Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - SUPER BREAKTHROUGH: Kansas Jayhawks & Tyson LeBlanc OUTPLAY Arkansas Razorbacks for Super Regional

Starting point is 00:00:00 Fitzgerald Tyson-Lamblong and the Kansas Jayhawks baseball team are headed to a super regional down go those pesky Arkansas Razorbacks. You are locked on Jayhawks, your daily podcast on the Kansas Jayhawks, part of the Locked-on podcast network, your team every day. What's up, Derek Johnson here with Locked on Jayhawks, and on today's episode we'll get to what's next. Now that KU's in a super regional for baseball, we'll get into some of the biggest takeaways and some of the player performances from the week that was for KU baseball as we continue on in postseason.

Starting point is 00:00:39 And we'll start right here where we last left off. We had a recap episode from KU taking down to Northeastern. That's set them up in the second game to take on Arkansas. They win that game five to three. And then they move on to eventually wait for the winner of Arkansas, Northeastern ends up being Arkansas. Play Arkansas again, get down early, and they end up scoring 11 straight runs at one point. They go on to beat Arkansas the second time.

Starting point is 00:01:01 And they don't even need the game on Monday to, avoid the, I don't know, double elimination situation where both teams would be eligible for double elimination. They just take care of it quickly, get that extra day of rest to get ready for the super regional. And, you know, it's awesome on a tone for this Kansas baseball team, what they have accomplished this season, what they have done. This is a newer thing for KU. Like, they've done this before, but it's not something that happens that often and is a bit more rare. And the idea, I think, with Dan Fitzgerald in this program is that it can be more common now. and that is obviously a very cool piece of this.

Starting point is 00:01:35 But you look at things and for KU, you just enjoy what you're getting to see this year. It's such a likable team. And I don't know, like getting to beat Arkansas along the way, the school that you have struggled with and all these different sports to this standpoint, like to this point, like you think of, you know, the 2023 NCAA tournament in basketball. You think of the 2025 NCAA tournament in basketball. You think of the 2022 Liberty Bowl. You think of, you know, last year, even though Kansas didn't play Arkansas,

Starting point is 00:02:08 they were in the regional there where they ended up losing both of their games. Like, I guess KU did, I think, beat Arkansas on a WNIT game a couple years ago. But like, you know, for the most part, Arkansas has dominated this series against Kansas, not even series because it's different sports, but just like they've just dominated KU in these important postseason moments. And so it was nice for Kansas. Like in a weird way, it was nice to have to play them. game like i don't know i'm sure a lot of people rooting for northeastern to beat arkansas just to try to make things maybe a little bit easier you would think on paper with arkansas being the

Starting point is 00:02:41 better team than northeastern um but it was just more fitting for them to have to do this in the same way that it was more fitting for k u to have to play west virginia in the big 12 championship game a team who swept them in the regular season it was more fitting for kansas to have to win the big 12 tournament by beating that team in the championship and i think it was more fitting for k u to make this super regional by having to not just beat Arkansas once, but having to beat them twice, right? So we get the five to three game on Saturday, and that game much different game than the game that was on Sunday.

Starting point is 00:03:12 Low hit game, Arkansas only has three hits. Kansas only has six hits on the Saturday game. And this was a game where Kansas, it wasn't as down as they were in the second game between the two. But they were down. You're down three to one. And, you know, three to one with, what Arkansas was throwing out there almost felt like a five-run deficit here, right?

Starting point is 00:03:35 Because the way that Hunter Deats was pitching, he was six and a third, ends up giving up four earned runs, but only on five hits. He had 14 strikeouts. I mean, it was just an unbelievable job by KU hanging with it. And then you get the big boom shot from Tyson LeBlong, who had another one in the second game as well, that ties it at three with the two-run home run in the first game. And then KU was able to, you know, work their magic and get some more runs later. during the game. They get the insurance run in the eighth, which came at a good time. And then, like, Bodey Ray goes from pitching two innings against Northeastern to close the door to, you guessed it, pitching two innings to close the door for Kansas against Arkansas. Mason

