Kansas Baseball Clinches Victory on Walk-Off, Advances to Big 12 Semifinals

The 2025 baseball season continues to improve for Kansas. The Jayhawks wrapped up the regular season
listed as number 25 nationally
,
head coach Dan Fitzgerald
was awarded Big 12 Coach of the Year honors, and five athletes made it onto the All-Big 12 Team earlier this week.

On Thursday, Kansas moved forward to the Big 12 Tournament Semifinals when Mike Koszewski scored with a walk-off hit in the bottom of the ninth inning, giving the Jayhawks a 7-6 win.

The Jayhawks secured their 26th come-from-behind victory on Thursday, with their sixth consecutive rally win and their seventh in the past eight matches. If you were a die-hard Jayhawks supporter watching the entire game, it didn’t look promising for most of the time.

Kansas initially grabbed a 1-0 advantage in the opening frame, but Oklahoma State surged ahead by scoring three runs in the top of the third, making it 3-1. The Jayhawks narrowed the gap to 3-2 with a single run in the bottom of the same inning. However, the Cowboys extended their lead significantly to 6-2 in the subsequent fourth inning, once more capitalizing on opportunities with two outs.

However, the Jayhawks just kept coming back. In the seventh inning, Tommy Barth scored one of their eventual four runs with a sacrifice fly. Then, Brady Ballinger stepped up with what might be the most significant hit of his career: a two-out, three-run homer that evened the score.

In Thursday’s win, the Kansas bats will likely receive most of the accolades; however, the real unsung heroes were the relievers from the bullpen. Manning West and Alex Breckheimer did not concede any runs over their total of five innings pitched in relief, providing the Jayhawk offense with an opportunity to stage a comeback.

Kansas will face the team that wins between TCU and Houston on Friday during the Big 12 Tournament Semifinals. The game is set to start at 7:30 p.m. CT.

This piece was initially published on
www.si.com/college/kansas
as
Kansas Baseball Secures Victory with a Walk-Off Against Oklahoma State, Progresses to Big 12 Semifinals
.