
Kansas Offense Strikes Early in Saturday’s 12-1 Win
2/15/2025 10:13:00 PM | Baseball
Manning West, a redshirt sophomore transfer from Walters State Community College, made his Jayhawks debut and tossed five innings of one-run ball with no walks and seven strikeouts to earn the win. Juniors Naun Haro, Robbie Knowles, Alex Breckheimer and senior Eric Lin combined for four shutout innings of relief. Sophomore Brady Ballinger crushed the first home run of the season for the Jayhawks.
HOW IT HAPPENED
• Kansas (2-0) sprinted out to a 4-0 lead after the top of the first inning. The first four batters reached base for the Jayhawks, including an RBI single by Tommy Barth. Dariel Osoria would drive in a run on an RBI fielder's choice and then Chase Diggins dropped a 2-run double down the left field line.
• The top of the second inning began with back-to-back hits for KU. Jackson Hauge brought in a run with an RBI groundout. Next up was Barth, who delivered his second RBI single in as many innings. Ballinger followed and launched a two-run homer to right field. That doubled the lead to 8-0 after two innings.
• The Jayhawks added one run in both the third and fifth innings on sacrifice flies by Michael Brooks.
• Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (0-2) got their lone run in the bottom of the fourth on an RBI single by Josh Blount.
• Kansas went on to add two more runs in the top of the ninth on an RBI single by Brady Counsell and an RBI fielder's choice from Ian Francis.
• Knowles, Lin and Breckheimer did not allow a hit over the final three innings. Breckheimer struck out the side in the ninth and Lin had two strikeouts in the eighth.
PITCHERS OF RECORD
Win: Manning West (1-0)
Final line: 5.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 7 SO
Loss: Luke Singleton (0-1)
Final line: 1.1 IP, 7 H, 8 R, 1 BB, 0 SO
PLAYERS OF THE GAME
Manning West: In his Division I debut, West threw five innings and allowed only one run with no walks and seven strikeouts. Before West took the mound on Saturday, he already was provided a four-run cushion by the offense.
SOCIAL POST OF THE GAME
Whataburger? Whatablast!@ballingerbrady7 crushes the first home run of the season for the Jayhawks!
— Kansas Baseball (@KUBaseball) February 16, 2025
TOP 2 | Kansas 8, TAMUCC 0 pic.twitter.com/KieFOVjKj9
QUOTABLES & NOTABLES
"The ideal way to start a baseball game is to get a quality start from your pitcher and score early, which is exactly what we did today. I thought our preparation was really good and I thought that the approach was good early in the game and continued throughout the game. I think we capitalized on a bunch of stuff early, guys hit well situationally and then Manning really settled in and did a great job. Then, we bring Naun Haro, Robbie Knowles, Eric Lin and Alex Breckheimer in one at a time and I think that's a tough look for any offense. It's nice to let all those guys get their feet wet on the mound and then we emptied the bench at the end to get some guys in. It was great to get those guys in the game and really proud of the effort." – Head Coach Dan Fitzgerald
"I felt really good today. I had some really good help behind me with the defense. Ian (Francis) behind the plate did a great job and it really helped me out and gave me some confidence up there. That helped a lot. I kind of had everything working and just went up there and threw with confidence and it worked out. It was fun [to get out on the mound]. We've worked hard and I've worked a long time to get here, and it was fun to get out there and compete and represent Kansas." – Manning West
• Every Kansas starter had at least one hit.
• All five pitchers made their Kansas debut.
• Kansas pitching combined for 14 strikeouts.
• Kansas improved to 8-4 all-time at Whataburger Field.
• Haro, Knowles, Lin and Breckheimer combined to pitch four scoreless innings of relief (4.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 7 SO).
• Ballinger hit his first home run of the season and the first by a Jayhawk this year.
• Barth and Osoria have had multi-hit games in each of the first two contests.
UP NEXT
Kansas and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi will play game three of the four-game series on Sunday at 2 p.m. CT at Whataburger Field. The game will be broadcast on FloCollege and live audio will be available on the Jayhawk Sports Network.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: West, Manning (1-0)
L: Singleton, Luke (0-1)

Batting:
2B: Brooks, Michael 1 ; Diggins, Chase 1
HR: Ballinger, Brady 1
RBI: Brooks, Michael 2 ; Hauge, Jackson 1 ; Barth, Tommy 2 ; Ballinger, Brady 2 ; Osoria, Dariel 1 ; Diggins, Chase 2 ; Counsell, Brady 1 ; Francis, Ian 1
SF: Brooks, Michael 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Brooks, Michael 2 ; Hauge, Jackson 1 ; Barth, Tommy 2 ; Ballinger, Brady 1 ; Koszewski, Mike 1 ; Osoria, Dariel 1 ; Williams, TJ 1 ; Counsell, Brady 1 ; Francis, Ian 1 ; Smith, Sawyer 1
HBP: Ballinger, Brady 1

Batting:
2B: Webb, Isaac 1 ; Sanchez, Cade 1
RBI: Blount, Josh 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Sanchez, Cade 1
HBP: Hom, Stephen 1