The past few weeks have without a doubt been some of the most historic in the history of Kansas Baseball.
From recovering from a season sweep by the West Virginia Mountaineers in a series that looked to show Kansas still had too many faults to make a run through the postseason. To clinching a regular-season conference title for the first time in 77 years to a Big 12 Tournament title won against the Mountaineers to an undefeated postseason run that culminated in a Super Regional hosting gig against the Oklahoma Sooners.
However, things have appeared to have a bit of a roadblock as the Jayhawks fell in game one in a best-of-three series against the Sooners in a gut-check 8-1 loss that saw Kansas struggle to muster much momentum.
“There was belief till the very end that we were gonna come back. So tough to go undefeated in the postseason. We were probably, as much as I hate to admit it, probably at some point, gonna have to persevere through a loss,” quoted head coach Dan Fitzgerald following the loss.
KU notched just four hits in Saturday’s loss, with catcher Augusto Mungarrieta notching two of those hits, bringing his season tally to 64, with 17 home runs to go along with 50 RBI.
“So here's our opportunity, and I, couldn't be more confident in my team and how these guys compete and how they prepare and how they'll be ready to go tomorrow.”
While the Jayhawks are no novice at having to muster a comeback, a four-run fourth inning and a two-run fifth broke the game wide open as Oklahoma finished with 11 total hits, keeping their bats on fire from their historic series win over the No. 2 Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets that propelled the Sooners to the Super Regional.
When asked his message to the team ahead of the must-win matchup tomorrow, Fitzgerald responded, “We talk on a daily basis about having to persevere and deal with things, and you just run straight to the fire, and, that's what we need to do tomorrow, and it's pretty clear now it's just win or go home.”
Kansas has been here before this season
So far this season, the Jayhawks have come from starting down 0-1 in a series three separate times. After losing their season-opener against UTGRV 7-4, Kansas stormed back, winning 10-3 and 8-7.
Against No. 25 Cincinnati, KU fell 0-5 in game one against the Bearcats. Fitzgerald and Co. outpaced UC by a 21-8 margin.
Finally, against the Cowboys, Kansas was dismantled 13-2 before winning 13-3 and 9-6 in their mid-April matchup.
“But nothing will change in terms of how we prepare…So, I just told the guys, ‘hey, you got from here to the foul line to flush it. And be ready to go tomorrow.’”
It would be a sudden shock to see Kansas’ momentum be halted so suddenly and for their season to go out with a whimper, leaving a bit of a sour taste in the mouth of an organization that has been the epitome of consistency this season.
First pitch against the Sooners is set for 5 p.m. CT with streaming available on ESPN.
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