Manhattan ? The task of qualifying for the postseason just became a lot tougher.
Needing two or more victories in its three-game series against Kansas State this weekend to advance to the Big 12 tournament, Kansas University’s baseball team dropped a heartbreaker, 11-10 in 10 innings, Friday night, blowing leads of 3-2, 7-4, 9-7 and 10-9 in the process.
Now the Jayhawks (26-28 overall, 9-16 Big 12) must win both remaining games with KSU (32-21, 10-14) to slide into the No. 8 seed in next week’s conference tourney.
“In reality, that could’ve been an incredible win for us,” KU coach Ritch Price said. “Instead, it’s a devastating loss.”
The teams combined for 20 runs on 30 hits
K-State’s Ross Kivett ended the slugfest by singling off Alex Cox in the bottom of the 10th inning to drive in Tanner Witt with the winning run.
Not only was Friday’s game the longest of the season for KU — the final out was recorded 4:14 after the first pitch — it also was one of the wildest.
“There’s no question,” Price said. “It was a very, very unique game. You just don’t play many games over four hours in college baseball these days.”
Seven batters were hit by pitches, six of them Wildcats. The pitching staffs combined to throw seven wild pitches. And the teams worked through 10 different pitchers.
But even with all of those wild and wacky stats to digest, it went down as the sixth walk-off loss in conference play this season for the Jayhawks.
While the KU starters pieced together 14 hits and surrendered almost as many, Friday’s showdown nearly was won by a couple of reserves.
“That was as good as we’ve swung the bats and run the bases in the entire time I’ve been here,” Price said. “Unfortunately, we just didn’t pitch well enough down the stretch to get the win.”
The fact that the Jayhawks needed late-inning heroics to survive came as a disappointment. Despite struggling with his command early, senior starter T.J. Walz got on a roll midway through the game and appeared to be on his way to his seventh victory of the season and school-record 27th of his career. After giving up a two-run home run to Jason King in the third inning, Walz gave up just one more hit to the next 15 batters he faced and left with a 7-4 lead after throwing a career-high 135 pitches.
Clearly pleased to see someone other than Walz staring in at them, the K-State hitters roughed up KU reliever Wally Marciel for four straight hits and a walk to tie the game at 7. Marciel was lifted without recording an out, and senior Scott Heitshusen retired three consecutive Wildcats to limit the damage.
Heitshusen’s last out came on a back-door breaking ball that retired Jake Brown via strikeout.
As he walked off the mound, Heitshusen, a Free State High graduate, pumped his fists and let out a roar.
Game 2 of the series is set for 6 p.m. Saturday at Hoglund Ballpark.
