Freshman Lee Ridenhour tossed his third-straight quality start to help KU down No. 1 Texas, 4-3.
Kansas 4 Texas 3
LAWRENCE, Kan. – Sophomore Brian Heere went 2-for-4 and scored the winning run on a Buck Afenir sacrifice fly, while Lee Ridenhour pitched 6 2/3 solid innings as Kansas completed a three-game sweep of No. 1 Texas, 4-3 Sunday afternoon at Hoglund Ballpark. The sweep is the first over a top-ranked team in Jayhawk baseball history.
KU improves to 13-7 overall and 3-0 in Big 12 play, while Texas falls to 14-6 and 2-4 in conference play. Prior to this weekend, the Jayhawks had never swept the Longhorns in a three game series, and hadn’t won three consecutive games against Texas.
Like the previous two days, Kansas used strong pitching and small ball to take a one-run victory away from the Longhorns.
With the score tied at three in the bottom of the seventh, Heere led off with a double and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt by Robby Price. Afenir hit a sac fly to deep center field to plate the winning run.
KU’s bullpen again made the single-run lead stand up as Travis Blankenship, Colton Murray and Paul Smyth combined to hold the Longhorns scoreless over the final 2 1/3 innings. Blankenship recorded his second victory in as many days, working 2/3 of an inning, while Smyth pitched his third-straight scoreless ninth for his sixth save of the season.
#6 Texas A&M 6 at Missouri 5
COLUMBIA, Mo. – Brooks Raley scored all the way from first on a stolen base attempt in the top of the ninth inning to lift No. 3 Texas A&M to a hard-fought 6-5 win over Missouri Sunday afternoon before 845 fans at Taylor Stadium.
At first after a lead single to center, Raley broke for second on a full-count pitch to Kyle Colligan. The pitch was a called strike, and the throw down by catcher Trevor Coleman skipped just in front of the bag and hit a sliding Raley in the left thigh, kicking all the way into shallow left field. The Aggie left fielder bounced up, sprinted for third and did not stop as third base coach Matt Deggs waved him home, and Raley slid in safely in front of the throw to give A&M a 6-5 lead.
Sophomore Nick Fleece then moved from third base to the mound to close out the game, allowing a one-out single before retiring the final two batters of the game to nail down the victory.
With the win, the Aggies snapped a five-game skid and improved to 14-9 and 3-3 in Big 12 play. Mizzou (11-11, 3-3) saw a three-game win streak come to an end.
Missouri Recap
Texas A&M Recap
#12 Oklahoma State 6 at Nebraska 3
LINCOLN, Neb. — Tyler Blandford tied a career high with 11 strikeouts as Oklahoma State salvaged the final game of its series at Nebraska with a 6-3 win over the Cornhuskers Sunday afternoon at Hawks Field.
The win snapped a three-game losing streak for the 11th-ranked Cowboys, who improved to 15-7 overall and 1-2 in Big 12 Conference play.
Blandford was outstanding on the mound as the junior worked eight innings to improve to 4-0 on the season. The right hander allowed just three runs, two of them earned, on three hits.
Oklahoma State Recap
Nebraska Recap
#14 Oklahoma 29 at Kansas State 4
MANHATTAN, Kan. — The No. 13 Sooners hit a school record 11 home runs and tied the Big 12 mark en route to a 29-4 victory at Kasnas State on Sunday.
The win clinched the series for the Sooners (20-5, 2-1) and marked the fifth straight year that OU has fallen behind 1-0 in a three-game set with the Wildcats (18-5, 1-2) and rallied back for the series victory.
OU hit five home runs and brought 17 hitters to the plate in the first inning to score 13 runs and later batted around in the fifth and hit four more dingers, good for 11 runs. The previous school record was eight and J.T. Wise had two of the Sooners 11 homers while tying a school record with five hits. Wise was responsible for 11 runs as he drove in seven and scored four more.
Texas Tech 13 at #15 Baylor 8
WACO, Texas – Freshman right fielder Garrett Totten hit a grand slam and senior first baseman Chris Richburg slugged two home runs to lead Texas Tech to a 13-4 win over No. 9 Baylor on Sunday afternoon in the series finale at Baylor Ballpark.
Texas Tech improves to 9-14 overall and to 3-3 in Big 12 play while Baylor drops to 14-5 and 3-3 in the league. The win over ninth-ranked Baylor is the first over a ranked opponent this season for the Red Raiders.
For the second day in a row, the Red Raiders struck for a solo run in the top of the first to take an early 1-0 lead. Senior second baseman Willie Rueda led off the game with a walk and then moved to second on his seventh stolen base of the season. Following a bunt single by Michael Reed, Rueda was able to score on a sacrifice fly to center field by Joey Kenworthy.
Baylor got a leadoff single from Landis Ware in the third and a one-out walk from Lucas Hileman that set up a three-run home run by Shaver Hansen. Hansen delivered a fastball offering from Tech starter Chad Bettis over the wall in right-center field to give the Bears a 3-1 lead.
