The Kansas baseball team will travel to the Big Easy to face New Orleans in a three-game series at Maestri Field this weekend. KU is coming off a series win last weekend in Corpus Christi, Texas, against Illinois.
Kansas came out of the gate hot on Saturday afternoon, taking down Illinois 12-1 at Whataburger Field. The Jayhawks clinched a series win with Saturday’s victory.
LAWRENCE, Kan. – The Kansas Jayhawks fell in extra innings to the North Dakota State Bison, 5-3, on Friday evening at Hoglund Ballpark.
The Jayhawks (23-20, 4-11 Big 12) tied the game in the ninth after trailing all night, but ultimately dropped the first game of the series to NDSU (27-12, 14-9 Summit League) in 10 innings.
Cole Larsen got the starting nod for Kansas, making his first appearance as the Friday night starter.
The game started as a duel between the two starters, with both pitchers matching the other pitch-by-pitch. The Bison scored first, putting up a three-spot in the third inning off of a single and a double.
Ryan Cyr started on the mound for Kansas, pitching 4.1 innings with two strikeouts.
The Jayhawks’ (17-12, 1-6 Big 12) offense struck first. In the top of the first inning Tavian Josenberger led off with a walk and Maui Ahuna joined him on base with a single up the middle.
Nolan Metcalf was hit by a pitch, loading the bases with one out. Tom Lichty stepped up to the plate and drove in Josenberger on a sacrifice fly. Brett Vosik followed up with a single through the left side that scored Ahuna and gave Kansas a quick 2-0 lead.
The Sooners (15-14, 2-5 Big 12) weren’t about to go down without a fight, scoring three runs in the bottom of the inning to take a 3-2 lead.