Kansas walks it off for four straight win, going for sweep
Kansas needed one big swing Saturday afternoon, and Augusto Mungarrieta delivered it.
Trailing by a run in the bottom of the ninth inning, Mungarrieta launched a two-run home to give Kansas a 9-8 walk-off victory over St. Thomas at Legends Field. It capped a late rally that saw the Jayhawks erase several deficits and win their fourth consecutive game.
Kansas improved to 10-4 with the victory, and the first walk-off win of the season after hitting three home runs over the final two innings.
The Jayhawks got off to a fast start. They pushed across two runs in the second inning, beginning with Dylan Schlotterback, who stole third base and came home on an error. Brady Ballinger followed later in the inning with an RBI double that gave Kansas a 2-0 lead.
[Jayhawks take game two on Friday night]
Head coach Dan Fitzgerald liked the way his team approached its early at-bats and the pressure it applied on St. Thomas pitching.
“I loved how we played early,” Fitzgerald said. “We actually barreled a bunch of balls. We were two times through the batting order and I think we had one punch out. We had a great approach at the plate.”
St. Thomas responded in the third inning with an RBI double by Matthew Maulik before turning the game around in the middle innings. The Tommies erupted for four runs in the fifth inning, using three RBI singles and a Kansas fielding error to take a 5-2 lead.
With the bases loaded in the sixth inning, Tyson LeBlanc delivered a ground-rule double to right field that scored two runs. Tyson Owens followed with an RBI groundout to cut the margin to 7-5 and keep the Jayhawks within striking distance.
Fitzgerald said the response from his team after the difficult stretch in the middle innings stood out.
“It got away from us a little bit in the fifth and sixth,” he said. “The first pitch of the fifth is a groundout, so we’re one out after one pitch and then it turns into four runs.
Kansas continued its comeback in the eighth inning. Jordan Bach started the rally with a solo home run to right field. Two batters later, LeBlanc matched it with a solo blast of his own to the opposite field, tying the game at 7-7.
St. Thomas regained the lead in the top of the ninth with a sacrifice fly, putting Kansas in a one-run hole with just three outs remaining.
Needing a run to tie it in the bottom of the ninth, the Jayhawks did better than that. A leadoff walk in the bottom of the ninth gave Kansas life and put the tying run on base. With one out, Mungarrieta delivered the game-winning swing.
“My mindset was just to drive the ball and get a quality at-bat,” he said. “I knew it was gone right away. The wind was blowing a little to right field, so I just thought I’m going to hit a line drive to right field and then see what happens. That’s what I was trying to do and the ball left the park.”
Fitzgerald liked the attitude his team showed when they had to battle back.
“Loved the effort, loved the attitude and love how these guys love winning,” Fitzgerald said. “We had the three-spot in the sixth and the two-spot in the eighth. Then again, they punch back in the ninth and take the lead. The guys came back in just fired up for the opportunity to tie it and walk it off.”
