Voegele, Kansas Take Conference Opener 9-1 Against Baylor

Friday, March 14

Lawrence, Kan.

6 p.m. CT

University of Kansas

16-2, 1-0

Baylor

13-4, 0-1

Baylor

Kansas

Voegele, Kansas Take Conference Opener 9-1 Against Baylor

3/14/2025 10:19:00 PM | Baseball

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LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas baseball won its conference opener for the second consecutive season with a 9-1 victory against Baylor on a windy Friday evening at Hoglund Ballpark. Dominic Voegele tossed a career-high seven innings and did not allow an earned run, while the Kansas offense had eight extra-base hits on the night.

Voegele, the Big 12 Preseason Pitcher of the Year, looked just that on Friday night. He recorded six strikeouts and allowed only one walk and three hits in his seven strong innings. With the win, Kansas improved to 16-2 on the year and 1-0 in conference action.

HOW IT HAPPENED
• Following a scoreless first inning for both teams, Kansas was able to crack the scoreboard in the second inning. The Jayhawks pushed three runs across to grab a lead that would stand the remainder of the game. Sawyer Smith brought in the first run on an RBI groundout. Ian Francis followed with a two-run homer to left field that made it a 3-0 Jayhawks lead.
• KU added another run in the fourth inning on an RBI groundout from Chase Diggins to score Tommy Barth. That made it 4-0 in favor of Kansas.
• Another three runs came across for the Jayhawks in the fifth inning. Brady Counsell had a two-run ground-rule double and Smith had an RBI ground-rule double. The two run-scoring ground-rule doubles made it 7-0.
• Baylor (13-4, 0-1 Big 12) scored its lone run of the game in the sixth inning. With two outs, a throwing error allowed Tyriq Kemp to score from third.
• The Jayhawks were able to tack on two more runs in the eighth inning on a two-run single from Barth. That closed out the scoring at 9-1.
• Thaniel Trumper came on for Voegele and pitched a scoreless eighth and ninth inning for Kansas.

PITCHERS OF RECORD
Win: Dominic Voegele (3-1)
Final line: 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 SO
Loss: Ethan Calder (3-2)
Final line: 4.0 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 3 BB, 3 SO

PLAYER OF THE GAME
Dominic Voegele: Seven dominant innings from the Preseason All-American set up Kansas for success on Friday night. He struck out six and only walked one in the Big 12 opener. The only run that scored on Voegele was unearned on a throwing error. His seven innings were a career high.

SOCIAL POST OF THE GAME

Big 12 Preseason Pitcher of the Year showed out in the conference opener ??

Final line » 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 1 BB, 6 SO pic.twitter.com/fJGfpXedlf
— Kansas Baseball (@KUBaseball) March 15, 2025

QUOTABLES & NOTABLES
"Dom was absolutely fantastic. He had it all going. It was so efficient. He touched 95 [miles per hour] multiple times in the seventh and certainly had more in the tank. Trying to be responsible there and use the bullpen wisely and obviously Thaniel came in and did a really nice job. Just a solid offensive performance. Calder's really good and we knew that going into it. I thought we did a good job getting him out when we did and we drove his pitch count up. Then, just a balanced offensive attack. Loved the energy, loved the confidence and loved how we played as a team." – Head Coach Dan Fitzgerald

"Obviously the wind was blowing in. Our game plan was to just fill up the zone and make them hit it in the air. It was going to be a low chance of the ball leaving. Just put it in the zone and try not to walk anybody and let the defense play behind me." – Dominic Voegele

"Fitz preaches get into their bullpen. Get the starter out early and see pitches. That's what kind of team we are. We don't swing at balls, we get our pitches and then we try and do damage with them." – Ian Francis

• Kansas has won its conference opener in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2014 and 2015. Last season, Kansas beat No. 3 TCU by a score of 3-1 in the conference opener.
• Kansas improved to 16-2 on the season.
• Eight of nine hits on Friday were extra-base hits.
• Kansas hit three ground-rule doubles.
• Voegele pitched a career-high seven innings. He improved to 3-1 on the season.
• Ballinger has reached base safely and scored a run in all 18 games this season. He currently has an eight-game hitting streak.
• Francis hit his second home run of the season.
• Barth currently has a 12-game on-base streak.
• Brooks pushed his hitting streak to seven games.

UP NEXT
Kansas and Baylor will play game two of the weekend on Saturday afternoon at Hoglund Ballpark. First pitch is set for 2 p.m. CT and the game will be broadcast on ESPN+.