Not-so-super start for Jayhawks

For three innings of Saturday’s Super Regional opener between Kansas and Oklahoma at Hoglund Ballpark, the two teams were quiet, feeling each other out and watching both starting pitchers control the contest. 

But the Sooners broke out in a big way in the fourth inning and followed up the 4-run fourth with three more runs in the top of the fifth to put a stranglehold on the Jayhawks en route to an 8-1 OU victory. 

The win — just the Jayhawks second loss in their past 10 games and first of the NCAA Tournament — moves the Sooners (37-22) within one win of a trip to the College World Series in Omaha. 

If Kansas (45-17) hopes to head north, they have to win Sunday and then again on Monday in a potential Super Regional title game. 

"It's so tough to go undefeated in the postseason," KU coach Dan Fitzgerald said with a sly grin after the loss. "We were probably, as much as I hate to admit it, probably at some point going to have to persevere through a loss. So here's our opportunity."

Saturday night was one of the roughest outings in the KU career of starting pitcher Dominic Voegele, who fell to 6-4 on the season. He gave up three home runs — a solo shot, a 2-run homer and the 3-run blast that broke the game open — and worked from behind in the count almost all night long. 

He went 3-0 to the first batter of the game and worked his way back to strike him out with strikes on the next three pitches. But that lack of command early in the count was a sign of things to come and the Sooners were able to dial in and tee off until Voegele was pulled with two outs in the fifth inning. 

It didn’t help that four of the seven runs he surrendered were unearned, when all-world shortstop Tyson LeBlanc booted a ground ball as he charged in on it just before the first home run, which was hit to dead center (390 feet) by Dayton Tockey, the hero of the Sooners’ regional win at Georgia Tech on Monday. 

The early error was one of two by the KU shortstop on the night.

Trey Gambill and Camden Johnson also hit home runs off of Voegele and the Jayhawks managed just four hits all night, two of them coming in their last at-bat.

"Us separating the game, with 4 runs in the 4th and 3 more in the 5th, was really big," OU coach Skip Johnson said after the win.

Kansas actually had a chance to produce some runs early in the game, but after Tyson Owens was hit by a pitch to reach first base, a single by Augie Mungarrieta led to Owens being thrown out at third base instead of putting runners at 1st and 3rd with no outs.

Oklahoma starter Cord Rager, a left-handed freshman who threw extremely hard early on and was still in the low-to-mid 90s as deep in the game as the 6th inning, said that punch-out at third helped him settle down early.

After that, he was magnificent the rest of the night. 

Rager (5-3) finished with a line of: 6 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 6 K, 1 BB

The Jayhawks broke through with a run in the bottom of the 8th on a solo home run to right-center field by outfielder Jordan Bach (his 8th of the season), but that merely kept Kansas from getting shut out and was a classic too-little-too-late moment.

If you're looking for silver linings from this one, there were only two, outside of Bach's late home run.

First, the KU faithful brought it, setting a new attendance record by packing 4,415 fans into the ballpark that, just two weeks ago, held 2,500 max.

The Backyard in left field was noticeably more crowded than at last week's regional tournament, and the area down the third base line, into left field, that housed many KU alums was also more crowded.

In addition, the standing-room-only sections in right field, "The Backyard Decks," also added a couple hundred seats and a nice view of the game. Beyond that, they looked like they had been there for years.

The other silver lining?

KU's not done yet. Regardless of how poorly Saturday night went, the Jayhawks will return to the field on Sunday with a chance to save their season and get back on track with a win.

It's a tall task and a big ask, but this group, with its 25 come-from-behind wins this season, has been doing things like that all year. That doesn't mean they're guaranteed to do it again, but you can bet they'll go to bed tonight believing they can and will.

"Couldn't be more confident in my team and how these guys compete and how they prepare," Fitzgerald said. "They'll be ready to go tomorrow."

Added Bach: "(Rager) was really good tonight. He had good stuff, he was commanding multiple pitches in the zone, so he just kept us off balance. But all focus is on tomorrow. We're going to come back ready tomorrow. ... We have belief in each other until the final out. This is a really special group of guys. This is the favorite group I've ever been a part of, and we always believe until the final out's recorded that we're going to come back. So, you know, just focusing on tomorrow, we're going to come back and get 'em tomorrow."

Sunday's game is slated for a 5 p.m. (central) first pitch, but keep an eye on the weather to see if that gets moved back.

The forecast has thunderstorms in and around Lawrence for most of the afternoon on Sunday.

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