The Kansas baseball team was perilously close to stranding its 13th, 14th and 15th runners of the game in the eighth inning on Thursday evening when St. Thomas gave the Jayhawks a gift.
Second baseman Tanner Recchio’s throw on a two-out ground ball hit by Dariel Osoria pulled Joe Roder off the bag, allowing a pair of KU runners to score and breaking a 2-2 tie for the Jayhawks’ first lead of the night.
Boede Rahe then struck out three straight Tommies to wrap up a 4-2 victory for KU in its home opener at Hoglund Ballpark.
“Everybody knew I had that moment last year,” said Osoria, who hit a heroic walk-off grand slam on Feb. 27, 2025, in his first home game as a Jayhawk. “I was just trying to make sure I just came up in the clutch, just tried to put the ball in play. Good things happen when you put the ball in play.”
Osoria and Dylan Schlotterback had two hits apiece for the Jayhawks, who improved to 8-4 on the year despite six total hits on the night.
“I thought we swung the bats better,” KU coach Dan Fitzgerald said. “(Cade) Baldridge lines out to right, lines out to first. I thought we got some good swings off.”
Rahe took the win as he, Riane Ritter and Toby Scheidt combined to shut out St. Thomas for the final 4 1/3 innings.
“It’s just kind of like what (pitching coach Brandon Scott) preaches, just like pounding the zone, getting ahead of guys, just waiting for your turn and just taking advantage of it, and then handing off to the next guy,” Ritter said.
Recchio went 3-for-5 for the Tommies as Zak Endres took the loss thanks to the two unearned runs.
St. Thomas (2-10) got on the board early when Recchio bunted for a single, stole second and then came around to score when Jordan Bach misplayed a hard-hit ball sent to right field by Owen Bond.
“We knew he was going to bunt,” Fitzgerald said, “we were in, and he made a great, great play, and then obviously, they get that one in the first.”
The Jayhawks drew a pair of walks, but Tyson Owens struck out looking on a full count and St. Thomas starter Brayden Olson snagged a bouncing ball hit up the middle by Osoria to help secure the third out.
KU stranded a pair of runners again in the second inning after getting its first two hits of the game with one out.
St. Thomas threatened in the fourth inning when KU starter Mason Cook allowed a one-out single and then hit consecutive batters with pitches. The Jayhawks turned a 6-4-3 double play on a ground ball by Terek Verhage, which was upheld upon review, allowing them to escape unscathed as the score remained 1-0.
KU evened the score in the bottom of the fourth on a balk by Olson. That scored Augusto Mungarrieta after he had reached third base on a single by Schlotterback.
Left fielder Matthew Maulik was able to track down Max Soliz Jr.’s shot to left field, and Bach grounded out to end the threat.
The Tommies put runners at the corners with one out before Schlotterback laid out for a diving catch at the foul line. However, Maulik singled on the first pitch of his at-bat and St. Thomas went back ahead 2-1.
Ritter, a former Tommie, entered in relief and got Lucas McNellis to fly out to center field to end the top half of the fifth inning.
“I know so many of them so well, so it’s pretty cool to compete against them, but like I said, it’s another day at the job,” Ritter said. “You still got to get the work done, even though it is my old team … I definitely had this one and Minnesota circled, on my calendar at least.”
Osoria, mired in a somewhat slow start to the season, dropped a single into left field to score Brady Ballinger and tie the game with two outs in the home half of the fifth. Osoria got all the way around to third over the course of Baldridge’s at-bat, but Baldridge flied out to right field.
St. Thomas took Olson out with one out in the sixth inning as KU had runners on first and second. Lefty Sam Stockman entered to face the top of the Jayhawks’ lineup. Stockman successfully got Bach to pop out but then hit Ballinger. The biggest at-bat to that point for KU fell to Tyson LeBlanc, who immediately grounded out to third base.
Ritter continued to mow down the Tommies. Osoria’s one-out double in the bottom of the seventh was the game’s first extra-base hit, and Baldridge walked. After a mound visit, Stockman got both Mungarrieta and Schlotterback to fly out to left field.
Replacing Ritter, Scheidt got KU into some trouble when he allowed a single and a walk. Rahe came in and got the last two outs of the eighth inning. (Fitzgerald said postgame that Scheidt was dealing with a blister.)
Endres allowed a two-hit walk to Ballinger and LeBlanc reached on an error at shortstop. Owens battled his way to a full count and drew a walk of his own to set up Osoria, whose 0-2 ground ball went right to Recchio. The second baseman threw confidently but errantly, allowing Osoria to make it safe to first base as Ballinger and LeBlanc scored.
Recchio singled to lead off the ninth, but Rahe struck out Bond looking, got Roder swinging to conclude a hard-fought at-bat, then caught Maulik looking for the final out.
The Jayhawks will continue their series against the Tommies at 1 p.m. on Friday at Hoglund Ballpark. The game was moved earlier due to potential inclement weather.
