Kansas Drops Series Opener 7-5 to BYU
5/8/2025 9:28:00 PM | Baseball
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Kansas and BYU were tied up 5-5 after six innings, but the Cougars scored a run with two outs in both the seventh and eighth innings to earn a win in the first game of the series.
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HOW IT HAPPENED
• BYU (24-23, 8-17 Big 12) got on the scoreboard first with four runs in the third inning. Brock Watkins led off the inning with a solo homer. Ryder Robinson then hit a two-run single and Luke Anderson had an RBI groundout to make it a 4-0 game.
• Kansas (37-14, 15-10 Big 12) got one run back in the bottom of the third inning on a two-out bases-loaded walk by Michael Brooks. The Jayhawks had an opportunity to get more but left the bases loaded.
• A sacrifice fly by Ryder Robinson in the fifth inning pushed the BYU advantage to 5-1.
• KU cut into that deficit in the bottom of the fifth on a three-run homer by Osoria. That brought the score to 5-4.
• Kansas tied up the game at 5-5 in the sixth inning on a sacrifice fly by Brady Ballinger.
• The Cougars added a run in both the seventh and eighth innings, scoring a run in each with two outs. A wild pitch gave BYU the lead in the seventh and an RBI single from Crew McChesney in the eighth pushed their lead to 7-5.
• Kansas was unable to put together a rally down the stretch as Ashton Johnson held the Jayhawks without a hit in the final four innings.
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PITCHERS OF RECORD
Win: Ashton Johnson (3-0)
Final line: 4.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 SO
Loss: Manning West (3-2)
Final line: 1.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 0 SO
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SOCIAL POST OF THE GAME
ÂSmashed ??
— Kansas Baseball (@KUBaseball) May 9, 2025
Dariel Osoria hits his 7th HR of the year!
BOT 5 | BYU 5, Kansas 4 pic.twitter.com/aqLu6zri6u
QUOTABLES & NOTABLES
"We absolutely couldn't get the big hit which was the story. We had seven walks and only punched out five times. We punched them out eight and only gave up three walks. We didn't square up the baseball and didn't take advantage of some stuff early. We had a bunch of baserunners in the first couple innings and didn't punch it through. Manning (West) gives up a run there on a ball that gets away from Ian (Francis). Then, the two-out, two-strike base hit to go up 7-5 and 7-5 is a little bit different than 6-5 in that situation. It's a series and a Thursday night in the Big 12."
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• Kansas has a program-record 91 home runs this year.
• Osoria hit his seventh home run of the season. He has two home runs in the last three games and extended his on-base streak to 17 games.
• Sawyer Smith has reached base safely in each of the last 27 games.
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UP NEXT
Kansas and BYU will play the second game of the three-game series on Friday evening. First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT and fans can purchase tickets by clicking here. Seniors will be honored prior to the start of the game at approximately 5:30 p.m. CT.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Johnson, Ashton (3-0)
L: West, Manning (3-2)
Batting:
2B: Vest, Cooper 1 ; Hurdsman, Bryker 1
HR: Watkins, Brock 1
RBI: Robinson, Ryder 3 ; Anderson, Luke 1 ; Watkins, Brock 1 ; McChesney, Crew 1
SH: Painter, Keoni 1
SF: Robinson, Ryder 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Gambill, Tate 2 ; Hurdsman, Bryker 1 ; Watkins, Brock 1 ; McChesney, Crew 1 ; Goff, Parker 2
HBP: Gambill, Tate 1 ; Hurdsman, Bryker 1 ; Watkins, Brock 1

Batting:
HR: Osoria, Dariel 1
RBI: Ballinger, Brady 1 ; Osoria, Dariel 3 ; Brooks, Michael 1
SF: Ballinger, Brady 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Cerda, Derek 1 ; Ballinger, Brady 1 ; Counsell, Brady 1 ; Osoria, Dariel 1 ; Smith, Sawyer 1
HBP: Smith, Sawyer 1 ; Francis, Ian 1