photo by: Sarah Buchanan/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas' Jackson Hauge celebrates during the game against Kansas State on Friday, April 18, 2025, in Lawrence.

After falling behind by three runs, the “never-die Hawks,” as Jackson Hauge dubbed them last week, found their way back into the game, as a four-run seventh inning propelled the Kansas baseball team to a 5-3 win in the opening game of the Sunflower Showdown on Friday night at Hoglund Ballpark.

Hauge was a big part of the turnaround, hitting the three-run home run that gave them their first lead of the game in the bottom of the seventh, showing his importance in the offense as he has all season.

“I think it just supports the claim, we’re the never-die Hawks,” he said. “We’re going to stay to our approach and keep playing all nine innings.”

His home run was his 17th of the year, tying him for second in Division I and for third for the most home runs in a single season in program history.

“They are mega-competitive and have incredible belief, incredible confidence,” head coach Dan Fitzgerald said postgame.

The Jayhawks were shut down for 6 2/3 innings by Kansas State’s starter Jacob Frost, who allowed only two hits and no earned runs while striking out 10.

“He pitched really well to start the game, and hats off to him,” Hauge said. “He kept us off balance all night and started whipping out a curveball out of nowhere in the sixth and seventh. But momentum is huge in baseball, so it’s important to just keep going.”

The Jayhawks kept going in the seventh even after Frost got two quick outs. Sawyer Smith drew his second walk of the night from the No. 9 spot, flipping over the lineup and forcing Frost out of the game. After that, Kansas was back in business, as Derek Cerda walked to put two men on before a single by Brady Ballinger drove in the first run for the Jayhawks and Hauge added three more on with his home run directly after.

“Friday night wins are worth their weight in gold,” Fitzgerald said, with the weekend’s schedule still up in the air due to weather. Starter Dominic Voegele was a big part of the victory, even if it wasn’t his best outing of the season, as he shouldered 112 pitches for a Jayhawks team running short on bullpen arms.

“I think the most important stat for a starting pitcher is innings pitched. And the longer a starter can go and be quality, you just, you shrink the game, and you just save your bullpen,” Fitzgerald said. “You know, if Dom doesn’t fight his way through, and now, all of a sudden, Manning (West) has thrown 47 and (Alex Breckheimer) has thrown 47, it’s a different story tomorrow.”

After allowing only two runs over his two home starts during conference play, Voegele was much less sharp than he usually is at Hoglund Ballpark. He opened up the night with a leadoff walk and single through the right side by Seth Dardar before inducing a rare double play for the fly-ball pitcher to advance a runner to third in exchange for a pair of outs to keep the Wildcats off the scoreboard.

While Hauge worked a two-out walk, Frost collected three strikeouts to shut the Jayhawks down.

Voegele issued two more walks in the second before a flyout to right put two runners in scoring position. Kansas State’s No. 9 hitter, Donte Lewis, came up big in a two-out situation, driving a double down the right field line to bring in both runs and give the Wildcats the first lead of the night at 2-0. Meanwhile, Frost cruised through another inning and picked up his fourth strikeout to keep the two-run lead intact.

Kansas’ ace finally grabbed his first strikeout to start the third before forcing another groundout to get two outs quickly. But after a good start, Voegele gave up back-to-back singles to put runners on the corners before hitting a batter to load the bases. His shaky command continued, as a wild pitch in the next at-bat brought in another run to give the Wildcats a 3-0 lead.

Kansas’ bats stayed cold in the third as Smith worked an eight-pitch walk to bring up the top of the lineup with one out, but the Jayhawks couldn’t find their first hit, much less their first run.

Ian Francis kept Kansas State off the board in the seventh as he threw out Lewis on an attempted steal. Lewis was previously 7-for-7 on steals this season.

Hauge finally collected Kansas’s first hit to lead off the fourth, and Kansas loaded the bases with two outs after a walk and an error, but a strikeout ended the threat and the inning.

Finally settling in in the fifth, Voegele got through his first clean inning of the night before Smith led off the bottom of the frame with a double. But the Jayhawks once again couldn’t capitalize, as three straight outs stranded Smith at second.

Voegele stayed on the mound to start the sixth, coming back on having already thrown 96 pitches on the night. He started off rocky with a seven-pitch walk before buckling down for a pair of outs, but after walking his second batter of the inning on four straight pitches, Voegele’s night was over.

West, who led the Jayhawks in innings pitched on Tuesday with 2 1/3, took over on the mound and walked the first batter. But he was able to bounce back and force a long flyout to the deepest part of the field to keep Kansas in a 3-0 deficit heading into the bottom of the sixth. In the other half of the sixth, Frost remained undeterred by his long break between innings and sat the Jayhawks down in order.

West returned for the seventh and held Kansas’ deficit at three runs.

Similarly to Voegele in the sixth, Frost came back out in the seventh and got two outs before issuing a walk and being pulled before he could finish the inning.

This set up the perfect opportunity for the Jayhawks, who had struggled against Frost all night and went on to score all four runs in the inning with two outs against the first piece of the Wildcats’ bullpen.

The hard-throwing righty Breckheimer took over for the Jayhawks in the eighth, having served as both a setup man and a closer over the course of the season. He cruised through his first inning of work, keeping Kansas’ 4-3 lead intact.

The Jayhawks added a big run for him in the sixth after Cerda drove in Tommy Barth, who had opened the inning with a triple on a bloop hit to right field.

“I just felt like a lot of pressure taken off my shoulders there,” Breckheimer said.

This gave him the confidence to close out the game with a two-inning save, hitting 98 mph on his third strikeout of the night in the ninth, which was a new personal record.

While the Jayhawks definitely appreciated being on the right side of game one, Fitzgerald said postgame that the most important thing they could do was get ready to do it all over again two more times this weekend.

“They’re going to come back tomorrow ready to fight, so we got to get home and get prepared and come do it all again tomorrow,” Hauge said.

Kansas will take on the Wildcats in the second game of the series Saturday at noon, as the game was moved up due to weather in the area.