Kansas baseball series win over UTRGV
Kansas baseball closed its opening weekend with an 8–7 victory over UTRGV on Sunday afternoon, securing a road series win after a game that featured three ties, four lead changes and an exciting ninth inning.
The deciding moments belonged to the bullpen and junior Caleb Deer, who struck out the side with the bases loaded to preserve the one-run lead. Kansas relievers Carter Fink, Riane Ritter, Boede Rahe, Toby Scheidt and Deer combined to allow just three runs across seven innings while recording 12 strikeouts.
“First and foremost, UTRGV is a really good team” said Kansas head coach Dan Fitzgerald. “What an unbelievable environment to play in and one that we were intentional in scheduling to get an atmosphere like this and get a great challenge early on. Super proud of the guys and how they battled,”
[Related: KU dominates game two]
The Vaqueros struck first with an unearned run in the opening inning, but Kansas answered with in the second. After loading the bases with no outs, Cade Baldridge drove in a run on a fielder’s choice, Landen Lozier added a sacrifice fly and Jordan Bach reached on a single that brought home another run on a throwing error. Brady Ballinger capped the four-run frame with an RBI single to give Kansas a 4–1 lead.
UTRGV responded with three runs in the third to tie the game, then reclaimed the lead on a two-run homer in the fourth. Kansas chipped away in the fifth on an RBI single by Josh Dykhoff before Baldridge tied it in the sixth with a solo home run — his first of the season. Rahe entered moments later and worked out of trouble to keep the game even.
The Vaqueros took the lead again in the seventh, but Kansas responded. The Jayhawks loaded the bases with no outs in the eighth, tying the game on Ballinger’s sacrifice fly before Augusto Mungarrieta delivered the go-ahead run with another sac fly to make it 8–7.
Scheidt stranded a runner at third in the bottom of the eighth, setting the stage for Deer’s save in the ninth,
“We delivered the first punch, but we knew they were going to throw another punch. It became a dog fight,” Fitzgerald said. “Our bullpen did a fantastic job holding it together. We had some key hits in some key spots to produce some runs. Unbelievable job by the entire bullpen. From Fink, who passed it to Ritter, who passed it to Rahe, then passed it to Toby — and then Caleb Deer was absolutely electric. I’m super proud of the entire team, but I’m really proud of how Caleb competed right there.”
The Jayhawks will play Lamar in a single game on Wednesday.
