Kansas baseball claims first conference title since 1949
For the first time in 76 years, the Kansas Jayhawks baseball team stands alone at the top of the conference.
No. 14 Kansas captured the outright Big 12 regular-season championship Friday night with a dramatic 7-6 victory over BYU. The win, paired with West Virginia’s loss at home to TCU, officially clinched the conference title for the Jayhawks.
Kansas entered the night holding a one-game lead in the standings and left the field celebrating the program’s first regular-season conference championship since 1949.
The championship marks another milestone for head coach Dan Fitzgerald, who inherited a program that finished at the bottom of the Big 12 going into the 2023 season.
[Jayhawks take game one over BYU]
Kansas improved to 39-15 overall and 22-7 in conference play, extending the school record for Big 12 victories in a season. The Jayhawks also matched the program record with 20 road wins and secured their eighth conference series victory of the year, another new school record.
The win didn’t come easy, even though it looked like it might.
After building a 6-0 lead through six innings, the Jayhawks watched BYU storm back with three runs in the seventh inning and three more in the eighth to tie the game at 6-6. But as they have done most of the season, KU answered.
With one out in the top of the ninth inning, Tyson Owens launched a towering home run to put Kansas back in front 7-6.
Kansas starting pitcher Mason Cook controlled the game for much of the night. Cook did not allow a hit until the seventh inning and turned in one of his strongest outings of the season, working 6.1 innings while allowing three runs and striking out six hitters.
Kansas opened the scoring in the second inning when Jordan Bach delivered a two-out RBI double. Bach later added another RBI single in the fourth inning before Augusto Mungarrieta followed with a run-scoring double to stretch the advantage to 3-0.
The Jayhawks expanded the lead in the sixth inning when Mungarrieta launched a two-run homer before Tyson LeBlanc followed immediately with a solo shot of his own. LeBlanc’s 19th homer of the season moved him into sole possession of the third-most home runs in a single season in program history.
BYU eventually erased the deficit with a game-tying three-run homer from Easton Jones in the eighth inning.
Fitzgerald says accomplishment was four years in the making
After Owens delivered the go-ahead homer in the ninth, Boede Rahe closed out the final inning despite BYU putting two runners on. Rahe recorded all three outs to secure his ninth save of the season and sent the Jayhawks to a field storm.
“It feels pretty good,” Fitzgerald said after the game. “I’m so proud of these guys. This is four years in the making.”
Fitzgerald said the accomplishment extended outside the dugout to many people who are involved with the program.
“It’s our families, it’s all of our wives,” Fitzgerald said. “It’s the entire Jayhawk Nation, it’s our administration and it’s hundreds of people who have led to this moment. It’s pretty special.”
Kansas will close the regular season Saturday against BYU before turning its attention toward next week’s Big 12 tournament. The Jayhawks will be the number one seed.
