Kansas falls in extras at Wichita State
WICHITA, Kan. – A walk-off home run in the bottom of the 13th inning sealed Kansas baseball’s fate Wednesday night at Eck Stadium, as the Jayhawks lost to Wichita State, 3-2.
Kansas (13-7) combined for nine hits while stranding a season-high 15 runners on base. Wichita State (9-11) bookended the 13-inning contest with home runs and scattered eight hits in the middle 11 frames.
The story of the night came when the Jayhawks struck out a season-worst 20 times at the plate, including 10 K’s from one through four in the order.
Sophomore right fielder Dylan Ditzenberger led Kansas with three hits and drove in both runs with a two-run single in the seventh inning. Sophomores third baseman Skyler Messinger and first baseman Conner VanCleave rounded out the multi-hit efforts with two base knocks apiece.
NOTABLES
- Kansas struck out 20 times as a team, tying a school record set April 6, 1963 against Oklahoma.
- Junior second baseman James Cosentino struck out six times at the plate setting a new school record.
- The Jayhawks stranded a season-high 15 runners on base.
- Redshirt-freshman Dylan Ditzenberger matched a career-high two RBIs.
- Sophomore Steve Washilewski tied a career-best six innings pitched on the hill.
QUOTES
Head coach Ritch Price
On tonight’s performance:
“Obviously we have to do a better job with two strikes. The thing I am most disappointed in is that we have been working so hard on our approach at the plate and staying in the middle of the diamond. We looked at so many breaking balls for strike one and then chased so many pitches out of the zone. I have never had a team strike out that many times in my 17 years at Kansas. Most of those came from our impact guys.”
On the message to the team:
“We have to be more competitive. The thing I am most disappointed in is the guys we are counting on – the quality of those at bats were just horrendous. The majority of our strikeouts came from our best hitters. You play 13 innings and lose 3-2. If one of those guys clutches up and has a quality at bat, we might win that.”
UP NEXT
Kansas continues its stretch of road games as it travels to Oklahoma to open up conference play March 22-24 at L. Dale Mitchell Park.
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