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

Kansas center fielder Tyson Owens celebrates with the bullpen after hitting a home run against Arizona at Hoglund Ballpark on Sunday, May 3, 2026.

The Kansas baseball team used a 13-hit attack – including nine hits that went for extra bases – and a solid bullpen to post an 11-5 win over Arizona in a Big 12 Conference matchup Sunday afternoon at Hoglund Ballpark.

The win closed out a series sweep for the 11th-ranked Jayhawks (37-11, 20-4) – the fifth in eight conference series this season – and Kansas has now won 10 straight games. The Jayhawks also have turned Hoglund Ballpark into a fortress, as Kansas is a perfect 12-0 at home in the Big 12 and 18-2 overall this season.

“I’m super proud of the guys today,” said Kansas head coach Dan Fitzgerald, whose team is now 21-1 in its last 22 games. “(Arizona) has some good young hitters and our staff did a nice job of holding them down and we got some timely hitting.”

Arizona (16-30, 7-17), which has now lost six straight games, struck first in the top of the second inning. Following a one-out walk by Mathis Meurant, Cash Brennan drove Mathis Nayral’s pitch over the right field fence for a two-run homer, giving the Wildcats an early 2-0 lead.

Kansas responded in the bottom half, as Brady Ballinger and Tyson Owens both smacked opposite-field solo home runs over the left field wall to tie the game at 2. The next batter, Augusto Mungarrieta, then doubled to left field and came home on a ground-rule double by Josh Dykhoff. Dykhoff scored later when, with two outs, Jordan Bach singled to right field, and the Jayhawks led 4-2 after two innings.

Arizona got single runs in the third and fourth to tie the game at 4, but Kansas retook control in the bottom of the fourth, sending 10 batters to the plate and scoring five runs on five hits to grab a 9-4 lead. The biggest blows in the rally were a two-run triple by Bach following an RBI double by Dylan Schlotterback.

The Jayhawks stretched their lead to 11-4 in the bottom of the seventh, as Ballinger tripled and scored on a sacrifice fly by Dariel Osoria before Owens hit his second solo homer of the game, this one traveling 436 feet over the fence in left center field.

Arizona added one more run in the top of the eighth, but the Kansas pitching staff took things from there, retiring the final six Wildcat batters to seal the win. The Jayhawks’ trio of Toby Scheidt, Riane Ritter and Boede Rahe combined to throw the final six innings, allowing just two runs on four hits with five strikeouts and two walks.

“There’s no question (the bullpen excelled on Sunday),” said Fitzgerald. “What helped a lot is that we got two good starts on Friday and Saturday, so we had plenty of arms available.”

Scheidt (4-1) picked up the win, allowing one run on three hits with a strikeout and two walks in three innings of relief work. Bach finished the game 2-for-5 with his triple and three RBIs, Tyson LeBlanc was 2-for-4 with a double, Ballinger went 2-for-3 with a homer and triple and scored two runs, Owens ended up 2-for-3 with his two solo homers, two runs scored and two RBIs, and Dykhoff was 2-for-4 with a double and two runs scored.

Kansas – which has won seven of its eight conference series this year – is back in action Tuesday, traveling to Omaha, Nebraska, to take on Creighton in a non-conference matchup. It is the Jayhawks’ final nonconference game of the season, and first pitch at Charles Schwab Field is scheduled for 6 p.m.