Kansas baseball shuts out Kansas State as Jayhawks look to take Sunflower Showdown series

Kansas baseball has undergone a resurgence in the past few weeks under second-year HC Dan Fitzgerald. The Jayhawks had won seven straight games at one point and skyrocketed to fifth in Big 12 standings. After an up-and-down beginning to the season, KU could be in for a College World Series appearance with a strong finish.

The team traveled to Tointon Family Stadium on Friday to play the first of a three-game set between the Jayhawks and K-State Wildcats in the annual Sunflower Showdown. While Kansas came up short after surrendering a lead in the late innings, Fitzgerald's squad rebounded yesterday. The pitching staff hurled nine shutout innings en route to a 4-0 win.

Kansas baseball comes up with massive win to tie up Sunflower Showdown

Kansas got the scoring going in the fifth with a two-run double off the wall by DH Lenny Ashby. They scored one run in consecutive innings and held K-State to no runs all game. Starter Dominic Voegele recorded a quality start, throwing six shutout innings, allowing five baserunners, and striking out five. Cooper Moore, Tegan Cane, and Hunter Cranton recorded the final nine outs.

While the Jayhawks did not post a high run count, they knocked around the Wildcats' pitchers with 13 hits and three walks. This is nothing new for the team, which has been hot offensively for several games in a row. Kansas previously averaged 10.7 runs per game in an 11-game stretch.

"I loved the response. Last night was a tough one and I loved how we battled last night. I think in the Big 12 so many of these games come down to who gets the breakthrough and we got the two-run double from Ashby in the fifth and then followed it up with runs in the sixth and seventh. I loved how we continued to compete. Dom (Voegele) was awesome. Then, we brought three guys in from the bullpen that were nails as well. Proud of the effort against a really good K-State team and a good match up tomorrow for the series to see who takes it."

- Dan Fitzgerald, Kansas Baseball HC

After the win, Kansas moved to 27-16 on the season with a 13-10 conference record. The Jayhawks will look to close out the Sunflower Showdown with a series win during tomorrow's rubber match at 1:00 p.m. local time.