St. Thomas run rules Kansas to take series finale

After winning the first three games of the series, Kansas dropped its series finale to St. Thomas 13-2 on Sunday afternoon. The Jayhawks went hitless through five innings, and the Tommies broke things open with a six-run seventh inning.

St. Thomas starter Evan Esch came into the game with a 36.00 ERA, allowing eight runs in two innings pitched. The lefty stymied the Kansas bats through four hitless innings. Esch allowed four baserunners through walks and hit by pitches, but the Jayhawks couldn’t manage a hit.

Kansas used nine different arms, allowing 13 runs on 15 hits. The Jayhawks managed just one hit, a triple from Brady Ballinger.

“Obviously an ugly game, and the box score kind of takes care of itself,” head coach Dan Fitzgerald said postgame. “Just completely abandoned the plan offensively, and on the mound, I think, once we got punched in the mouth a couple times.”

“It is an opportunity for us to learn, and we need to take advantage of it, because obviously it gets a lot harder from here,” Fitzgerald added.

Kansas goes hitless through five

After a scoreless first, St. Thomas got to Madden Seidl in the second. Easton Fritcher plated a run with an RBI double, then Tanner Recchio brought Fritcher home with a single. Seidl’s day was done after two innings with Kansas trailing 2-0.

Kannon Carr did a nice job bridging the gap to the bullpen, retiring six in a row.

Kansas had a scoring chance in the fourth after Dariel Osoria led off the inning with a walk. He reached third on two wild pitches, but Augusto Mungarrieta’s line drive got snared at shortstop.

Fritcher led off the fifth with a double, and Riane Ritter relieved Carr with runners on the corners and one out. A deep fly out extended the Tommies’ lead to 3-0, but Ritter notched a strikeout to end the inning.

St. Thomas true freshman Jack Scanlon relieved Esch in the fifth, making the first appearance of his college career. Scanlon struck out the side for the Tommies in the bottom of the fifth.

Adam Puder put a runner in scoring position in the sixth with a one-out double. Caleb Deer came on in relief, and Terek Verhage tallied an infield hit. Heads up baserunning helped Puder score from second on the single, extending the St. Thomas lead to 4-0.

Brady Ballinger notched the Jayhawks’ first hit in the sixth, going high off the wall in center for a leadoff triple. Dylan Schlotterback brought Ballinger home with an RBI groundout to get Kansas into the scoring column.

St. Thomas breaks the game open in the seventh

St. Thomas got the run right back in the top of the seventh off Daniel Lopez. Recchio led off the inning with a walk, advancing to third on a failed pickoff and wild pitch. Owen Bond brought him home with a single to put the score at 5-1.

Lopez failed to record an out, with Toby Scheidt coming into the game with two runners on. The Tommies broke it open against Scheidt, starting with an infield single to score a run. Puder cleared the bases with a three-run double to put St. Thomas’ lead at 9-1. Zan Von Schlegell added another run with an RBI single.

Kansas loaded the bases with two outs in the seventh with two walks and a hit-by-pitch. Lefty Sam Stockman neutralized Ballinger, striking him out on a full count pitch.

Lucas McNellis hit a home run to left to make the Tommies’ lead 11-1. The ball just got over the glove of Tyson Owens, who nearly reeled in a robbery. St. Thomas added two more runs with RBI knocks from Puder and Von Schlegell.

The Jayhawks added a run in the eighth after pinch-hitter Max Soliz Jr. reached on a three-base error. Cade Baldridge brought him in with a sacrifice fly, but Kansas couldn’t score enough to save itself from being run-ruled.

Kansas will be back on the road for a midweek matchup on Tuesday against TCU that will not count toward the Big 12 standings. The Jayhawks will open Big 12 play with a weekend series at Texas Tech.