The Texas Longhorns finished the regular season in impressive fashion with a three-game sweep of the Kansas Jayhawks. Here is everything that went down this weekend at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.
Game 1 (Thursday): Longhorns 5 Jayhawks 4
Jalin Flores became the hero for Texas on Thursday night as his walk-off double lead to a 5-4 Longhorn victory to start the last regular season series in style.
In what started out as a pitcher’s duel between the Jayhawks’ Reese Dutton and the Longhorns’ Charlie Hurley, Texas scored first in the fifth on an RBI triple by Jared Thomas and extended their lead to 3-0 in sixth on a two-run single by Will Gasparino. Kansas would then respond in the seventh on a groundout by Mike Koszewski that brought in Ty Wisdom and an RBI single by John Nett to cut the Longhorn lead to 3-2.
After both teams exchanged zeros in the eighth, Texas had Kansas down to their last strike in the top of the ninth before Ben Hartl gave the Jayhawks the 5-4 lead with a two-run homer that went over the left field wall. In the bottom half, Texas immediately responded with a pinch-hit home run by Casey Borba to tie the game. After Thomas reached base on a four-pitch walk, Flores ended up driving him in to secure the walk off victory for the Longhorns.
Texas had nine hits on the night, with Thomas, Gasparino, and Flores having two hits each and Borba, Peyton Powell, and Max Belyeu having one apiece. Kansas was led by Nett’s four hits while Hartl, Kodey Shojinaga, Lenny Ashby, and Chase Diggins each logging a hit as well.
On the mound, Hurley struck out nine Jayhawk batters in six shutout innings while Gage Boehm got the win for the Longhorns. Dutton threw 5.2 innings for Kansas while Hunter Cranton took the loss in relief.
Game 2 (Friday): Longhorns 3 Jayhawks 2
For the second straight night, the Longhorns came from behind with another Jalin Flores walkoff to clinch the series in a 3-2 victory on Friday night.
Both teams scored a run in the second inning with Kansas scoring their run on an RBI single by Wisdom and Texas scoring theirs on a fielding error that brought in Rylan Galvan. From there, it would remain a tie game until the seventh when the Jayhawks took the 2-1 lead on a double by John Nett that scored Mike Koszewski.
Like the previous night, the Longhorns made the most of their last opportunity to hit in the ninth, where Thomas tied the game with a double that scored Gasparino. Flores would then bring in Thomas on a sac fly to give both Flores and Texas their second walk off win in as many nights with a 3-2 final.
The Longhorns had five hits on night with Thomas, Flores, Powell, Belyeu, and Jack O’Dowd having a hit apiece. Kansas had seven of their own with Wisdom and Koszewski each having two hits.
Max Grubbs started for Texas and went 6.2 innings while Andre Duplantier got the win after throwing 2.1 innings in relief. Dominic Voegele went five innings in his start for the Jayhawks while Cooper Moore took the loss.
Game 3 (Saturday): Longhorns 9 Jayhawks 7
On Senior Day, Texas sent out their seniors in style with an exciting 9-7 win on Saturday to secure the Longhorns’ second sweep of the season.
In the first, the Longhorns started the scoring with an RBI groundout by Belyeu that scored Thomas. Texas would later make it a 2-0 ballgame in the third with an RBI double by Powell.
Kansas got on the scoreboard in the fourth when Ashby logged an RBI single of his own. The Longhorns would then respond in the bottom half with a solo homer by Kimble Schuessler to give them a 3-1 lead. Texas would then pour things on in the fifth and sixth innings with the fifth consisting of an RBI single by Belyeu, an RBI single by Schuessler, and a two-run homer by Borba. Powell would then give the Longhorns a commanding 8-1 lead in the sixth with a sac fly that brought in Dee Kennedy.
While the Texas offense responded in the late innings on both Friday and Saturday, it was Kansas that had the furious late-inning rally on Saturday. The Jayhawks had a four run seventh that began with a two-run double by Koszewski, where he later scored on a sac fly by Shojinaga. Later in the seventh, Shojinaga would further cut the Kansas deficit to three after scoring on a wild pitch.
The Jayhawks would then tack on another two runs in the eighth to make it an 8-7 ballgame after a groundout by Koszewski scored Chase Jans and Diggins scored from a Texas fielding error. The Longhorns would then respond in the bottom of the eighth to get a much-needed insurance run to make it 9-7, which became the final after Boehm completed the 2.1-inning save in the ninth.
Texas recorded ten hits on the afternoon with Schuessler and Flores leading the way with two hits each while Kansas had nine (with Ashby and Wisdom having two hits apiece. Lebarron Johnson Jr started and got the win for the Longhorns after striking out seven in six innings while Evan Shaw took the loss for the Jayhawks.
What’s Next?
Both teams will move on to the Big 12 Conference Tournament which begins on Tuesday at Globe Life Park in Arlington. Texas is the three seed after finishing the regular season with a 35-20 record and an 18-12 record in Big 12 play, where they will face the tenth-seeded Texas Tech Red Raiders to begin their tournament run on Tuesday night with the first pitch being at 7:30. Kansas ended their season with a 29-21 overall record and a 15-15 conference record which is good for seventh in the conference, where that sets them up with a matchup against their Sunflower Showdown rivals in the sixth-seeded Kansas State Wildcats to open the tournament as a whole with a 9 AM first pitch on Tuesday morning.
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