photo by: Kahner Sampson/Special to the Journal-World

Kansas junior Tyson LeBlanc celebrates as he rounds the bases during the Jayhawks' NCAA tournament game against Arkansas on Sunday, May 31, 2026, at Hoglund Ballpark in Lawrence.

When the Kansas baseball team fell behind Arkansas by five runs through three innings on Sunday night, a seventh game on Monday to decide the Lawrence Regional looked inevitable.

But the Jayhawks instead struck back with a six-run fourth inning headlined by Tyson LeBlanc’s three-run home run, led by as many as six and never trailed again on their way to a 13-10 victory over the Razorbacks.

“Unbelievable crowd, unbelievable atmosphere, and just could not be more proud and couldn’t be more excited to keep playing baseball,” KU coach Dan Fitzgerald said.

KU will move on to the super regionals for the first time in program history, as the round didn’t exist yet when the Jayhawks made their lone trip to the College World Series in 1993. The Jayhawks will remain at Hoglund Ballpark for the next round and play a best-of-three series against Oklahoma after the Sooners’ stunning 8-7 extra-innings upset victory over No. 2 overall seed Georgia Tech in Atlanta on Monday night. More details will be announced on Tuesday morning.

“To be able to give the fans what they’ve been waiting for for a long time, that was an amazing feeling, looking up, having all the families in the stands, student section, everyone,” LeBlanc said. “That was a great feeling.”

Ryder Helfrick hit two of Arkansas’ four home runs, but KU had more firepower. Second baseman Dariel Osoria, thrust into action in the field by an injury to Cade Baldridge, racked up four hits, and first baseman Josh Dykhoff went 3-for-5 with three RBIs. The Jayhawks dealt with inconsistent pitching early before Manning West steadied things with one run allowed in three innings midway through the game. He was the winning pitcher on the night.

“Manning just got hot, and that cutter was disgusting tonight, and he was able to get underneath some barrels,” Fitzgerald said. “And the impressive thing is that he did it striking out one guy.”

Making his first start since March 15, 2025, when he was at Vanderbilt, Arkansas’ Ethan McElvain, the Razorbacks’ usual closer, worked around a leadoff walk and an error for a scoreless first inning.

Helfrick gave the Razorbacks the lead with a two-out solo home run off KU’s Mathis Nayral.

Osoria led off the second inning with a double, and Jordan Bach followed it up with a four-pitch walk. However, Dylan Schlotterback had a potential extra-base hit curl just foul and then grounded into a double play. Brady Ballinger struck out as KU’s threat fell by the wayside.

Nayral allowed a walk and a single to open the second inning and swiftly gave way to Toby Scheidt.

“It just wasn’t coming out the way that it normally does,” Fitzgerald said of pulling Nayral early, which proved to be a pivotal choice. “He just didn’t have the bite on the slider, or the fastball didn’t have the life that it normally has. Just knew that that offense is so explosive … We just knew there was very little wiggle room and couldn’t let it get away from us.”

Arkansas bunted the runners over, and after a strikeout by TJ Pompey, Damian Ruiz came through with a two-out, two-RBI single and Camden Kozeal knocked in another run to make it 4-0 as Ruiz beat out a throw to the plate.

Arkansas’ offense continued to make things difficult for Scheidt in the third with a pair of walks, at which point he exited for West. West conceded an RBI single to Maika Niu before preventing additional damage.

McElvain crossed a season high in pitches during the fourth inning and proceeded to allow his first run, a solo home run by Osoria. He then gave up three straight singles, resulting in another run, runners at the corners with one out and a pitching change to lefty Cole Gibler.

“We just trusted our guys,” Ballinger said. “We stuck to the approach that Coach Fitz gave us, and we just grinded out at-bats. We know they had a good starter; we knew that we could get to him.”

Max Soliz Jr., a former Razorback, kept the rally going with another single to left, bringing up the top of the order. LeBlanc quickly fell behind 0-2 but saw a pitch he liked and cleared the bases with his 24th home run of the season, a three-run bomb to make it 6-5.

“I was looking for a hanging breaking ball and that’s what I got, and made him pay,” LeBlanc said.

Gibler escaped the rest of the inning, putting the pressure back on West, who responded by forcing Arkansas’ first scoreless inning.

Colin Fisher replaced Gibler in the fifth, issued a walk and then suffered from a throwing error that gave KU a run. Ballinger added another with a groundout before Soliz flied out to end the inning at 8-5.

With a runner already on first, West walked Niu in the fifth, but got Christian Turner to ground out.

LeBlanc led off the sixth with a double to the wall that Niu may have prevented from being a home run by knocking it down with his glove. Fisher struck out Tyson Owens but hit Augusto Mungarrieta. Dykhoff fell behind 0-2 before homering to right field to double KU’s lead to 11-5.

Osoria doubled, but Bach flied out and right-hander Peyton Lee entered to get Schlotterback out.

Riane Ritter took the mound and gave up a two-run homer to Helfrick that tightened the deficit to four runs. Then Lee stranded another runner at second base in the top of the seventh.

Ritter ran into trouble again in the bottom of the seventh — the Razorbacks were the designated home team — but this time he came up with back-to-back strikeouts as Arkansas left two runners in scoring position.

Arkansas went to James DeCremer on the mound after his abortive appearance on Saturday, and he immediately allowed KU to load the bases before recording an out, then walked Bach to make it 12-7. Schlotterback added a sacrifice fly against Cooper Dossett, but Dossett retired the next two batters.

Boede Rahe entered in the bottom of the eighth, his third appearance in as many days. But it didn’t go according to plan as he gave up a two-run shot to Zack Stewart.

Niu added a one-out solo shot in the ninth, but otherwise Rahe struck out three Razorbacks swinging to set the final score at 13-10.

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