Kansas Sweeps At Utah, Win Streak Up To 8

(Kansas Athletics photo)

By James Gravley

The Kansas Jayhawks, who were projected by many to be the top team in the Big 12, now sit only two games back from the West Virginia Mountaineers. However, WVU has played two fewer Big 12 games, because their series against Oklahoma State earlier in the year canceled two of the scheduled three games due to forest fires.

Kansas has played well over its last 10 games, going 8-2 with a series sweep over Kansas State and most recently, a sweep over Utah this past weekend. In the midweek, Kansas had wins over Nebraska and Wichita State as well and is riding an eight-game winning streak.

KU took game one of the series by a score of 2-0, game two 12-5, and completed the sweep on Sunday by one run, 12-11.

Kansas and Utah were back and forth all game long on Sunday, but anytime the Jayhawks would pull within striking distance, the Utes would add a run or two to extend their lead. However, a grand slam by Kansas’s Sawyer Smith was the game-changing moment, giving KU a 12-10 lead it would not relinquish. Utah added a run for the final margin but just ran out of gas.

The Jayhawks have a midweek game hosting SEC foe Missouri on Tuesday, then they will host Cincinnati for a three-game Big 12 set. They go to Missouri for the last non-conference midweek of the season before facing BYU for a Thursday-Saturday three-game conference set at home. They wrap up the regular season by traveling to Morgantown, WV for a three-game regular series, also Thursday-Saturday, against the Mountaineers.

As of right now, with WVU sweeping and with the Kansas win and sweep over Utah, Kansas is still only two games behind WVU in the standings. If things continue to play out like this for the remainder of the season, that last series between the Jayhawks and Mountaineers will have big seeding implications on the Big 12 tournament, NCAA regional seeding, and potentially hosting a regional (for WVU) and Big 12.

*****