West Virginia halts KU's conference winning streak
KU baseball saw its Big 12 home winning streak come to an end, falling 4-1 to No. 15 West Virginia at Hoglund Ballpark. The loss marked the Jayhawks’ first conference defeat at home this season, dropping them to 37-13 overall and 20-5 in league play.
The game was won with West Virginia’s Maxx Yehl who was dominant from start to finish. The left-hander went the distance, limiting Kansas to one run on six hits while striking out nine and consistently shutting down any momentum the Jayhawks tried to build.
“Yehl was lights out,” head coach Dan Fitzgerald said. “He had our number. We had a couple opportunities with leadoff guys on, but we just couldn’t get enough momentum going. He always had an answer for our punch back.”
KU starter Dominic Voegele matched that effort for much of the night, continuing one of the most consistent stretches of his career. The right-hander recorded his fifth straight quality start, striking out 10 over six innings while allowing three runs. In the process, he moved to 263 career strikeouts, passing Ryan Zeferjahn for third place in program history and setting the mark for most strikeouts by a Kansas pitcher over a three-year span.
[Fitzgerald Q&A going into West Virginia series]
“I thought Dom was great,” Fitzgerald said. “It reminded me a little bit of last Friday night — whoever got to the starter first. That’s the name of the game, but Dom was outstanding with 10 punchouts over six innings.”
West Virginia (33-12, 17-8 Big 12) broke through first in the third inning on a solo home run by Gavin Kelly. The Mountaineers added two more runs in the fourth, using an RBI single and a delayed steal of home to stretch the lead to 3-0.
KU managed to cut into the deficit in the sixth inning when Brady Ballinger delivered a sacrifice fly, bringing the Jayhawks within two runs. But any hopes of a late rally were quickly quieted when Tyrus Hall led off the seventh inning with a solo home run, pushing the margin back to three.
From there, Yehl closed the door, retiring Kansas hitters without allowing a comeback opportunity.
Fitzgerald pointed to the small margins that are the difference in matchups like this, especially between two ranked teams late in the season.
“They got to Dom before we got to Yehl,” Fitzgerald said. “Last week, we got to their starter first. When you look back, that’s usually the difference in these games.”
