Kansas baseball junior pitcher Dominic Voegele recorded a career-high 15 strikeouts on April 18 to help the Jayhawks secure a 13-3 win over Oklahoma State in the second game of their series. The Cowboys won the first contest, which had been delayed due to weather, by a score of 13-2 before Kansas responded with a decisive victory. Voegele’s performance marked the most strikeouts by a Jayhawk pitcher since at least 2002.
The outcome was significant for Kansas, which improved its season record to 28-11 overall and 13-4 in conference play. The two teams are set to meet again for the deciding game of the series on Sunday afternoon.
In game one, Cade Baldridge gave Kansas an early lead with a solo home run, but Oklahoma State quickly answered back and built momentum through several home runs. Inclement weather suspended play on Friday and forced completion on Saturday. Ultimately, Oklahoma State extended its lead in later innings and secured a run-rule victory with five runs in the eighth inning.
Game two saw Voegele dominate from the mound over seven innings, allowing only three hits and three runs while striking out fifteen batters. He started strong by retiring all nine batters his first time through the order via seven strikeouts and continued to limit scoring opportunities throughout his outing. Offensively, Baldridge contributed key hits including a two-run single that broke open scoring for Kansas in the third inning.
Head Coach Dan Fitzgerald said, “Dom has stacked back-to-back elite starts and that’s obviously what we needed after losing game one. To tie up the series against a really good Oklahoma State team was really important. I thought Dom was great and we played great defense behind him. We had a lot of timely hitting in the second game and were able to stretch the lead. Proud of the effort to bounce back.” Voegele added, “It felt good. Everything felt like it was working pretty well. I knew the defense was going to work behind me and the bats were going to come alive after the first game. The game plan was to just fill it up and I felt like we did.”
Looking ahead, Kansas will face Oklahoma State for their final matchup of this series at O’Brate Stadium at 1 p.m., with coverage available on ESPN+.