Starting point is 00:04:15 Cook didn't have his best stuff, but he did enough. He went four and two thirds, gave up, you know, two earned runs. One was unearned against him. He was fine. Again, it wasn't his best game, but it wasn't a bad game either. He kept them in the game. Ryan Ritter was awesome for KU against Arkansas. and then Bodey Ray again shut the door at the end there and looked really good. And, you know, I wasn't sure if Botey Ray was going to be available for even that game after pitching two endings against Northeastern or if he was, I would have figured, okay, maybe it's a one inning situation. And then he ends up pitching in the other Arkansas game too, where I'm like,

Starting point is 00:04:48 there's no way this dude's going to be available. He'll only be available if there's a game on Monday. But that is something we'll get into with the second game is that Dan Fitzgerald managed that second game with a standpoint of like, no, this is the game. the game we need to end it in. Let's not let them get momentum. Let's cut the head off the snake. But more on that in a moment. But yeah, I mean, Tyson-Libong ends up with three of the RBI against Arkansas, that first game win five to three. And that became so important for KU. Ritter gets the win, Ray gets the save, because it allowed them to have all of Sunday off until their game,

Starting point is 00:05:19 whereas Arkansas is grinding through playing Northeastern, burning some of their different pitchers to where their pitching staff wasn't going to be as deep for the second time that these two teams met. And that was the advantage gained by Kansas from winning that first game. That was the importance of it. Now, obviously, beyond the win itself, there was a lot of discourse about fansmanship and to be clear from the game. Like, supposedly there was a KU student through a beer at Arkansas players. I would never condone that. Like, that is not okay. You can't be thrown beer and, you know, people. If it's a beer shower, I have a little less like, I'm whatever. It's a beer shower, you know what I mean, if that's what it was.

Starting point is 00:06:01 But to my understanding, it was throwing an actual beer can't, you can't do that. That's not okay. Arkansas fans vitriol all week made themselves the enemy. Now they're playing the victim card because of this. And I would not condone that. But I guess my point is like, sometimes bad things are going to happen if you keep being the antagonist, you know what I mean? And so I don't think you can like jump off Scott free here because there's always going

Starting point is 00:06:29 to like I guess my point is this. There's always going to be some idiot of every fan base. Kansas, there will be games where a Kansas fan will do something idiotic. There will be a game where an Arkansas fan does something idiotic. And so again, like, I'm sorry it happened and it shouldn't happen. But like, are we naive enough to be like, this isn't going to ever happen in an Arkansas game to another team? The reason I'm saying this isn't to say, like that situation deserves blame on its own. But the high horses of some of the Arkansas fans who were getting up about, including John neighbors, who does the Locked-on Arkansas stuff, like to get on the high horses of like that that stuff has never happened for them and just use that one situation as an

Starting point is 00:07:15 overwhelming blanket of, yeah, every KU fan is trash because that one thing happened. Like, that's ridiculous to me, man. Again, Arkansas fans talking trash all week. And now you're playing the victim card because of a bad situation. That was a bad situation that I am not condoning, but I'm just saying to a standpoint of like, it's the exception, not the rule. And I don't know, whatever. I'm moving past this. This is pointless. It's stupid. KU wins the second game as well, takes down Arkansas. And this game ends up being, well, I guess you could say a little different than the first one. The first one, like I said, the hits were lacking. And then in this second game, it's a super hot game on a Sunday evening.

Starting point is 00:07:58 Both teams end up with double-digit hits, and Kansas is able to take down Arkansas. And early on, it wasn't looking good for KU, right? Like Arkansas puts up the run in the first on the solo home run. The second inning is where things become problematic for KU. They give up three runs, and then eventually they're down five nothing after the first three innings of work. And they even get a situation.

Starting point is 00:08:23 I forget if it was in the second or third inning, for KU where they had an opportunity. I think it was first and second when nobody out. And then it was like double play and I forget it was a pop out or strikeout or whatever where it was like, okay, you know, you're going to need to start putting some runs up on the board because Arkansas is doing that in return. And that felt like, oh, no, like what's going on here? But going back to the ability by KU to win that first game against Arkansas

Starting point is 00:08:49 and force Arkansas to burn more of their pitchers, that's where, I think it came to play because Arkansas got in a situation where the first picture they used in this one is a dude who has like a sub two ERA. He's been a really excellent reliever this season. He opened the game for Arkansas. But after you got through him, it wasn't a ton of the top available options that Arkansas would normally deploy in a game this meaningful. But because they had to battle their way through to this game, they kind of had no other option. And again, that was the advantage that KU earned by winning the first game. And I think they took that into, I think it was too, I think that was a big key in the comeback. I also think that the way Dan Fitzgerald managed the game was a big key to the comeback.

