Kansas Athletics
The Kansas Jayhawks drop their final home series against the Texas Longhorns
The Kansas Jayhawks entered the weekend looking to make a bold statement against the Texas Longhorns in their final home stand of the season, which included senior day. The Jayhawks entered the weekend with a record of 21-24, including a 7-14 Big 12 record that has them currently sitting at 8th place.
Game 1
The Kansas Jayhawks' coaching staff would deploy Collin Baumgartner one last time at home against the Texas Longhorns. Baumgartner pitched at an elite level, going 6 2/3 innings, giving up seven hits, three runs, two earned, and four strikeouts on 103 pitches. Baumgartner would leave the game with the lead handing the baseball to Thaniel Trumper. Trumper would toss 1 1/3 innings giving up two hits, one run, and one strikeout. Stone Hewlett would follow Trumper throwing the final inning, giving up no runs, no walks, and two strikeouts. A highlight from this pitching staff is they allowed zero walks through nine innings.
Head coach Dan Fitzgerald talked about Collin Baumgartner saying, "Obviously, when you have Collin going on the mound that’s a big help. My only regret about Collin is that we only get him for one year. He’s a special competitor, a really special leader, and a guy that really leads by action. He’s working on his second master’s, and he’s been accepted to law school, but that can wait for his pro career.”
The Kansas hitters erupted for 14 hits, seven walks, nine RBIs, and ten runs in 37 at-bats. The Jayhawks' offense had six hitters record two hits in the game. Those players were Klein, Jans, Reeder, Brooks, Shojinaga, and Koszewski. Third basemen Michael Brooks extended his on-base streak to 17 games, and his two hits gave him 13 multi-hit games this season. Kody Shojinaga extended his hit streak to 12 games, and Chase Jans has hit in 10 out of his last 11 games. Jans discussed the hitting saying, “I think we had a really good hitter’s meeting before discussing the game plan. We had to make him throw strikes and not chase outside the zone. I think we did a really good job of that.”
Game 2
The Kansas pitching staff changed things this week, giving game two to Hunter Cashero. Cashero would toss four innings giving up eight hits, six runs, zero walks, and one strikeout on 52 pitches. Cashero would hand the baseball to Ethan Bradford, who would complete the remainder of the game. Bradford pitched five innings, giving up four hits, zero runs, one walk, and four strikeouts.
The Jayhawks' offense managed to record nine hits but would strike out an astounding 16 times. Kodey Shojinaga and Cole Elvis would go 2-for-4. Shojinaga would extend his hitting streak to 13 games, Chase Jans recorded a hit making it 11 out of his last 12 games. Head coach Dan Fitzgerald said, "We always [fight]. We just need to do it earlier in the game. We always fight at the end. I thought Johnson was exceptional. He was the best starter we have seen this year.” The Jayhawks would drop this game, 6-2.
Game 3
The Kansas coaching staff tipped their caps to the four seniors on senior day. Jake Baker, Sam Ireland, Collin Baumgartner, and Cole Elvis conducted a pre-game ceremony before the first pitch. Head coach Dan Fitzgerald talked about the four saying, “I’m proud of all of them, for different reasons, but those are four guys I will forever be grateful for,”. The Jayhawks coaching staff decided to give the baseball to Sam Ireland on Sunday. Ireland would complete three innings, giving up four hits, two runs, one walk, and one strikeout on 54 pitches. Ireland kept the Jayhawks in the ballgame as he would hand the baseball to Thaniel Trumper. Trumper and the remaining pitchers would give up five runs, 11 hits, and six strikeouts.
The Kansas offense forced the Texas coaching staff to deploy six Longhorn pitchers, but would ultimately fall to the Longhorns 7-6. The Kansas offense managed to record 11 hits in 39 at-bats but would strike out 12 times. Kody Shojinaga had an impressive day at the plate, going 4-for-5 and driving in one RBI. One of the noticeable attributes this team displayed was competitiveness. The Jayhawks managed to come within one run of the Longhorns before coming up short in the bottom of the ninth inning. Head coach Dan Fitzgerald talked about his team's competitiveness saying, “We have come a really long way as a program. If you look at where we were in August, to now, the competitive nature has grown to a really significant level,”
The Jayhawks are now in 8th place in the Big 12 with a record of 7-14 and an overall record of 22-26. They hold a one game edge over the Baylor Bears for the final spot in the Big 12 Conference Tournament. Kansas will head to Birmingham, Alabama, for a three-game series against Samford starting on Thursday, May 11th.