Baylor Rallies Past Kansas Baseball, 8-6
April 3, 2009
LAWRENCE, Kan. –
Senior Buck Afenir went 3-for-4 with three RBIs, but it was not enough. Baylor scored three runs in the top of the ninth to send Kansas to its first home loss of the season, 8-6, Friday evening at Hoglund Ballpark.
The loss snaps KU’s 14-game winning streak at home, and drops the Jayhawks to 17-11 overall and 3-4 in the Big 12. Meanwhile, the seventh-ranked Bears improve to 19-7 and 6-4 in conference play.
The Jayhawks led 6-5 heading into the ninth, but could not hold the lead. Ben Booker led off the inning with a single and advanced to second after the ball kicked into foul territory and was bobbled by the shortstop. He came around to score on Kenton Gedwed’s single up the middle.
Following an error on a sacrifice bunt, junior Dustin Dickerson plated the winning runs with an RBI single to right field.
Kansas jumped out to a 2-0 lead on the strength of Afenir’s two-run single off Baylor ace Kendal Volz in the bottom of the first. The Jayhawks worked a pair of walks to open the game and then loaded the bases for Afenir on Brian Heere’s bunt single.
Baylor responded with five runs over the next two innings to take a 5-2 lead into the bottom of the fourth.
The Jayhawks cut the deficit to two on Nick Faunce’s sacrifice fly in the fourth. KU then took the lead on Afenir’s third RBI of the night, a wild pitch and another RBI single by Faunce, who was 1-for-3 with a pair of RBIs.
Up until the ninth inning, the Jayhawks received a big lift from their bullpen as Colton Murray, Travis Blankenship and Brett Bochy combined to pitch three scoreless innings.
The Jayhawks will look to bounce back Saturday with the second game of the series against the Bears. First pitch is scheduled for 2 p.m.
