Kansas knocks off Wichita State 11-6

As Kansas’ Dakota Smith crossed home plate, he pulled off his batting helmet and tapped plastic against plastic with teammates Connor McKay and Blair Beck. Out near the mound, Wichita State starting pitcher Reagan Biechler stared straight ahead. The Shockers’ dugout fell momentarily silent.

It was Tuesday night inside KU’s Hoglund Ballpark, and with one swing of the bat — a three-run blast into the trees beyond the left-field wall — Smith had flipped a one-run Wichita State lead into a two-run deficit. He had also sent a jolt through a Hoglund crowd that was, up until the bottom of the third, mostly enjoying the beautiful weather on a Kansas spring evening.

Just like that, Wichita State was headed for its eighth loss in nine games, an 11-6 setback to Kansas in a midweek nonconference game. The Shockers’ pitchers issued 10 walks while the bats managed just four hits. For Wichita State coach Todd Butler, it was a losing formula.

“You can’t win when you have 10 walks and four hits offensively,” Butler said. “So we were in the game early, and we couldn’t keep them from scoring.”

Kansas (17-24) claimed a victory just two days after losing an emotional three-game home series to Texas. Wichita State (14-26) continued its April swoon, falling for the sixth straight time against KU.

“It’s in-state,” Wichita State coach Todd Butler said. “I don’t know that we’re at that point in our program — our players don’t understand playing KU and K-State, how important it is in our state for college baseball.”

For the Jayhawks’ Smith, a senior right fielder from Leavenworth, his sixth homer of the season proved to be the opening salvo in a prolonged attack.

“I think it shows the progress that we’ve made,” KU coach Ritch Price said of the victories over Wichita State. “Here we are, a Big 12 Conference member, and we expect to play at a high level and take care of our business.”

The Jayhawks relied on a midweek rotation-by-committee that carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning despite some leaky defense. Left fielder McKay carried the offense with three hits and two RBIs.

The Jayhawks will head to West Virginia for a three-game series, hoping to ride some momentum into the final four Big 12 series of the season. Wichita State, meanwhile, will begin a three-game nonconference series against New Mexico on Friday.

Both programs, of course, feel like they’ve left some victories on the table. The Jayhawks sit at 4-8 in the Big 12, but Price is hoping for a late surge to claim a spot in the Big 12 tournament in Tulsa.

“We got to win series,” Price said “The good thing for us is we’ve played four of the five best teams (in the Big 12). If we win series, we don’t even have to scoreboard watch. We can win series and control it ourselves.”

One year ago, the Jayhawks advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2009. This year, Price is focused on getting a young team some postseason experience in the Big 12 tourney.

“I need them to experience it,” Price said. “I need them to walk into that environment and see 7,000 people.”

On Tuesday, the Jayhawks rode some of that youth. Kansas freshman shortstop Matt McLaughlin stretched the lead to 6-2 in the fourth, crushing a two-run bomb off Wichita State reliever Taylor Goshen. For McLaughlin, a freshman from San Jose, Calif., it was the first homer of his college career.

This was the second meeting of the month between the two in-state programs. On April 1, Kansas had edged Wichita State 13-12 in 11 innings at Eck Stadium. Tuesday offered a sliver of the drama.

Kansas struck first, opening up a 1-0 lead in first on a double from McKay. The run-scoring chance began when Justin Protacio served a single into a left field that was played into a double by Wichita State’s Keenan Eaton.

Wichita State didn’t take long to respond, taking the lead with single runs in the second and third innings. The run in the second was manufactured with the help of a walk, a stolen base, a balk and a wild pitch. When the ball got away from catcher Michael Tinsley, Wichita State’s Gunnar Troutwine sprinted home.

The Shockers took advantage of some more defensive spillage in the third. Trey Vickers reached second after an error in the infield, then moved to third on a wild pitch. Wichita State moved ahead 2-1 after Vickers scored on a groundout from leadoff man Daniel Kihle.

That set the table for Kansas’ three-run rally in the bottom of the third. The Shockers would finally answer with a three-run homer from right fielder Sam Hilliard in the top of the sixth. But that only served to cut the Wichita State deficit to 8-5.

“That opportunity to play our two in-state schools is outstanding,” Butler said. “But we haven’t played well against KU or K-State. And they’ve beaten us. And they’ve had the better programs than us right now.”

This story was originally published April 21, 2015 at 10:35 PM with the headline "Kansas knocks off Wichita State 11-6."