Baseball falls to Kansas, 5-4, on walk-off homer in the ninth

Saturday, April 18

Lawrence, Kan.

6 p.m.

University of Texas

20-19, 7-7

Kansas

16-23, 4-7

Texas

Kansas

Baseball falls to Kansas, 5-4, on walk-off homer in the ninth

04.18.2015 | Baseball

Box Score

Longhorns will look to get a series victory in Sunday’s finale at 1 p.m.

LAWRENCE, Kan. -- Kansas left fielder Connor McKay broke a 4-4 tie in the bottom of the ninth with a walk-off home run with two outs to hand the Texas Baseball team a 5-4 defeat Saturday night at Hoglund Ballpark.

With the game tied 4-4 in the top of the ninth, Texas (20-19, 7-7 Big 12) had looked in position to take a lead when Ben Johnson hit a leadoff double to left field. Kansas (16-23, 4-7 Big 12) reliever Sam Gilbert (2-2), though, got a strikeout, flyout and groundout to strand Johnson at second and keep the game tied.

Texas reliever Connor Mayes (1-3), who pitched scoreless frames in the seventh and eighth, retired the first two batters in the ninth on fly balls before McKay stepped in and sent the first pitch he saw over the left field wall.

It marked the eighth one-run loss this season for the Longhorns, who had prevailed in 14 innings on Friday night, 3-2.

Prior to the ninth inning dramatics, Texas had twice held leads. Zane Gurwitz delivered a bases-loaded triple in the second that gave Texas an early 3-0 lead, but Kansas answered back immediately with two runs in the bottom half and tied it up with a single run in the fourth.

The Longhorns edged back ahead in the sixth, when Michael Cantu led off with a single and Tres Barrera and Kacy Clemens drew walks to load the bases. That brought up Bret Boswell, who hit a RBI groundout to score Cantu, though Texas was unable to do any more damage as it left two runners stranded in scoring position.

A leadoff walk issued by Texas in the seventh, followed by a single, passed ball and another single led to the tying run for the Jayhawks. Mayes, who entered after the leadoff walk, did well to limit it to that as Kansas had runners on the corners with no outs. The freshman recorded a strikeout before starting a 1-6-3 double play to end the inning.

Texas, which received a three-hit day from Cantu, did all of its damage of starter Drew Morovick who allowed four runs on five hits in 5 1/3 innings. Jayhawks pitchers Sean Rackoski (1 2/3 IP) and Gilbert (2 IP) provided scoreless relief.

Ty Culbreth drew his first career start on the mound for the Longhorns and allowed three runs on five hits in four innings. Johnston followed with two frames, allowing an unearned run on two walks and a hit.

Texas will look for a series victory in the Sunday finale which is scheduled for a 1 p.m. start.

QUOTE FROM AUGIE GARRIDO

On the game: We just didn't add on to the three runs we got early. We missed an opportunity in the top of the ninth to score a run that would've been the buffer to that home run. It's a tough game; we played better the last two nights, we were more aggressive, we gave ourselves a chance to win and it came down to one pitch and they hit it out of the ballpark. That's just another tough loss in a long line of tough losses.