KU baseball advances to championship game of Big 12 tourney by slugging OSU 9-2
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- Kansas beat Oklahoma State 9-2 to advance to the Big 12 tournament final.
- Tyson LeBlanc hit a record-tying 21st home run and drove in five runs.
- Mason Cook allowed one run on three hits in 5 2/3 innings and struck out seven.
For the first time in 13 years and third time in school history, the Kansas Jayhawks have reached the championship game of the Big 12 Conference postseason baseball tournament.
No. 1 seed KU (41-16) followed Thursday’s 8-7 eight-inning victory over No. 8 seed Baylor with a 9-2 win over No. 5 seed Oklahoma State in Friday’s semifinals in Surprise, Arizona.
KU will meet No. 2 seed West Virginia, a team that swept KU three games to none May 8-10 in Lawrence, in Saturday’s 6:30 p.m. title game — which will be shown on ESPN2.
In the 2013 title game, Kansas fell to Oklahoma 7-2 in Oklahoma City. The Jayhawks have won one league postseason tourney title, upending Nebraska 9-7 in 2006 at Oklahoma City.
“What an incredible opportunity and blessing to be competing for a second championship (to go with regular-season title),” KU coach Dan Fitzgerald said. “We’ll be more than prepared and more than ready.
“It’s another opportunity for us to compete together, and the guys love doing that.”
The No. 13-ranked Jayhawks received a strong pitching performance from starter Mason Cook on Friday. He allowed one run on three hits in 5 2/3 innings.
KU busted open a 3-2 game against the No. 19-ranked Cowboys with six runs in the bottom of the eighth inning.
The big hit was a record-tying grand slam by Tyson LeBlanc. The home run was his 21st, tying him for the all-time KU homers record set by Tony Thompson in 2009.
A 6-foot junior from Maurice, Louisiana, LeBlanc had three hits in four at-bats, including a double, and drove in five runs. He also drew a walk.
“Cool accomplishment,” LeBlanc said, adding, “I kind of blacked out around the bases. It’s huge. My teammates around me are very proud too. That’s the best part, them supporting me.”
Starter Cook, a 6-2 sophomore from Keller, Texas who previously played at McLennan (Texas) Community College, struck out seven and walked three. KU’s Toby Scheidt pitched a clean inning-and-a-third, striking out three.
Riane Ritter pitched the final two innings for the Jayhawks, allowing one run on one hit for his second save.
Cook has now allowed three earned runs or fewer in seven of his last eight appearances.
At the plate, KU’s Augusto Mungarrieta had two hits (including a double) in four at-bats and drove in two runs. The Jayhawks totaled 10 hits, including three doubles and a homer.
KU grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first inning. Mungarrieta rapped an RBI single to right-center, scoring LeBlanc from third. Jordan Bach followed with a double to left-center, scoring Josh Dykhoff from second.
LeBlanc doubled in Daniel Osoria from first to give KU a 3-0 lead in the second inning. Osoria had reached on a one-out single.
OSU starting pitcher Ethan Lund allowed three runs on five hits in six innings. He struck out eight and walked three. OSU had won 13 of its last 16 games.
West Virginia will enter Saturday’s final as the No. 9 ranked team in the country.
The Jayhawks will learn Sunday whether, as expected, they will be named a host for the upcoming regional round of the NCAA Tournament. Regional tourney sites will be announced at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, via NCAA social media, ESPN bottom line, NCAA press release and NCAA.com.
The tourney’s selection show, which will reveal individual matchups, will begin at 11 a.m. Monday, on ESPN2. Regional games will be held next Friday through Monday.
KU, the league’s regular-season champion, improved to 19th in RPI. In all, there will be 16 regional hosts for the NCAA Tournament.
“I would think so. I think our resume is deserving,” Fitzgerald said of his program’s prospects of hosting a regional. “I think that winning the regular season, the Big 12, is a really big deal, and then two wins here should wrap it up.
“But I let the experts stick to the metrics and get in the room and decide things. I certainly think we have a resume worthy, and we’ll have a fantastic regional. KU does things first-class always and it’ll be awesome in our park.”
This story was originally published May 22, 2026 at 10:35 PM with the headline "KU baseball advances to championship game of Big 12 tourney by slugging OSU 9-2."
