Via Kansas Athletics
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas Baseball advanced to the Lawrence Regional final with a 5-3 victory against Arkansas on Saturday evening at Hoglund Ballpark. A run in both the seventh and eighth innings pushed the Jayhawks in front and to their first regional final appearance since 2009.
Saturday’s attendance of 4,042 fans set a new attendance record at Hoglund Ballpark for the second consecutive day.
Kansas improved to 44-16 this season with the win and is now one win shy of tying the single-season program record of 45 wins that was set in 1993, when Kansas made its lone trip to the College World Series. Kansas will attempt to tie that record tomorrow night when it faces the winner of Sunday’s elimination game between Arkansas and Northeastern at 5 p.m. CT. A win would send Kansas to a Super Regional for the first time in program history.
Trailing 3-1 in the fifth inning, Tyson LeBlanc hit a game-tying, two-out, two-run homer to even up the game at 3-3. In the seventh, Kansas took the lead when Tyson Owens drew a bases loaded walk. Then, Augusto Mungarrieta added a solo shot for KU’s final insurance run in the eighth inning. LeBlanc also had an RBI groundout in the third inning and finished with three RBIs.
Mason Cook started and went 4.2 innings. He allowed three runs on three hits with a strikeout. Cook passed the ball to Riane Ritter who struck out four in 2.1 innings of work to earn his eighth win of the season. For a second day in a row, Boede Rahe picked up a two-inning save where he did not allow a hit and had three strikeouts. Cook, Ritter and Rahe held the Arkansas offense to only three hits.
HOW IT HAPPENED
• Arkansas (40-21) scored an unearned run in the second inning on an RBI groundout. That gave the Razorbacks a 1-0 advantage.
• Kansas evened up the game in the bottom of the third. Dylan Schlotterback hit a triple with one out in the inning and LeBlanc drove him in on an RBI groundout. That made it a 1-1 game.
• The Razorbacks grabbed the lead back in the top of the fifth. After a two-out walk, Reese Robinett hit a two-run homer over the batter’s eye in center field to make it a 3-1 Arkansas lead.
• The Jayhawks answered back with a two-out, two strike, two-run homer by LeBlanc to tie the game at 3-3.
• KU took the lead in the bottom of the seventh. Owens drew a bases loaded walk to give the Jayhawks a 4-3 lead.
• In the eighth, Kansas got an insurance run on the solo homer by Mungarrieta. That brought the score to 5-3.
• After striking out the final two batters he faced in the eighth inning, Rahe got a strikeout and two ground outs in the ninth to slam the door.
PITCHERS OF RECORD
Win: Riane Ritter (8-2)
Final line: 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 SO
Loss: Hunter Dietz (7-2)
Final line: 6.1 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 2 BB, 14 SO
Save: Boede Rahe (11)
Final line: 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 SO
QUOTABLES & NOTABLES
“Another awesome college baseball game against a great Arkansas team. Unbelievable environment. It’s such an incredible experience to look at it in the micro level, but then also think about it from 30,000 feet of where we have come in four years. The crowd today was absolutely incredible. Super proud of these guys. I thought they competed at a super high level. They were poised and they were prepared. They love the moment. That was really fun. Proud of these guys.” – Head Coach Dan Fitzgerald
“With it being postseason baseball, I want to pitch in every single game that comes about. Get in that mindset every single day and get my arm right for whatever they have in store for me is my mindset going into every game.” – Boede Rahe
“The crowd played a big part today. That atmosphere was insane. That’s one of the best atmospheres I’ve ever played in front of. Obviously, we come out tomorrow to compete for a regional championship, so we need them out there behind us first inning through the ninth inning again.” – Tyson LeBlanc
“It was awesome. Knowing that challenge, it makes you want it more. You just want to beat that guy. Dietz pitched great. He did awesome today. I felt pretty good. I felt like I was hitting my spots. I was doing alright. It boosts your want to win whenever someone is better out there.” – Mason Cook
• Kansas will play in its first regional final since 2009 and only the third in school history (1993, 2009, 2026).
• Kansas has won back-to-back NCAA Regional games for the first time since May 30-31, 2009 vs. Dartmouth and Coastal Carolina in the Chapel Hill Regional.
• Kansas set a new Hoglund Ballpark attendance record with 4,042 fans.
• Kansas extended the single-season school home run record with its 106th blast of the season.
• Kansas improved to 44-16 overall this season. The 44 wins are the second most in a season in program history (45 in 1993).
• Kansas is now 11-11 all-time in NCAA Regionals.
• Kansas won its first game against Arkansas since Feb. 24, 2009.
• LeBlanc crushed his 23rd home run of the season to extend his single-season program record. He has six home runs in the last eight games.
• Mungarrieta belted his 17th home run of the season, which is second on the team behind LeBlanc. His 17 home runs are tied for the fifth most in a season in program history.
• Rahe earned his 11th save of the season. The 11 saves lead the Big 12 and are tied for the sixth most in a season in KU history. Rahe is the first with double-digit saves since Jonah Ulane had 11 saves in 2021.
• Ritter picked up his team-high eighth win of the season.
UP NEXT
Kansas will play the winner of Northeastern and Arkansas at 5 p.m. CT on Sunday in the regional final for a chance to advance to a Super Regional for the first time in program history.
