Kansas freshman Matt McLaughlin (5) is greeted by teammates as he walks back to the dugout following the end of the top of the third during Kansas' Big 12 matchup against Oklahoma State.

For the first six innings of Friday night’s 7-2 loss to No. 9 Oklahoma State at Hoglund Ballpark, Kansas University starter Ben Krauth pitched like he was honoring the name of the school he transferred to KU from — Diablo Valley.

But it was actually a much more peaceful presence, and not the Spanish word for devil, that inspired the junior lefty to strike out eight Cowboys through five innings and nine for the game.

“I’d probably credit it more to my mom,” said Krauth, whose mother, Wendy, made her first trip to Lawrence to watch her son pitch. “I haven’t seen her in a while, and I was kind of excited to have her here and pitch in front of her.”

It showed.

Krauth (5-3) worked quickly and used his above-average change-up and breaking ball, along with his signature pick-off move, to mow down the Cowboys inning after inning.

“They’ve been red hot, and we knew we had our hands full,” KU coach Ritch Price said. “For Ben to put up six zeros, he gave us a chance to win on Friday night and that’s all we can ask for.”

In the bottom of the sixth, with the score tied at 0, the Jayhawks became the first team to score when first baseman Blair Beck launched a solo home run over the outfield fence to put Kansas up 1-0.

Beck, a senior from Midland, Texas, said he never saw the ball leave the yard but knew it was gone when he heard the crowd.

Krauth, who was in the KU dugout at the time, saw the ball’s entire flight and said it gave him an extra shot of adrenaline and belief that the game was KU’s to lose.

“I got chills in the dugout when that went out and the crowd went nuts,” Krauth said.

Unfortunately for the Jayhawks, lose the game was exactly what they did. A pair of defensive miscues in the top of the seventh chased Krauth from the game, and when the dust settled, KU had fallen behind 4-1, despite just one of the four runs OSU scored in the inning being earned.

“If you play anybody ranked in the top 10 in the country, you have to play perfect defense to win, and we didn’t do that,” Price said. “We gave ’em seven outs in that one inning, and like all good clubs, they put up a four-spot.”

KU had its chances to climb back into it and narrowed the gap to 4-2 on a fielder’s choice groundout by Connor McKay in the bottom of the seventh. But OSU got out of the jam without any further damage and then blew the game open with a two-out, three-RBI double from catcher Bryan Case in the top of the ninth that set the final margin.

The loss dropped KU to 13-21 overall and 1-6 in Big 12 play and put the Jayhawks in a hole as they look to win their first conference series of the season.

“We’ve gotta win a ballgame before we can win a series,” Price said when asked how he thought his team would respond to Friday’s tough loss.

Added Krauth: “It was a good atmosphere in here. Obviously, the (seventh) inning wasn’t what we wanted, but it was fun. And when we saw that (Beck home run) go over, we all thought, ‘Here we go. We’ve got a shot to beat a top-10 team.'”

Despite Friday’s loss, the Jayhawks still have two more chances. Game 2 of the series is set for 2 p.m. today.

Okla. St. 000 000 403 — 7 11 1

Kansas 000 001 100 — 2 9 2

W – Jon Perrin, 3-3. L – Ben Krauth, 5-3.

2B: Corey Hassel, Bryan Case, Ryan Sluder, OSU, 1 each. HR: Blair Beck, KU.

KU highlights: Ben Krauth 6.1 IP, 8 H, 0 ER, 9 K; Blair Beck 2-for-4, HR, RBI, run; Connor McKay 2-for-4, RBI; Justin Protacio 1-for-3; Dakota Smith 2-for-4, run; Joven Afenir 1-for-3; Owen Taylor 1-for-3.