Completed Event: Baseball at UTRGV on February 13, 2026 , Loss , 4, to, 7
Final
Baseball
4
at UTRGV
7
Saturday, February 14
Edinburg, Texas
6:30 p.m. CT
University of Kansas
1-1
10
at
3
UTRGV
1-1
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Kansas
2
1
0
0
0
6
0
1
0
10
9
0
UTRGV
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
3
5
2
Nayral Shines in First Jayhawks Win of the Season; Fitzgerald Earns 100th Win at Kansas
2/14/2026 11:23:00 PM | Baseball
EDINBURG, Texas – Junior Mathis Nayral threw seven innings of one-run ball and Kansas won its first game of the 2026 season by a score of 10-3 against UTRGV on Saturday night at UTRGV Baseball Stadium. The victory was also the 100th for head coach Dan Fitzgerald at Kansas.
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Nayral, a transfer from Cochise College and a native of Montpellier, France, had everything working on the mound in his first career Division I start and Jayhawks debut. He allowed only one run on two hits over his seven innings of work, while walking none and striking out four Vaqueros.
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Kansas (1-1) used a six-run sixth inning to make a 3-1 lead a 9-1 advantage and open up the game. Josh Dykhoff and Augusto Mungarrieta each hit their first career home runs as a Jayhawk in that sixth inning.
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HOW IT HAPPENED
• For a second straight night, Kansas jumped on the board in the first inning. The Jayhawks loaded the bases and plated two runs on a sacrifice fly from Dariel Osoria and an RBI groundout by Tyson LeBlanc. Â
• Kansas added another run in the second inning on a Jordan Bach sacrifice fly. That made it a 3-0 game midway through two innings.
• UTRGV (1-1) got its lone run of the game in the bottom of the second on a sacrifice fly by Julius Ramirez. That cut the Jayhawks lead to 3-1.
• The next three innings would be scoreless until the sixth.
• Kansas broke out in the sixth with a six-run inning. Dykhoff, a senior transfer from Minnesota Crookston, connected on a two-run homer, Ballinger drove in a run on a sacrifice fly and Mungarrietta, a junior transfer from Northwest Florida State College, hit a three-run blast with two outs to stretch the game to 9-1.
• The Jayhawks added one more insurance run in the eighth inning on an RBI groundout by Ballinger.
• Maddox Burkitt threw a scoreless eighth inning that included a pair of strikeouts in his Kansas debut and Riane Ritter, a sophomore transfer from St. Thomas, struck out the only hitter he faced to end the game.
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PITCHERS OF RECORD
Win: Mathis Nayral (1-0)
Final line: 7.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 4 SO
Loss: Victor Loa (0-1)
Final line: 1.0 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 BB, 0 SO
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SOCIAL POST OF THE GAME
QUOTABLES & NOTABLES
"I thought Mathis was amazing. He went seven innings on 77 pitches. He was just so efficient and just kept cruising through. Then, breaking it open in the sixth was a really big deal. I loved how Maddox came in and had a really mature inning. Daniel (Lopez) got a couple outs for us in the ninth and then it was fun to watch Ritter just blow the doors off. It was an awesome game and a great bounce back after a tough one last night." – Head Coach Dan Fitzgerald
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"My fastball was working tonight. It took me like two innings to feel confident on my slider, but then I figured it out and that was pretty much it. Fastball and slider for low strikes." – Mathis Nayral
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"It's amazing to get my first win as a Jayhawk. It feels great. I'm just so excited for the future and the rest of the season. I can't wait. We have a great team and these kind of wins are really important, especially in the beginning of the season." – Mathis Nayral
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"It was awesome to catch Mathis tonight. We're roommates together, so the connection is just awesome. I love catching him because we live together and we talk about this all the time. In the fall, we talked about catching each other, so now that it just happened in a game and we did awesome it's great." – Augusto Mungarrieta
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• Fitzgerald won his 100th game as head coach at Kansas.
• Kansas won its first game of the 2026 season.
• Nayral earned his first career Division I win and his first as a Jayhawk.
• Dykhoff hit his first home run of the season.
• Mungarrieta belted his first home run of the year.
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UP NEXT
Kansas and UTRGV will play the third and final game of opening weekend on Sunday afternoon. First pitch of the rubber match is set for 1 p.m. CT and the game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
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Nayral, a transfer from Cochise College and a native of Montpellier, France, had everything working on the mound in his first career Division I start and Jayhawks debut. He allowed only one run on two hits over his seven innings of work, while walking none and striking out four Vaqueros.
Â
Kansas (1-1) used a six-run sixth inning to make a 3-1 lead a 9-1 advantage and open up the game. Josh Dykhoff and Augusto Mungarrieta each hit their first career home runs as a Jayhawk in that sixth inning.
