Big 12 Baseball Tournament Roundup: Top Two Seeds Lose

#5 Kansas Jayhawks 15, #8 Kansas Wildcats 14

The opening game of the day proved to be one of the wildest ones. The Jayhawks put up a 6-1 lead in the first two innings, only to watch the Wildcats put up 10 in the middle innings while the Jayhawks scored 4! The score was 11-10 through 6 innings. The Jayhawks tied the game in the seventh off when Skyler Messinger doubled and then scored on a fielding error by the Wildcats. Things settled down until the 11th inning when the Wildcats put 3 on the board, only to watch the Jayhawks score 4 to win it. The Wildcats are eliminated.

#6 TCU Horned Frogs 16, #7 Oklahoma Sooners 3

TCU used a record-breaking inning to “10-run” the Sooners in their mid-day game. the Horned Frogs set Big 12 records for: runs scored in one inning (14), hits in an inning (11), and runs batted in [RBI] (14) while tying the record for at-bats (15) and home runs (3). Senior Josh Watson clobbered a grand slam while Johnny Rizer and Zach Humphreys both hit 2-run shots. Oklahoma is eliminated.

#4 West Virginia Mountaineers 5, #1 Texas Tech Red Raiders 1

It looked like Alek Manoah was going to get chased from the game early against Texas Tech. The Mountaineers’ ace threw 75 pitches in the first four frames but settled down quickly and finished the game with 8 innings pitched and a career-high 126 pitches. Manoah got out of jams all night and his centerfielder Brandon White made two amazing grabs. In the 7th inning, the Mountaineers finally got through the Texas Tech bullpen when West Virginia plated 2 runs thanks in part to some aggressive baserunning.

#3 Oklahoma State Cowboys 5, Baylor Bears 0

Shutting out your opponent is a sure-fire way to win and the Oklahoma State Cowboys proved as much in the nightcap of the Big 12 Tournament, as Jensen Elliot threw 6 innings of 2-hit ball. The Bears struggled all night, managing just three hits. The Cowboys on the other hand used 7 hits to score 5 runs. In the sixth inning, DH Colin Simpson blasted a two-run homer that put this game on ice.

Friday’s Games

There are only two games today and both are elimination games. The winner will play either West Virginia or Oklahoma State while the loser can pack it up and go home.

Elimination Game 1 - #1 Texas Tech vs #5 Kansas. It should come as no real surprise that the best team in the regular season was 2-1 against the #5 team in conference but don’t sleep on Kansas. Kansas won’t be facing the Red Raiders best two pitchers, instead they will likely face Erikson Lanning, who the Jayhawks chased out of their regular season matchup before Lanning recorded an out. Kansas has scored 23 runs in their two games, so offensively they can put runs on the board. Winner advances to play West Virginia on Saturday at 9:30 AM while the loser goes home.

Elimination Game 2 - #2 Baylor vs #6 TCU. The Bears swept the Horned Frogs during the regular season and any chance you get to eliminate your rival out of a tournament, you are going to feel good about yourself. Baylor is a lot like West Virginia in that it needs a deep run in the Big 12 Tournament if it wants to host a regional in the College World Series. Winner advances to play Oklahoma State at 12:30 on Saturday

Jake Lantz