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.
“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. Lund was great. We were able to get some runs early, which was critical. Cookie was fantastic, Toby bridged it and Riane was great. Super proud of the guys, great team effort. Couldn’t be more proud of these guys.”
Kansas already has a Big 12 regular season championship on its resume. This run to the finals of the Big 12 tournament should be enough to ensure the Jayhawks are going to be hosting a NCAA regional in Lawrence. But to add a Big 12 tournament title would make what’s already a special season at KU that much sweeter.
Kansas will face No. 2 seed West Virginia in the finals of the Big 12 tournament, with first pitch set for 6:30 p.m. (CT). Although the Jayhawks were swept at home by the Mountaineers during the regular season, there’s some momentum with the KU program again that it seemed to be searching for during that disappointing weekend against WVU. Now, it’s just a matter of whether that momentum leads to another win, and championship.
Jordan Guskey covers University of Kansas Athletics at The Topeka Capital-Journal. He was the 2022 National Sports Media Association’s sportswriter of the year for the state of Kansas. Contact him at jmguskey@gannett.com or on Twitter at @JordanGuskey.
This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Kansas baseball beats OSU, will play for Big 12 tournament title