LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas Baseball dropped the first game of the Lawrence Super Regional to Oklahoma by a score of 8-1 at Hoglund Ballpark on Saturday. The Jayhawks set their third attendance record of the postseason with 4,415 fans.
Kansas moved to 45-17 overall on the season and will look to bounce back on Sunday to extend its season at least another day. Jordan Bach hit his eighth home run despite the defeat.
Oklahoma (37-22) scored four unearned runs in the fourth inning and never looked back. The Sooners hit three home runs in the game.
Voegele started and allowed three earned runs and seven hits in his 4.2 innings. Manning West threw two innings out of the bullpen, Carter Fink threw 1.1 scoreless frames and Kannon Carr tossed a scoreless ninth.
HOW IT HAPPENED
• Both starting pitchers were solid through the first three innings with each giving up just one hit.
• Oklahoma struck first by scoring four unearned runs in the top of the fourth, including a Dayton Tockey three-run homer, to take a 4-0 lead.
• The Sooners extended their lead with two more home runs by Camden Johnson and Trey Gambill in the fifth inning to stretch the lead to 7-0.
• OU added one more run in the seventh inning to make it an 8-0 game.
• Kansas scored its lone run of the game in the eighth inning on a solo home run by Bach.
PITCHERS OF RECORD
Win: Cord Rager (5-3)
Final line: 6.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 6 SO
Loss: Dominic Voegele (6-4)
Final line: 4.2 IP, 7 H, 7 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO
Save: LJ Mercurius (3)
Final line: 3.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 3 SO
QUOTABLES & NOTABLES
“Tip your cap to OU tonight. I thought they played a great game. Their starter did a really nice job. They played clean baseball for the most part. Took advantage of some mistakes we made, but I’m proud of how the guys competed. I thought our preparation was awesome. I thought the way we stayed in it throughout the game was great. There was belief until the very end that we were going to come back. It’s tough to go undefeated in the postseason. We were probably, as much as I hate to admit it, going to have to persevere through a loss, so here’s our opportunity. Couldn’t be more confident in my team, how these guys compete, how they prepare and how they’ll be ready to go tomorrow.” – Head Coach Dan Fitzgerald
• Kansas set a new Hoglund Ballpark attendance record with 4,415 fans.
• Kansas moved to 45-17 overall this season.
• Kansas has hit a home run in a season-high 12 straight games.
• Voegele extended his single-season school record to 120 strikeouts. He has 289 strikeouts in his career, which is the second most in school history. Voegele’s 289 career strikeouts are the most ever by a Kansas pitcher in three seasons and trails only T.J. Walz (307).
• Bach belted his eighth home run of the season.
UP NEXT
Kansas and Oklahoma will continue their best-of-three series on Sunday. First pitch is scheduled for 5 p.m. CT on ESPN.