Kansas rallies past Arkansas, reaches super regionals for first time
Kansas erased a five-run deficit and beat Arkansas 13-10 before 4,007 fans, sending Lawrence into its first super regional and putting Hoglund Ballpark on the national stage.
Kansas baseball turned Hoglund Ballpark into the center of the sport Sunday night, rallying past Arkansas 13-10 to win the Lawrence Regional and reach the super regionals for the first time in program history. In front of 4,007 fans, the Jayhawks transformed a tense postseason weekend into one of the biggest athletic moments Lawrence has seen in years, giving Douglas County a rare national spotlight and sending the University of Kansas into uncharted territory.
The breakthrough came after Kansas fell behind by five runs through three innings, a start that threatened to force a decisive Monday game. Instead, the Jayhawks answered with a six-run fourth inning, sparked by Tyson LeBlanc’s three-run home run, then kept building until they led by as many as six runs and never trailed again. Kansas had already shown its resolve a day earlier by beating Arkansas 5-3 on Saturday to reach the regional final.
Several Jayhawks delivered in unusual roles to keep the run alive. Dariel Osoria, moved into the field because Cade Baldridge could not play, collected four hits. Josh Dykhoff finished 3-for-5 with three RBIs, and Manning West allowed one run in three innings to earn the win. The mix of steady pitching, timely power and depth at key spots carried Kansas through a game that kept shifting before the home crowd.
The weekend marked a milestone for Lawrence as much as for the program. Kansas hosted a regional at Hoglund Ballpark for the first time in school history after earning the No. 15 national seed, and Friday’s 6-3 win over Northeastern was the first NCAA Division I baseball championship game ever played in Lawrence. That opener drew a then-record 3,571 fans, before Sunday’s championship-game crowd pushed the new attendance mark even higher.
Kansas finished 45-16, tying the 1993 school record for wins in a season. The regional title was only the second in school history, matching the program’s lone previous run in 1993, when the Jayhawks reached their only College World Series. That tournament format did not include super regionals, making this year’s breakthrough a true first for Kansas baseball and a moment that lifted the profile of Lawrence, the campus and the community around them.
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