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HOW IT HAPPENED
• For a second straight night, Kansas jumped on the board in the first inning. The Jayhawks loaded the bases and plated two runs on a sacrifice fly from Dariel Osoria and an RBI groundout by Tyson LeBlanc. Â
• Kansas added another run in the second inning on a Jordan Bach sacrifice fly. That made it a 3-0 game midway through two innings.
• UTRGV (1-1) got its lone run of the game in the bottom of the second on a sacrifice fly by Julius Ramirez. That cut the Jayhawks lead to 3-1.
• The next three innings would be scoreless until the sixth.
• Kansas broke out in the sixth with a six-run inning. Dykhoff, a senior transfer from Minnesota Crookston, connected on a two-run homer, Ballinger drove in a run on a sacrifice fly and Mungarrietta, a junior transfer from Northwest Florida State College, hit a three-run blast with two outs to stretch the game to 9-1.
• The Jayhawks added one more insurance run in the eighth inning on an RBI groundout by Ballinger.
• Maddox Burkitt threw a scoreless eighth inning that included a pair of strikeouts in his Kansas debut and Riane Ritter, a sophomore transfer from St. Thomas, struck out the only hitter he faced to end the game.
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PITCHERS OF RECORD
Win: Mathis Nayral (1-0)
Final line: 7.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 4 SO
Loss: Victor Loa (0-1)
Final line: 1.0 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 3 BB, 0 SO
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SOCIAL POST OF THE GAME
ÂFirst win of 2026 ? pic.twitter.com/fy9eMCLJe3
— Kansas Baseball (@KUBaseball) February 15, 2026
QUOTABLES & NOTABLES
"I thought Mathis was amazing. He went seven innings on 77 pitches. He was just so efficient and just kept cruising through. Then, breaking it open in the sixth was a really big deal. I loved how Maddox came in and had a really mature inning. Daniel (Lopez) got a couple outs for us in the ninth and then it was fun to watch Ritter just blow the doors off. It was an awesome game and a great bounce back after a tough one last night." – Head Coach Dan Fitzgerald
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"My fastball was working tonight. It took me like two innings to feel confident on my slider, but then I figured it out and that was pretty much it. Fastball and slider for low strikes." – Mathis Nayral
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"It's amazing to get my first win as a Jayhawk. It feels great. I'm just so excited for the future and the rest of the season. I can't wait. We have a great team and these kind of wins are really important, especially in the beginning of the season." – Mathis Nayral
Â
"It was awesome to catch Mathis tonight. We're roommates together, so the connection is just awesome. I love catching him because we live together and we talk about this all the time. In the fall, we talked about catching each other, so now that it just happened in a game and we did awesome it's great." – Augusto Mungarrieta
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• Fitzgerald won his 100th game as head coach at Kansas.
• Kansas won its first game of the 2026 season.
• Nayral earned his first career Division I win and his first as a Jayhawk.
• Dykhoff hit his first home run of the season.
• Mungarrieta belted his first home run of the year.
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UP NEXT
Kansas and UTRGV will play the third and final game of opening weekend on Sunday afternoon. First pitch of the rubber match is set for 1 p.m. CT and the game will be broadcast on ESPN+.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Nayral, Mathis (1-0)
L: Loa, Victor (0-1)
Batting:
2B: Baldridge, Cade 1
3B: LeBlanc, Tyson 1
HR: Dykhoff, Josh 1 ; Mungarrieta, Augusto 1
RBI: Dykhoff, Josh 2 ; LeBlanc, Tyson 1 ; Mungarrieta, Augusto 3 ; Osoria, Dariel 1 ; Ballinger, Brady 2 ; Bach, Jordan 1
SF: Osoria, Dariel 1 ; Ballinger, Brady 1 ; Bach, Jordan 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Dykhoff, Josh 1 ; LeBlanc, Tyson 1 ; Mungarrieta, Augusto 1 ; Ballinger, Brady 1 ; Bach, Jordan 2 ; Soliz Jr., Max 2 ; Schlotterback, Dylan 1 ; Baldridge, Cade 1
HBP: LeBlanc, Tyson 1
Batting:
2B: Williams, Thomas 1 ; Raygoza, Armani 1
3B: Moomau, Easton 1
RBI: Raygoza, Armani 1 ; Moomau, Easton 1 ; Ramirez, Julius 1
SF: Moomau, Easton 1 ; Ramirez, Julius 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Moomau, Easton 1 ; Stracener, Austin 1 ; Garza Gongora, Rocco 1
HBP: Garza Gongora, Rocco 1
Game Leaders
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
5
R
1
H
1
RBI
2
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
3
Players Mentioned
OF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ BaseballRHP/1B
/ BaseballINF/OF
/ BaseballC
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ BaseballDan Fitzgerald Preseason Press Conference
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