The Big 12 Championship Game took place on Saturday in a great No. 1 vs. No. 2 match up between Kansas and West Virginia in Surprise, Arizona. The Jayhawks had won the Tournament once back in 2006, while WVU was looking for its first Tournament title since it joined the conference over 10 years ago. And on Saturday night, it was KU continuing its magical season with a dominant 9-0 win over West Virginia. Here are the Top 3 takeaways.
Seventh Inning Explosion
The Jayhawks entered the bottom of the 7th inning up 2-0, but then the fireworks started. Dariel Osoria walked, followed by Savion Flowers reaching on a WVU field error, and the flood gates were set to open.Tyson LeBlanc drove in a run with a single to left, and a couple of batters later, it was Josh Dykhoff going yard to make it a 6-0 game. It was part of back-to-back-to-back home runs from the Jayhawks, with Augusto Mungarrieta and Jordan Bach also going deep, to put what felt like the finishing touches on the game and cap off a 6-run inning to make it 8-0 Kansas. It was part of a four-home run night for the Jayhawks, as Tyson Owens got the scoring started with a solo shot in the first.
Kansas’ Pitching
After Kansas gave up 22 runs in three games to West Virginia at home two weeks ago, the Jayhawks pitching was lights out on Saturday night in the desert. Mathis Nayral got the start and gave up just four hits and two walks in 4 1/3 innings of work. Two outings ago against WVU he had given up three runs and seven hits and 4 2/3, so this was a major bounce-back performance and confidence booster. Then, it was Toby Scheidt, Manning West and Boede Rahe coming in to throw a combined 4 2/3 scoreless innings in relief, while allowing a combined two hits.
Postseason Projections
As of Saturday, both teams were hosting Regionals in the D1Baseball Field of 64 projections, but expect their spots to possibly flip, as West Virginia was No. 12 and hosting a regional, while Kansas was hosting as the No. 14 seed in the projections. It doesn’t change a lot, in the grand scheme of things, but it’s a change that would be warranted and fair, given the outcome of the Big 12 Tournament. Both teams are well poised to make a solid postseason run, with seven Big 12 baseball teams projected to make the field. Let’s see how it plays out on Monday.
