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KU baseball completes seven-run comeback against Houston in rare disease game

TheoMay 12, 2024

Mike Gunnoe/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas designated hitter Lenny Ashby screams with joy after hitting a home run against Houston on Saturday, May 11, 2024, at Hoglund Ballpark in Lawrence.

Saturday’s penultimate home game for Kansas baseball was about much more than what happened in the diamond, as the Jayhawks hosted their first rare disease game to help raise awareness. Pitching coach Brandon Scott was very involved in the evening, as he leads a foundation aimed at raising money for research into CSNK2B, a rare neurodevelopmental syndrome that affects only 30 other people in the country, including the daughter of Scott.

“One interesting thing about KU is it’s in the head coach’s playbook to pick things like this,” head coach Dan Fitzgerald said. “And so the autism (awareness night) is really special for me and this one is really special for Brandon, and as a coach, the things that are special to you definitely have a trickle-down effect to be special for your team.”

He continued: “It would be a colossal waste of time if all we did was (play) baseball and (talk) about baseball. These are things that you really have to be aware of in life and understand the platform and the voice that you have when you have the chance, like them, to play at the highest level of college baseball.

While the team was raising awareness about the Scott Foundation and rare diseases as a whole in front of a packed crowd, they were also looking to even the series against Houston after losing a disappointing game Friday night 13-5.

The Cougars took an equally large advantage Saturday against Kansas starter Dominic Voegele, going up by as many as seven runs, but the Jayhawks used an explosive fourth inning and a key home run by Lenny Ashby to take the lead. KU didn’t look back, as flamethrower closer Hunter Cranton entered the game for the ninth inning with an 11-9 advantage and blew out the team with three straight outs to secure the victory.

“It’s a must-win game, I think every game going forward is a must-win game,” infielder Chase Diggins said. “But at the same time, we’re going to break it down little by little and win the little battles and then fight the big one at the end.”

After getting off to a masterful start against the rival Kansas State Wildcats last Saturday in Kansas’ only victory of the series, Voegele took the mound for the Jayhawks in their second game against Houston, looking to set a new franchise record. wins in a season for a first-year Jayhawk. .

That walk became an uphill battle for Voegele early on, however, as he hit the lead man with his first pitch of the game before allowing a single and three RBI runs to get into a quick 4-0 hole as the Kansas was coming up to bat. for the first time.

The Jayhawks, however, started slowly, as they loaded the bases with no outs in the first but failed to score a run.

After allowing harder contact to start the second inning, Voegele settled down and gave up no runs as the Jayhawks managed to tack on a two-out RBI run from Nett to make it 4- 1. But to follow up his three-point shot in the first, Cary Arbolida went even further to give the Cougars a four-point lead. Four straight runners reached base to score another run, then a sacrifice fly and Houston’s fourth hit of the inning increased the lead to 8-1.

The Jayhawks didn’t lose their focus after that, however, as they scored four runs in the bottom of the third. After consecutive walks, Kodey Shojinaga scored on an error by Houston’s third baseman before Diggins stepped up to the plate and smashed his own three-run home run over the left field fence to bring home the score. score at 8-5.

Voegele’s day ended after three long innings, when J’Briell Easley took over on the mound. He held the Cougars scoreless thanks to an incredible play between him and Ben Hartl behind the plate to recover after a wild pitch and catch a runner at home.

“It was kind of a reactive play, I tried to block the ball and I blocked it in my face a little bit and once you get there, instincts take over and J’Briell did one heck of a game on it,” Hartl said, and joked, “For his size, he got (to the plate) pretty good.”

Kansas’ offense exploded in its half of the fourth, as Hartl added a long ball to start the inning before a single and double put two runners in scoring position.

“(When we’re down), we keep moving forward one pitch at a time. Don’t look at the scoreboard, and you try to scratch one (race) and one turns into two and turns into three,” he said. “So stick to this approach, don’t fight, don’t cause any more harm.”

After recording the first out of the inning, Houston starter Antoine Jean was replaced by Diego Luzardo, who quickly gave up a two-run single to Collier Cranford to give him his first RBI of the day. Diggins kept the line moving with a single, his third hit of the day, setting up the bases-loaded lead.

“(I just) tried to have a simpler approach,” Diggins said of his recent hot streak. “Coming back from injury was a long road, and now I’m back and just having fun with the boys and doing good.”

Fitzgerald then called on Ashby with the chance to take the Jayhawks’ first lead of the game. Ashby did just that, hitting a two-run homer over the right field wall on the fifth pitch of the at-bat to give Kansas a 10-8 lead.

After four exciting innings, the Cougars and Jayhawks each added a run in the fifth to keep Kansas’ lead at two before a quiet sixth became the first scoreless inning and first clean inning of the game.

Tegan Cain entered for the Jayhawks and worked around a pair of singles in the eighth to maintain the 11-9 lead before a 1-2-3 in the bottom of the eighth allowed hard-throwing Cranton to make a stop in Kansas. return thrust. Cranton came in and did just that, hitting 99 mph on the first pitch and recording a clean inning, as he struck out the side on another 99 mph fastball.

Kansas’ comeback was the first time since 2021 that the Jayhawks overcame a seven-point deficit to win a game, but this team is also no stranger to an early loss.

“Unfortunately we had some experience because we did it last night,” Fitzgerald said of the 8-1 opening hole. “I wasn’t concerned about our scoring streaks, but more about how are we going to hold them back from continuing (on offense)? So the message was: we have (lots of time).

The Jayhawks will look to secure a series win after losing Game 1 Sunday at 12 p.m. in their final home game of the season, which will also serve as senior night for the 14 Kansas seniors on this year’s roster.