College baseball is in full swing as the super regionals are underway this weekend. There are less than 16 teams left fighting for eight spots for a chance to make it to Omaha for the College World Series. West Virginia was the first team to punch their ticket to Omaha while others are working their way up. One of those teams is Kansas who hosts Oklahoma this weekend in a winner takes all three-game series. Game one was played on Saturday afternoon in Lawrence as the Jayhawks hosted the Sooners lost 8-1. Here are three takeaways from Kansas’ loss to Oklahoma in game one.
Voegele Didn’t Have It
Normally, Dominic Voegele has been money for the Jayhawks all season long. He has been the ace of the Kansas staff for multiple seasons now. However, against Oklahoma, he simply didn’t have his best performance.
The Sooners blasted Dominic for a total of seven runs in less than five innings of work. He had just three strikeouts in his short outing and gave up seven hits in the process. Voegele has been money all season long for Kansas, but Oklahoma made him look average at best.
It’s always tough when your ace struggles, especially when your bats don’t have the juice. Unfortunately for Dominic, he won’t get another opportunity to pitch in the series barring a miracle in game three.
Where Was the Offense?
Much like the pitching, I can typically count on Kansas to score a bunch of runs every single game. They have one of the best offenses in the Big 12 and to see them score just one run on Saturday was a shocking to me.
Superstar Tyson LeBlanc went 0-4 as the Jayhawks had just four hits on the night, Of course, I must give credit to Oklahoma starting pitcher Cord Rager who was solid for six innings but still, Kansas has to score more than just one run.
If the pitching is going to struggle the way the did on Saturday in Game 1, then the offense will have to pick up the slack in game two on Sunday. Even still, you can pitch great all you want but at some point, you are going to have to score runs to win the game.
It’s Do or Die on Sunday
With the loss in game one, Kansas has put themselves in tough position for the next two days. After going down, the Jayhawks now have to win back-to-back games against the red-hot Sooners.
Oklahoma found a way to get out of a tough Atlanta regional last weekend and here they are in Lawrence, a game up on Kansas. I know the Sooners left the Big 12 but they are still one of the better programs in the SEC when it comes to baseball.
Kansas is going to have to dig deep, and find a way to grind this series out or else they are going to be staying home sooner rather than later. It all starts with Sunday’s game and just taking it one at bat at a time. It’s hard for me to imagine a world where the champion of the Big 12 is sitting at home during the College World Series.
