Nayral Dazzles in Jayhawks 8-2 Victory at Cincinnati

Saturday, March 28

Cincinnati, Ohio

2 p.m. CT

University of Kansas

17-10, 5-3

Cincinnati

20-9, 4-4

Kansas

Cincinnati

Nayral Dazzles in Jayhawks 8-2 Victory at Cincinnati

3/28/2026 8:00:00 PM | Baseball

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CINCINNATI – Mathis Nayral recorded a career-high 11 strikeouts to propel Kansas to an 8-2 win against Cincinnati at UC Baseball Stadium on Saturday afternoon. The victory evened up the series and sets up a rubber match on Sunday.

Nayral tossed a phenomenal seven innings of one-run ball and allowed only three hits and one walk the entire day, to go along with his 11 punchouts. He retired the final 14 batters he faced from the second out in the third inning through the end of the seventh inning. His 11 strikeouts were the most by a Jayhawk since the 2024 season.

HOW IT HAPPENED
• Kansas (17-10, 5-3 Big 12) grabbed the lead first in the second inning. Augusto Mungarrieta hit a solo home run to give the Jayhawk a 1-0 lead.
• Cincinnati (20-9, 4-4 Big 12) evened the game in the third inning on an RBI bunt single by Jackson Smith.
• The Jayhawks responded right away with in the top of the fourth with an RBI double off the bat of Mungarrieta. That made it a 2-1 Kansas advantage.
• The game stayed at 2-1 until the top of the seventh. With two outs in the inning, Kansas pushed across four runs. Jordan Bach had an infield RBI single and Tyson LeBlanc connected on a three-run homer. The four runs put Kansas ahead 6-1 at the seventh inning stretch.
• KU added a couple more insurance runs in the top of the ninth on a two-run single by Brady Ballinger. It stretched the game to 8-1.
• The Bearcats scored one run in the bottom of the ninth on a passed ball.

PITCHERS OF RECORD
Win: Mathis Nayral (3-1)
Final line: 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 11 SO (career high)
Loss: Adam Brouwer (2-2)
Final line: 3.2 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 3 SO

SOCIAL POST OF THE GAME

Career day on the mound for @MathisNayr31958 ??

» 7.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 11 SO (career high) pic.twitter.com/DhjDSI6fcN
— Kansas Baseball (@KUBaseball) March 28, 2026

QUOTABLES & NOTABLES
"We obviously needed an outing like that from Mathis. He had 11 punchouts over seven innings with only one walk, and limited a really nice offense from really getting anything going. The offense came through today with being able to chip away and then open it up in the seventh with four runs. Then, I thought adding on two in the ninth was really big. Proud of the effort and looking forward to competing again tomorrow." – Head Coach Dan Fitzgerald

"Everything was good. I worked my butt off last week because after my last outing my stuff was kind of going down. I'm happy because today I had everything working. I'm just very happy that we won and that's what matters. I went out there and I wasn't even thinking about the strikeouts. I just wanted to throw the right pitch at the right time and I was in a groove. I came out there and my main goal was to help us win and that's what happened. It was great." – Mathis Nayral

"First and foremost, great outing by Mathis Nayral. It was amazing. Every pitch was working for him. It's easy to play defense behind that when he's filling up the zone. Great job to him." – Tyson LeBlanc

• Kansas improved to 17-10 overall and 5-3 in Big 12 play.
• Kansas has a 14-5 record this season when hitting at least one home run in a game.
• Nayral recorded a career-high 11 strikeouts. His 11 strikeouts were the most by a Jayhawk since J'Briell Easley on May 24, 2024 vs. No. 8 Oklahoma. Nayral retired the final 14 batters he faced to earn his third win of the season.
• LeBlanc connected on his eighth homer of the year. He has hit five home runs in his last seven games.
• Mungarrieta hit his seventh home run of the season.

UP NEXT
Kansas and Cincinnati will play the final game of the weekend series on Sunday. First pitch is scheduled for noon CT and the game will be broadcast on ESPN+.