Ireland impresses, but Kansas Jayhawks Baseball drops 2 of 3 against Belmont Bruins

The Kansas Jayhawks traveled to Nashville, TN to take on the Belmont Bruins in a three game set. After two straight series wins, the pitching staff was unable to keep the momentum going as Kansas lost two of three games to fall to 6-4 overall on the season.

Game 1

The series started with a weather delay, pushing the start back two hours. Once the game started, the Bruins jumped on Kansas pitcher Collin Baumgartner. While the Kansas pitcher recorded a season-high nine strikeouts, he allowed five earned runs and seven hits in just five innings and 101 pitches. Thaniel Thumper relieved Baumgartner and allowed two more runs on two hits. One of the bright spots came from relief pitcher Gavin Brasosky who continued his impressive start to the season by throwing one and third innings and striking out one batter.

The Jayhawks were able to score five runs in game one, led by sophomore Luke Leto. Leto was 2 for 3 with a walk, RBI, and a run. He was the only Jayhawk to record two hits in this game. Kansas tied the game late, but the Bruins scored two late in the game. Out of responses, the Jayhawks fell to the Bruins with a final score of 7-5.

Game 2

The Kansas Jayhawks' pitching staff had a completely different outing in game two. Junior Sam Ireland pitched masterfully, throwing a complete game shutout, which is the first of his career. Head coach Dan Fitzgerald was pleased saying, “Sam was fantastic. He was incredibly efficient and in the zone all day. Then, great defense behind him. He was in leverage counts all day long.” Not only did Ireland throw nine innings, he only allowed four hits, zero runs, one walk, and struck out five Bruins. After the game, Ireland said, “That was awesome. I’ve never gone out for the ninth, so that was a different experience. It’s a lot of ups and downs. I’m tired, we’ll get some rest and be back here tomorrow to win a series.”  

Freshman outfielder Jackson Klein continues to impress at the plate, with Saturday being a standout performance. He went 4 out of 5 on the day with an RBI and a run scored. Coach Fitzgerald called Kline "a great example of a guy that’s grinded and worked and has stuck to the plan. He’s going to be a great player for us for a long time." So far this season, Klein has 11 at-bats recording six hits for a .545 batting average. He has a .636 slugging percentage and a .643 on-base percentage. Redshirt sophomore Mike Koszewski recorded a three-hit game going 3 out of 5 with two doubles.  

Game 3

The Kansas pitching staff struggled in the rubber match, as the Bruins used a huge seven-run fourth inning to get all the scoring they would need to down the Jayhawks by a score of 7-4. Hunter Cranton started the game, seeming to be on his way to putting on a strong start. But with two outs in the fourth, the hits and runs started coming in. In all, Cranton pitched just three and two-thirds innings, giving up five hits and four earned runs. 

Fitzgerald turned to Brasosky, but he was unable to stop the rally, giving up a total of three runs (one of which was charged to him). It was the first run he had allowed all season. Without recording an out, he gave the ball up to reliever Kolby Dougan, who stopped the bleeding and then continued to pitch through the seventh. Stone Hewlett came in for the final two innings. Head coach Dan Fitzgerald said, “I thought our intent was great, and if you take away the fourth inning, we played good enough to win. However, that’s not how it works, and we did a number of things in the fourth that winning teams don’t do. Brasosky has been as good as you can be out of the bullpen, so I don’t second-guess that one at all. We had the right matchups, we just gave them too much leash. We have zero time to feel sorry for ourselves – we have to learn and fix it.”

The Jayhawks actually started the scoring in the third inning with a two-run inside-the-park homerun from Chase Jans. Jans hit the ball to centerfield, where it rolled all the way to the wall after skipping past the CF for Belmont.  Jans raced all the way around the bases, making it home just before the tag was placed by the catcher, Blake Barton. Jans would finish 2-for-4 at the plate, adding a double plus his inside-the-park home run. He had two of the four RBIs on the day. Freshman catcher Copper Kelly also recorded a multi-hit day going 2-for-3 with a double.

Up Next

The Kansas Jayhawks will play at home inside Hoglund Ballpark for the first time this season on Wednesday, March 8th, as they welcome the Wichita State Shockers (6-4). 

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