The Kansas baseball team completed a three-game sweep of Kansas State for the second straight year — but for the first time in Manhattan since 1963 — by beating the Wildcats 9-7 on Sunday at Tointon Family Stadium.
The Jayhawks (33-11) still have plenty more work to do with three Big 12 weekend series remaining, but they are sitting pretty in the league standings with a three-game lead at 17-4 in conference play and have played themselves into consideration to host an NCAA regional. KU has not finished first in a conference since winning the Big Seven in 1949 and has never hosted a regional.
After Saturday’s late-game chaos, Sunday brought a quiet final four innings that occurred five hours and seven minutes late thanks to a weather delay.
The Jayhawks entered the delay with an 8-6 lead. Pitchers Robert Fortenberry of KSU and Madden Seidl had each allowed four runs in a tumultuous second inning. KU briefly inched back ahead on a sacrifice fly by Dariel Osoria, only for Bear Madliak and Micah Kendrick to chase Seidl with consecutive RBI singles in the bottom of the third.
Kannon Carr silenced the Wildcats, striking out five batters in a row and retiring eight straight. In the meantime, the Jayhawks tied the game with an additional sacrifice fly by Tyson LeBlanc in the fourth and went ahead on Tyson Owens’ solo home run in the fifth. Josh Dykhoff doubled and Dylan Schlotterback brought him home to make it 8-6 and send KSU deeper into its bullpen.
Hours and hours of rain and lightning later, both lineups experienced significantly less success. K-State’s Tazwell Butler, who had gotten a pair of late outs on Saturday, only allowed one baserunner in his first three innings of action. KU’s Carter Fink, an East Tennessee State transfer who has not appeared often of late, pitched more than a single inning for the first time since March 21. He held the Wildcats scoreless while allowing one hit and one walk in three innings.
The Jayhawks got a bit of insurance on a solo shot from their home-run leader LeBlanc in the top of the ninth, and then KU closer Boede Rahe allowed a two-out RBI single to KSU’s Dee Kennedy in the home half. The Wildcats brought the tying run to the plate, but it was Austin Haley, who had not recorded a hit on the year, and he struck out to conclude the marathon game.
Now the Jayhawks will turn their attention to a midweek date with Wichita State at Eck Stadium on Tuesday at 6:05 p.m. (KU previously beat the Shockers 5-2 in Lawrence on April 14.)
In the meantime, some recent developments have improved their outlook atop the conference. West Virginia, last year’s Big 12 champion, lost two of three at Cincinnati to drop into a tie for third place with TCU at 13-8. Arizona State and UCF each swept over the weekend to move to 14-7; however, they will meet in a series next weekend in Orlando, Florida. That presents KU with an opportunity to gain some additional ground if it can succeed next weekend at Hoglund Ballpark against Arizona (16-26, 7-14 Big 12), which was picked second in the conference but sits in 12th amid a disappointing season.
The rest of KU’s schedule ahead of the Big 12 tournament in Surprise, Arizona, includes a midweek date with Big East leader Creighton, a home series against WVU and a road series at BYU.
As for the hosting race, the Jayhawks surged into No. 12 in Warren Nolan’s live RPI as of Sunday night. They do have the weakest strength of schedule of any team on the list until it reaches WVU at No. 25, and last year no Big 12 teams hosted regionals.