Starting point is 00:09:36 Because even though you fall down five nothing, it could have been worse, right? Like Mathis Nairald didn't have his best stuff, right? So you bring in Toby Shite, who early on in his appearance looked pretty good and then things started to fade for Shite, right? But again, Dan Fitzgerald, you know, I think a lot of managers, would almost view it as like when you get down 5-0, like, hey, let's just ride with this guy and have him eat up all the endings possible. We'll take the loss, but then we'll have all hands on deck for Monday. And I appreciated the way that Dan Fitzgerald manages to be like, no, we got a good offense.

Starting point is 00:10:07 We can come back. We're going to try to hang in this game. And we're going to do everything possible to try to win this game because you don't know what's going to happen in a crazy Monday game where both teams can be eliminated. View every game like it's your potential last. And the advantage of winning in this game, too, you get an extra day. off getting ready for super regionals you keep your pitchers even more rested right and so we managed it like it was a game seven of the world series or like it was an elimination game for k u as well and i did appreciate

Starting point is 00:10:33 that i think that was a a very big piece of this comeback for k u right and manning west was phenomenal in this one i mean three innings he gives up the one run uh only one strike out along the way but like he was the bridge piece in the bullpen for k u i mean he pitched the most innings who got you from unsteady ground through steady ground, if that kind of makes sense. Then Ryan Ritter comes in, and again, like, just mows down Arkansas. He looked really good. And then more of the Bodie Ray show. And, again, I mean, I'm just amazed that Bodie Ray was even able to pitch in this game

Starting point is 00:11:08 after pitching two innings and back-to-back games, like, and then coming into this one, like, just unbelievable what he was able to do. From the Kansas hitting perspective, like, this is where the lineup depth came into for KU, right? Like you get almost everyone in the lineup gets a hit in this one. And I guess if you counted like hit by pitch or walks, I think everybody who started for KU ended up getting on base in this one. So like, again, it's a little bit of everybody. But that moment where Tyson LeBlanc hits the three-run home run.

Starting point is 00:11:41 So it's a six-run inning in the fourth for KU. They go from down five-nothing to up six to five. And the three-run bomb by LeBlanc, that was pure euphoria. You know, and overall, Kansas scores 11 consecutive runs. It's a little bit of everybody. It's a little bit of everything. Bottom line here is you're moving on to the Super Regional's for the first time in a long time. And it's just a super fun way to get there by beating Arkansas twice.

Starting point is 00:12:04 So moving on, we'll get to what's next. We'll get to the biggest takeaways from this week and some of the biggest player performances. We'll continue with that next. This is locked on Jayhawks. This episode of the show is brought to you by Indeed, workplace chaos, deadline stacking up, inbox overflowing and the one position you have to fill is still sitting open. When the pressure is on and you need the right hire, this is a job for Indeed sponsor jobs. Indeed, sponsor jobs helps you reach the people who actually fit what you're looking for

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Starting point is 00:13:24 You can join us as well on the ad-free club with the everyday or club. Go to locked on jhawks.supercast.com. That is locked on jhawks. Dot supercast.com. So Kansas takes down Arkansas and moves on to the Super Regional where they will take on either Georgia Tech or Oklahoma. Last I checked, Georgia Tech got up to an early lead on Oklahoma, and then Oklahoma came back and was actually leading late.

Starting point is 00:13:55 So I wonder if that one's gone final, actually. But I'll have to check on that later. But if Oklahoma wins that game, they'll be playing on Monday to determine. And obviously, if you're a Kansas fan, you're rooting for Oklahoma there because then you would get to host in the Super Regional. But if Georgia Tech wins, then Georgia Tech would host. So that's kind of how that works next up for KU. The biggest takeaways from this week for the Jayhawks, I mean, I guess you could say,

Starting point is 00:14:20 like regardless of what happens from here or already was in this situation like k u was in a situation where they were already a special team like you're already a special team when you win your first regular season conference title in like 70 years you know you're already a special team when you win your first conference tournament title since 2006 like those make these this team special among k u standards you know um you're already special when you make you know, back-to-back NCAA tournament trips, which, again, like, it's not a super rich history for KU baseball. So, like, those things already made this team special as well as kind of the way they go about it and how fun they were or have been all season long, right?

