Juiced up Jayhawks top Arkansas to move to 2-0 at Lawrence regional

The Kansas baseball team has never been in better position to advance to a super regional and now, thanks to Saturday night's 5-3 win over No. 2 seed Arkansas, the Jayhawks need just one more win to do it.

Despite falling behind early, 1-0 and 3-1, the Jayhawks tied the game with a monster blast by single-season home run leader Tyson LeBlanc (his 23rd) in the bottom of the fifth inning and then added another run in the seventh and eighth to give closer Boede Rahe enough of a cushion to close out the final two innings.

The win moved KU to 44-16 overall, but, more importantly, to 2-0 in the regional.

"Awesome college baseball game against a great Arkansas team," KU coach Dan Fitzgerald said after the victory. "And, you know, unbelievable environment. ... My emotions are frayed after doing this for 25 years. I don't feel a lot. But I felt a lot tonight. Hair was standing up on my arms for a good chunk. That was electric."

Added LeBlanc of the KU crowd on Saturday night, which went absolutely bonkers after his game-tying home run: "Crowd played a big part today. That crowd was awesome. That was one of the best atmospheres I've ever played in front of."

Arkansas and Northeastern, which both sit 1-1, will play an elimination game at noon on Sunday and the winner will have to beat Kansas twice to keep the Jayhawks from advancing to next week's super regionals.

In front of a record-crowd of 4,042 fans jam-packed into Hoglund Ballpark, the Jayhawks did what they've done all season, pairing timely pitching with clutch hitting and launching a few balls over the outfield fence.

LeBlanc hit the first and catcher Augie Mungarrieta hit the second, a solo blast in the bottom of the 8th to give KU that crucial 2-run lead. Both homers went into the newly created 'Backyard' behind the left-field fence, and both sent the crowd into a frenzy.

Mason Cook started for Kansas and pitched five really strong innings for the Jayhawks before exiting in the fifth. Future first-round pick Hunter Dietz, who struck out a career-high 14 batters, started for the Razorbacks and threw 116 pitches before being pulled, but left the game with things tied at 3.

Riane Ritter pitched big in relief for the Jayhawks and Rahe came in to close out the game and the win in his regular fashion — throwing hard from the right side and celebrating like mad when the job was done.

Rahe pitched in the closer role for the second consecutive day, something he had done before this season and something that he didn't think deserved any extra attention.

"With it being postseason baseball, I should want to pitch in every single game," he said after Saturday's win.

Despite the loss, Arkansas coach Dave Van Horn, who spent five years as head coach at Nebraska in the Big 12, said his message to his team was that they were still alive and that they'd have to bring everything they've got tomorrow for a couple of games to keep it that way.

"It was a great game," the Arkansas coach said after the loss. "Credit to Kansas, they out-played us and out-pitched us."

And now, the Jayhawks are in an incredible position, getting to wait for Arkansas and Northeastern to beat each other up a little more before one of them takes another swing at the top-seeded hosts.

Sunday's second game, in which KU will be competing for a regional title, is slated for a 5 p.m. first pitch.

— For tickets to all KU athletic events, visit kuathletics.com