photo by: Mike Gunnoe/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas senior Michael Brooks looks to the dugout after striking out to end the game against Nebraska at Hoglund Ballpark Tuesday, April 8, 2025.

Kansas baseball had its season-best nine-game winning streak snapped by Nebraska in Tuesday’s midweek matchup at Hoglund Ballpark, falling 7-5 after a failed late-inning comeback.

With the game tied heading into the top of the eighth, Nebraska took a two-run lead off a trio of singles before adding on its final run in the ninth after two more singles and a sacrifice bunt.

The Jayhawks didn’t give up or feel discouraged until the last out of the game, as Mike Koszewski, who pinch-hit for Sawyer Smith, led off the ninth by drawing a walk and eventually advanced to second on a groundout by Brady Ballinger. Jackson Hauge scratched a run across with a single before being replaced by the speedy TJ Williams on the base paths.

“There was full belief, until, you know, the final strike three, that we were still going to win that thing, especially when we score the run, when Hauge gets the base hit and we pitch run TJ, who steals second,” said head coach Dan Fitzgerald. “And now Brooks is up, you know, in my mind I had pictured a double down the line there and the base hit to tie it.”

While the Jayhawks couldn’t tie things or bring in the winning run like Fitzgerald envisioned, they maintained their season-long attitude of trusting in each other to come up in big moments and stay unfazed.

“We’re the never-die Hawks,” Hauge said. “I think we’ve always got a chance, and it sucks that we’re on the other side of that one, but we’re a good ball club, and we’re trying to bounce back when we go to TCU this weekend.”

Kansas’ offense was uncharacteristically quiet, as the Jayhawks recorded only five hits, with only one of those coming with a runner in scoring position, and left eight men on base. But its nine walks kept it in the game, as Fitzgerald praised his team’s approach even after the loss.

“Sometimes it’s literally (about) hitting the ball where no one’s standing,” Fitzgerald said. “So they made the pitches and I thought our approach was great. We competed and I told them after the game that, you know, it’s the process, and it’s how you compete, and it’s how you go about it.”

Both starting pitchers struggled in the game, though KU’s Patrick Steitz was on the unluckier end. After he hit the first batter, Nebraska set down a sacrifice bunt to move the leadoff batter into scoring position before a wild pitch advanced him to third. Cayden Brumbaugh drove in the first run of the night on the same at-bat before Steitz collected his first strikeout of the night to end the inning.

It didn’t take long for Kansas to even things up, though, as Ballinger led off the bottom of the first with a single to extend his hitting streak to 14 games and was driven in on a double by Michael Brooks that extended his on-base streak to 23 games.

Steitz’s luck continued to sour, as an error by Smith on a grounder put the leadoff runner on, and he eventually came in to score on a double by the next batter, Max Buettenback. Derek Cerda fielded a deep fly ball in center field and gave Steitz some help with a fantastic throw to nab the runner attempting to advance to third, clearing the bases and getting Kansas two quick outs. Steitz was unable to capitalize, though, as he gave up a solo home run to left field to Will Jesske on the very next pitch before walking the next batter and being pulled with two outs in the second.

Jake Cubbler entered to get Kansas through the inning, as Chase Diggins returned to catcher, where Fitzgerald had often placed him earlier in the year, and nabbed a runner at second to end things.

Each team went in order on six pitches before Nebraska called on its bullpen to start the bottom of the inning. Kansas drew three walks, but couldn’t drive anyone in with the top of its lineup due up.

Cubbler surrendered his first run on a double by Buettenback after walking the leadoff man in an eight-pitch at-bat. Thaniel Trumper took over to grab the last two outs of the inning as Kansas entered its half of the fourth down 4-1.

Six straight outs brought the top of the Jayhawks lineup back up with Jalen Worthley on the mound for the Huskers. After popping out with the bases loaded in the third, Cerda started the Jayhawks off on the right foot with a leadoff walk in the fifth. Still looking for its first hit since the first inning, Kansas had the perfect duo up to break the streak, as Ballinger’s second hit of the game came in the form of an RBI double to get the Jayhawks within two. Then Hauge stepped up to the plate with still only one out in the inning and did what he does best, hitting his 15th home run of the year to center field to tie the game and move up to second in Division I in homers this season.

Malakai Vetock took over on the mound for Kansas in a tie game and worked around Smith’s second error of the night to keep that status intact heading into the bottom of the sixth.

Just like they did in the third inning, the Jayhawks loaded the bases with three walks as Nebraska’s Carson Jasa threw five balls in a row to end his outing. Ballinger, last week’s Big 12 player of the week and the owner of two hits on the night, stepped up to the plate. The Huskers brought in Lawrence native Grant Cleavinger, a junior in his second year with Nebraska, to take on Ballinger with the bases loaded. To the dismay of a loaded student section chanting against him, Cleavinger won the biggest battle of the game as Ballinger was unable to check his swing on a 3-2 count to strike out and leave the bases loaded.

Manning West entered for Vetock and claimed a clean seventh, as Brooks drew a walk for the Jayhawks before a double play ended their threat and kept it 4-4 heading into the eighth.

Nebraska scratched across three runs in the eighth and ninth on five singles, putting the Jayhawks in a 7-4 deficit. And while they still felt confident in the ninth with the top of their lineup due up, the Jayhawks were unable to mount a second comeback, as they scored their last run on a walk and a single but couldn’t make up the three-run deficit.

“We just didn’t have the big hit that kind of puts it away,” Fitzgerald said. “You know, Brady came up there with bases loaded and had the check swing, and usually games come down to (one moment). If he gaps the double right there, and we clear it and go up three runs, it’s probably a different outcome.”

While the Jayhawks saw their winning streak disappear, Fitzgerald noted that it’s nothing to hang their heads about, and he still remains fully confident in his players heading into a weekend series on the road at a tough TCU team (25-9, 8-4).

“We compete like a championship team, and I will take a competitive, gritty, tough, humble, focused-on-each-other team into a game any night,” Fitzgerald said. “And so I’m proud of how these guys compete … We’ve got to have a great practice tomorrow, and then a great practice Thursday at TCU, and then, you know, we’ll see about Friday … It’s a long, long way from here in my mind.”

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