Jayhawks get first win behind Mathis Nayral and a big inning
Kansas used steady pitching with a breakout inning to earn its first win of the season, a 10–3 road victory over UTRGV at UTRGV Baseball Stadium. Junior right-hander Mathis Nayral delivered a solid performance in his Division I debut, working seven innings while allowing just one run on two hits.
He didn’t issue a walk and kept hitters off balance long enough for the offense to have a big sixth inning.
“I thought Mathis was amazing,” head coach Dan Fitzgerald said. “He went seven innings on 77 pitches. He was just so efficient and just kept cruising through. Then breaking it open in the sixth was a really big deal.”
Kansas loaded the bases in the opening inning and bringing home two runs on a sacrifice fly by Dariel Osoria and an RBI groundout from Tyson LeBlanc. The Jayhawks added another in the second when Jordan Bach lifted a sacrifice fly to make it 3–0.
[UTRGV takes game one of the series]
UTRGV answered with a run of its own in the bottom of the second, trimming the margin to 3–1. From there, Nayral settled in, working through the next three scoreless frames and keeping momentum firmly on the Jayhawks side.
“My fastball was working tonight,” Nayral said. “It took me a couple innings to feel confident on my slider, but once I figured it out, that was pretty much it — fastball and slider for low strikes.”
The game broke open in the sixth. Josh Dykhoff launched a two-run homer to spark the rally, followed by a sacrifice fly from Ballinger. With two outs, Augusto Mungarrieta hit a three-run shot, turning a tight contest into a 9–1 advantage in a matter of a few swings.
Kansas tacked on another run in the eighth on an RBI groundout from Ballinger, before the bullpen closed it out. Maddox Burkitt worked a clean eighth inning with a pair of strikeouts, and Riane Ritter fanned the lone hitter he faced to finish the game.
“I loved how Maddox came in and had a really mature inning,” Fitzgerald said. “Then it was fun to watch Ritter just blow the doors off. It was an awesome game and a great bounce back after a tough one last night.”
For Nayral, the win was his first as at Kansas after transferring from Cochise College.
“It’s amazing to get my first win as a Jayhawk,” he said. “It feels great. I’m just so excited for the future and the rest of the season. We have a great team and wins like this are really important early on.”
The victory marked a milestone for Fitzgerald giving him his 100th win at Kansas while evening the Jayhawks’ record to 1–1 heading deeper into the final game on Sunday.
