photo by: Emma Crouch/Kansas Athletics

Kansas head coach Dan Fitzgerald during practice at Hoglund Ballpark in Lawrence, on Friday, Sept. 20, 2024.

A series loss to Illinois-Chicago to open the 2024 season meant that the Kansas baseball team already had a black mark on its schedule in mid-February.

The Jayhawks don’t have to worry about that this year.

KU pulled off a four-game road sweep of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in its first action of 2025, escaping with an extra-innings victory in the opener Friday and then breezing past the Islanders in three blowout victories Saturday, Sunday and Monday by a combined margin of 36-1.

Starting his first four games as a Jayhawk at designated hitter, JUCO transfer Dariel Osoria led the way for KU at the plate, batting 7-for-15 (.467) with a double, a home run and a team-high 10 RBIs. Half the runs he drove in came in his 2-for-5 showing on Monday.

“What really went well this weekend was trying to keep the approach simple,” Osoria said in a press release on Monday. “I tried to come up in certain opportunities for the team and come in clutch in those situations. I was really excited about the home run. I saw the ball go up and knew I had it. It was straight emotions of excitement going through my mind right there. It felt pretty good having my first home run as a Jayhawk.”

With the exception of splitting catching duties between Max Soliz Jr. and Ian Francis, KU went with a similar lineup all four days, allowing players like East Tennessee State transfer outfielder Tommy Barth (7-for-17 with two doubles) and JUCO first baseman Brady Ballinger (6-for-15 with a triple and a home run) to shine. Practically everyone took advantage of A&M-Corpus Christi’s pitching.

“I think we did a really good job with the strike zone all weekend,” Fitzgerald said in the release. “We ended up with nine walks and four punchouts tonight. That was kind of the theme of all four games. We had more walks and hit by pitches than strikeouts and a bunch of extra-base hits tied in.”

After sophomore Dominic Voegele, the Big 12’s preseason pitcher of the year, allowed a pair of runs early in Friday’s game, the Jayhawks’ starting pitching was virtually flawless between Voegele, Manning West on Saturday, Patrick Steitz (newly from Tommy John surgery) as a two-inning opener on Sunday and Cooper Moore (a key bullpen piece last year) on Monday.

Junior righty Kannon Carr pitched four no-hit innings after Steitz to highlight a stellar weekend for the Jayhawks’ new-look bullpen.

“It was (a) perfect day to play ball, so I was happy to get out there,” Carr said on Sunday. “The mindset going into it was really just fill up the zone. The wind is blowing in, the ball is not going to go anywhere today, so just fill it up and let the defense work.”

Between the success on offense and the pitching, KU was rarely seriously challenged. Saturday and Monday’s games got out of hand early, with KU going up 9-0 after three innings on Saturday (it won 12-1) and 8-0 through two on Monday (when it won 16-0 in seven innings). Sunday took a little longer for the Jayhawks to get going, but Osoria broke the seal in the fourth inning with a two-run double and the Jayhawks went on to an 8-0 victory.

The only drama came on Friday. Osoria’s two-RBI single to center field made up for Voegele’s slow start, and Brady Counsell put the Jayhawks ahead in the sixth. But the Islanders managed to tie the game at 3-3 on a throwing error on a stolen-base attempt.

Cam Soliz kept KU at bay initially, and Malakai Vetock escaped a shaky ninth inning to send the game to extras. In the top of the 10th, Osoria, Chase Diggins and Mike Koszewski singled in succession before Barth doubled to chase Soliz and begin a five-run inning.

Dalton Smith walked the first three batters he faced in the bottom half of the inning, but despite some wild pitches that allowed Islanders to score, Jake Cubbler did well enough as KU held on to win 8-5.

The Jayhawks are 4-0 for the first time since 2014 after their first four-game sweep on the road against a Division I opponent since 1978. KU will stay on the road and head to Stephenville, Texas, for a three-game series at Tarleton State, beginning on Friday at 3 p.m.