Kansas Bounces Back to Shutout Omaha 8-0

Saturday, March 1

Wichita, Kan.

2 p.m. CT

University of Kansas

9-1

Omaha

3-7

Omaha

Kansas

Kansas Bounces Back to Shutout Omaha 8-0

3/1/2025 6:12:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Season Stats

WICHITA, Kan. – A day after dropping the first game of the season, the Kansas Jayhawks responded by shutting out the Omaha Mavericks 8-0 on Saturday afternoon at Equity Bank Park, home of the Wichita Wind Surge, the Minnesota Twins Double-A affiliate. The victory marked the third shutout of the season for the Kansas pitching staff and improved Kansas to 9-1 on the season.

Redshirt sophomore Manning West tossed 5.2 scoreless innings to earn the win. Seniors Thaniel Trumper and Eric Lin, along with junior Dalton Smith came in out of the bullpen and had scoreless relief outings. Senior Tommy Barth hit a grand slam in the first inning to give the Jayhawks an early lead and senior Sawyer Smith also hit his fourth home run of the year in the win.

HOW IT HAPPENED
• Kansas scored in the first inning for a second day in a row. The Jayhawks loaded the bases on two walks and a hit by pitch in the first. With two outs, Barth came up to the plate and sent one over the left field fence for a grand slam and a 4-0 Kansas lead.
• The Jayhawks added a run in the third inning on a sacrifice fly by senior Chase Diggins.
• West was in control for most of his start. He pitched into the sixth inning and his final batter was a strikeout. He exited with runners on first and second with two outs. Trumper was able to come in and get a fly ball for the final out of the inning to preserve the shutout.
• Smith led off the seventh inning with a solo home run to make it a 6-0 game.
• Kansas wrapped up the scoring with two runs in the eighth inning. Senior Brady Counsell came in to score on a wild pitch and redshirt senior Michael Brooks drove in graduate Jackson Hauge on an RBI groundout.

PITCHERS OF RECORD
Win: Manning West (2-0)
Final line: 5.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 3 BB, 5 SO
Loss: Ben Weber (0-2)
Final line: 5.0 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 4 BB, 4 SO

PLAYER OF THE GAME
Manning West: West provided Kansas a career-high 5.2 scoreless innings on the mound in his third Division I start. The redshirt sophomore transfer from Walters State Community College allowed only two hits and struck out five.

SOCIAL POST OF THE GAME

TOM BOMB ??

Second grand slam of the season for the Jayhawks comes from @tommy_barth4!#RockChalk pic.twitter.com/gMxER7flFL
— Kansas Baseball (@KUBaseball) March 1, 2025

QUOTABLES & NOTABLES
"I thought Manning did a really good job. If I'm not mistaken, I think his three walks were all leadoff walks, which if he wipes those out he probably gets us seven (innings). I thought his start was huge. I thought Trumper came in and got a big out. I think it was 5-0 at the time and he gets the big out with his runners on base. Then, Lin and Smith were fantastic. Offensively, I didn't love the five hits. I thought situationally we left some stuff out there, but the eight walks helped. We did a much better job in the strike zone today than we did yesterday. Obviously, a grand slam in the first is about as big of a momentum swing as you can have and then Sawyer hammered that one late. Then, we were able to tack on two in the eighth. We scored in four innings and didn't in four innings, but I think anytime you bat eight times in a game it's usually a good thing." – Head Coach Dan Fitzgerald

"I think it was an okay day. The defense behind me was really good and that was huge. I have to do better at getting in the zone early and I think I did that for a couple innings, but I got to limit the walks and just trust the defense. I know they're behind me and they did a great job today." – Manning West

"Coming off of yesterday's loss, it was huge for us to bounce back in a huge fashion today in an 8-0 ballgame. Bring that tomorrow and go get another win and win the series." – Tommy Barth

• Kansas recorded its third shutout of the season.
• Kansas improved to 9-1 on the season.
• Kansas has hit a home run in seven straight games, including multiple home runs in the last four contests.
• Barth hit his third home run of the season and the second grand slam of the season for the Jayhawks. He matched his career high with four RBIs.
• Smith hit his fourth home run of the season. He is tied for the most on the team with Jackson Hauge.
• West improved to 2-0 on the season.

UP NEXT
Kansas and Omaha will play the series finale as the Jayhawks look to win the series on Sunday at Hoglund Ballpark. First pitch is scheduled for 12 p.m. CT and the game will be broadcast on ESPN+ with live audio on the Jayhawk Sports Network.