Kansas baseball earns chance at Big 12 Conference tournament title
Kansas baseball has already won a Big 12 regular season title. But on Saturday, it has a chance to add the Big 12 tournament title to its resume.
Oklahoma State put some pressure on Kansas baseball late Friday, during the Big 12 Conference tournament semifinals in Surprise, Arizona. The top-seed Jayhawks’ 3-0 lead early in the game dropped to 3-1 in the top of the sixth inning, and then 3-2 in the top of the eighth. The momentum KU had for much of the evening seemed to be slipping away.
But then came the bottom of the eighth, and a half-inning that saw Kansas separate itself for good. KU (41-16) scored six runs in the bottom of the eighth inning and went on to win the game 9-2 — after holding the No. 5 seed Cowboys scoreless in the top of the ninth.
That eighth inning saw Jayhawks junior Tyson LeBlanc tie the program’s single-season home record of 21 with a grand slam. And now, Saturday night, Kansas will have a chance to win a Big 12 tournament championship. RELATED: How to watch Kansas baseball play West Virginia in Big 12 tournament “Great win, really proud of the guys,” Jayhawks coach Dan Fitzgerald said in a KU release.
“It’s just another great Big 12 game in an incredibly tough conference against an outstanding lineup from Oklahoma State. They’re so dangerous. You look down their card and it’s six, seven, eight guys with double-digit home runs, and obviously they have really good pitching.