth run of the frame.
Although Voegele gave up seven runs, he received run support from his team.
Kansas got going early in the bottom of the first. After loading the bases with nobody out, Ballinger struck out and senior designated hitter Dariel Osoria popped out to bring sophomore center fielder Tyson Owens to the dish, and he came through for the Jayhawks.
Owens slashed a two-run single into left and senior catcher Max Soliz Jr. followed it up with an RBI single to give Kansas a 3-0 lead heading into the top of the second.
Owens was the man to deliver again in the third. With the bases loaded, he smacked a triple into the gap to add three more for the Jayhawks. Another RBI single from Soliz gave Kansas a 7-1 lead before Voegele was rocked in the fourth.
Utah added another in the fifth on a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch, but the Jayhawks were able to respond courtesy of a two-run blast from junior shortstop Tyson LeBlanc. The home run was the 12th of the year for the Kansas shortstop, who holds the team lead in the category.
With the help from Baldridge and Cook down the stretch, the Jayhawks were able to walk away with a 13-9 victory and secured a series sweep. Kansas now sits at 9-3 in Big 12 play, which is second in the conference. The Jayhawks will get a chance to play league-leading UCF next weekend at Hoglund Ballpark in a battle for conference supremacy.
Before they can get to the Knights, Kansas will have to travel north to take on an old Big Eight foe, the Nebraska Cornhuskers. The Jayhawks and Huskers will reignite their century-old rivalry on Tuesday night at 6:05 p.m.
