Jayhawks back to winning ways with win over BYU
No. 14 Kansas Jayhawks baseball team got back on the winning track Thursday night, opening its final regular-season series with a 9-6 win over BYU Cougars baseball in Provo.
The victory pushed Kansas to 38-15 overall and 21-7 in conference play, allowing the Jayhawks to maintain their one-game lead atop the Big 12 standings with two games remaining in the regular season. The win also gave Kansas a new program record for conference victories, surpassing last season’s mark of 20 league wins.
Kansas added another milestone during the night as the pitching staff established a new single-season school record for strikeouts. The Jayhawks now have 512 strikeouts this season.
[Jayhawks know what’s at stake in BYU series]
The offense wasted little time putting pressure on BYU. Tyson LeBlanc opened the game with a home run, his 18th of the season, tying him for the third-most homers in a single year in program history.
Kansas continued building momentum in the third inning after LeBlanc worked a walk and advanced on a wild pitch. Tyson Owens drove in a run with a single before Dariel Osoria lined a two-run triple into the left-field corner, extending the lead to 4-0.
The Jayhawks appeared in control after Josh Dykhoff launched a two-run homer later in the game to make it 6-0. Dykhoff finished with two home runs on the night, increasing his season total to 14.
Kansas starting pitcher Dominic Voegele cruised through much of the outing before BYU got things going in the fifth. After recording two outs, the Cougars strung together quality at-bats and scored four runs to quickly shift the momentum.
BYU added two more runs in the sixth inning to erase the deficit entirely and tie the game at 6-6.
With two outs in the top of the seventh inning, Dykhoff delivered again, hitting his second homer of the night to put the Jayhawks back in front for good at 7-6.
Kansas got some breathing room an inning later. Cade Baldridge delivered an RBI single before Owens later scored on a BYU fielding error, stretching the lead to three runs.
Bullpen has been a strength and stayed that way
From there, Boede Rahe took over.
Rahe entered with Kansas clinging to a one-run advantage and shut the door over the final three innings, striking out five hitters and earning his eighth save of the season.
Kansas head coach Dan Fitzgerald said the early offensive production helped the Jayhawks withstand BYU’s push to get back and tie the game.
“I thought our guys played really tough tonight against a really, really talented and well-coached BYU team,” Fitzgerald said. “The key was getting out in front and scoring some runs.”
Fitzgerald said Voegele battled well early before eventually running into trouble during the fifth inning.
“Dom hit a wall there in the fifth,” Fitzgerald said. “He got those first two outs in the fifth and then they did a really good job of scrapping through some at-bats.”
He also pointed to Rahe’s performance late in the game as one of the biggest moments of the night.
“I thought, obviously, it was enormous of Boede to come in and slam the door,” Fitzgerald said. “It was a great win. Thought we played tough and really proud of these guys.”
The Jayhawks will face BYU again tonight and Mason Cook is expected to get the start.
