ARLINGTON, Texas – The winningest regular season in Kansas baseball history carried over into the postseason Thursday night in the Big 12 Championship quarterfinals with the Jayhawks picking up their 26th come-from-behind victory of the year, topping Oklahoma State 7-6 in dramatic fashion at Globe Life Field.
Trailing 6-2 in the seventh, the Jayhawks scored four runs – capped by a three-run home run from Brady Ballinger – to tie the game. Two innings later, still knotted at six, Mike Koszewski singled to shallow left with the bases loaded and one out to score Tommy Barth and give Kansas the walk-off victory.
With the win, No. 2 seeded Kansas (43-14) advanced to the semifinals of the Big 12 Championship, where it will face the winner of TCU and Houston. First pitch is slated for 7:30 p.m., Friday.
Kansas continued to build its case to be a regional host with the win, racking up its 43rd win of the season after setting a record for most regular season wins in program history.
Alex Breckheimer, who tossed 2.2 scoreless innings, earned the win for the Jayhawks to improve to 5-0 on the season. Breckheimer and Manning West combined for five shutout innings out of the bullpen.
"They love baseball and they love competing," head coach Dan Fitzgerald said of his team after the win. "They're amazing teammates and they love being together…they truly love each other and there's just a belief inside of our dugout that we can do it. I did tell them when it was 6-2 in the seventh 'guys, you know what we're going to do? I would prefer we do something about it now instead of waiting until the ninth.'"
HOW IT HAPPENED
Kansas jumped out to an early lead in the first inning. Derek Cerda started off the Jayhawks with an RBI double and Ballinger drove him in with an RBI double to give KU a 1-0 lead.
After cruising through the first two innings, starter Dominic Voegele ran into trouble in the third. Oklahoma State started off the inning with a leadoff walk and then a few batters later Brayden Smith hit a two-run homer to take the lead. The Cowboys added another run on a two-out RBI single from Nolan Schubart. That made it a 3-1 Oklahoma State lead midway through the third inning.
The Jayhawks got one of those runs back in the bottom of the third on a solo homer by Jackson Hauge–his 19th of the season. That made it a 3-2 game at the end of the third. Oklahoma State (28-23) extended its lead in the fourth inning with three more runs. Avery Ortiz had an RBI single with two outs and Alex Conover hit a two-run single to stretch the lead to 6-2.
West entered for Voegele and kept the Cowboys off the scoreboard in the fifth and sixth. In the seventh, he recorded the first out, before Breckheimer came on and got the final two outs of the top of the seventh to keep the deficit at four. That then set up the four-run seventh for Kansas.
The Jayhawks got the first two men on in the inning when Michael Brooks walked and Sawyer Smith singled to put runners on the corners with no outs. Tommy Barth brought Brooks home on a sacrifice fly to make it 6-3. Following a strikeout, Ballinger blasted his three-run home run to right to knot the game at six and give the Jayhawks new life.
Breckheimer allowed some traffic in the eighth and ninth, but got a strikeout to end the ninth and keep the score 6-6. In the bottom half of the inning, Barth led off with a walk. He moved to second when pinch-hitter T.J. Williams laid down a sacrifice bunt and was able to reach first on a fielder's choice when OSU catcher Ian Daugherty tried unsuccessfully to get Barth at second. Cerda followed with a fielder's choice to move Barth to third and put runners on the corners with one out. The Cowboys intentionally walked Ballinger to load the bases for Koszewski, who had a walk-off single 12 days prior against BYU at Hoglund Ballpark. The senior worked the count full, before placing a single in left to score the winning run and advance the Jayhawks to the semifinals.
PITCHERS OF RECORD
Win: Alex Breckheimer (5-0) Final line: 2.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB,4 SO
Loss: Gabe Davis (0-3) Final line: 0.1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 2 BB, 0 SO
QUOTABLES & NOTABLES
"There's just a looseness to them and they're a special group and no one more descriptive of that than Mike Koszewski. That guy has been a regular everyday guy since the minute we got here and he's played a different role this year and you talk about a leader, you talk about a guy that is selfless and is the epitome of what a great teammate should be. That's what it looks like." – Dan Fitzgerald
"Twenty-six come from behind wins; that's a little much. I got a few more gray hairs than I did in January, but it's a special group." – Dan Fitzgerald
"I just always try to stay ready. You never know when your name is going to get called. So whenever my name does get called, I'm just trying to do my best to help the team win. That's my ultimate goal, to do what I can to help the team win." – Mike Koszewski
"I think we've said it over and over again that we are the 'Never Say Die 'Hawks.'" We truly believe in that. We are going to get ours when the time comes. You never lose, you just run out of time. We take it pitch to pitch, at-bat to at-bat, make it a team game and good things happen when you do that." – Jackson Hauge
Kansas improved to 43-14 this season. The 43 wins are tied for the second most in a season in program history with 43 wins in 2006 and trailing 45 wins in 1993.
Kansas recorded its 26th come-from-behind win of the season.
Kansas has six walk-off wins this season (Feb. 27, March 6, March 9, March 29, May 10, May 22). The six walk-offs are tied for the most since 2013 when the program also had six.
Kansas hit its 100th home run of the season. The Jayhawks have already shattered the school record for homers in a season, which was 75, set in 2023 and 2006. KU has hit a home run in a season-best 15 consecutive games and in 32 of the last 35 games. Kansas has hit multiple home runs in 27 games this season.
Kansas drew its 360th walk of the season to set a new program record. The previous school record was 359 walks in 2018.
Kansas has 23 road/neutral wins this season, which is tied for the most in school history with 2014 when the Jayhawks also had 23 wins away from Lawrence.
Dan Fitzgerald won his 99th career game as head coach at Kansas.
Kansas moved to 25-2 this season when hitting two or more home runs in a game.
Kansas improved to 10-2 in one-run games this season with the victory Thursday.
Kansas improved to 6-8 on the season when trailing after six innings. The Jayhawks are now 4-0 when the game is tied after eight innings.
Hauge hit his 19th home run of the season. The 19 home runs are the second most in program history.
Ballinger crushed his 16th homer of the season. The 16 homers are tied for the fourth most in program history.
Ballinger also became just the second player ever in program history to score 70 runs in a season when he scored on his homer in the seventh. Ballinger now has 70 runs scored on the season, with Joe DeMarco (1996) being the only other player in program history to score 70 or more runs in a season with 76.
Ballinger notched his 24th multi-hit game of the season Thursday, upping his team lead. He also registered his 14th multi-RBI game of the season.
UP NEXT
Kansas will face No. 24 TCU in the semifinals of the Big 12 Championship on Friday at 7:30 p.m. CT. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+.