Starting point is 00:15:04 But now you're getting into uncharted special territory. I shouldn't say uncharted because you do have a college world series appearance, but, like, you don't have very many super regionals. You just got the one college world series. And now you're two wins away from doing just that. This is going to go down as one of the greatest seasons in KU baseball history. Now, ideally you're able to replicate this even more now that, you know, you have Dan Fitzgerald and the vision moving forward from Travis Gough in terms of, you know, building the indoor practice facility and getting that going and getting the donations and capitalizing on this momentum. The idea is to make this of a more regular thing, which I think

Starting point is 00:15:42 would be the hope for everybody. And I'm a true believer that as long as you have, you know, Dan Fitzgerald in place, that can absolutely happen. So obviously, KU's just got to do everything and their power to keep Dan Fitzgerald and the indoor practice facility is going to be a big piece of that. But I also think about this. Like going back, and I mentioned this in the interview show with Henry Greenside last week, if KU has an indoor practice facility where they're able to work more in the offseason, there's a chance that KU is hosting a super regional regardless of what happens in that Georgia Tech Oklahoma game. Because Kansas had some early season losses.

Starting point is 00:16:14 And this was true in 2025 as well. You lose some early season games maybe you're not expected to because maybe some of those teams are in weather states that are able to get more practice and work than Kansas is during the offseason and during the winter. And that's where the indoor facility can come into play and would allow you to probably host, you know, more events if you're Kansas or more, you know, regional or potentially super regionals to get some of those extra wins. So I don't know, just, just the thought there. Here's another thought. Tyson LeBlong is going to go down. I don't know, like, I need to talk to like Brian and some of the people who are better with like the history of KU baseball than me because I don't

Starting point is 00:16:49 want to sound to prisoner of the moment right here. Is it possible Tyson Long is going to go down as the greatest single season player performance by a KU baseball Jayhawk? And I don't want to say that to like step on history of past guys who have done unbelievable things. I mean, there's been players of KU who hit over 400 and I've had like, I was looking there was a single season guy that had like an 800 slugging percentage in a year. Like there have been some unbelievable seasons. But when you combine the individual performance with the team success, like that's that's hard to much because here's the thing. He has he does have the number one mark for home runs in a single season, right? He has most home runs in program history. And

Starting point is 00:17:35 he's gaining from the pack at this point. He's got 24 of them. He continues to rise above second place. His single season home run total puts him in the top 10 for career home runs. at KU. That is how much he has been a big slugger. He has 68 runs driven in. That puts him sixth in an individual season. He's three away from finishing top three. He's 175 total bases that is second most in a single season at KU, 11 back of Thompson. He's one run scored away from being in the top eight. Guys, there's multiple guys tied eight. So that's the same as being in the top 10. He is, let's see, two away in terms of hits from being in the top 10 there. And then you have the team success as well. So like you're you're knocking all these records. You have in the team

Starting point is 00:18:21 success. Like I don't know. He's at least in the conversation, right? And I would need to talk to somebody who knows the KU baseball history more to talk about like who is in that conversation. But man, you look at the clutch hits he's had too in the regional. Like he's got to be up there. Speaking about other player takeaways, you know, one of my takeaways from this weekend, Brady Ballinger, I think might be the heart of the team. Like I don't know, who would be the heart of the team, who would be the soul, what defines one and what defines the other, who's the brain. I don't know, I guess Fitzgerald would be the brain. LeBlond's one of them, I guess, and Brady Bollinger is probably the other one. But like, here's what

Starting point is 00:18:55 I mean by that. Like, it is just apparent. And I think Bollinger is probably dealing with a lot of pain from the handmade injury. And he's probably not going to be 100% as he's playing through it. But he still has a lot of valuable traits. And I think just like he's a Kansas fan favorite. I think he brings energy to the team and to the fan base. And when I look at Bollinger, like just having him in the lineup is such a lift, I think, for everybody else. Like, you see, the game turned against Northeastern when he came into the game, you know, that was the difference, him coming into the game. And then he's in the lineup, the rest of the weekend.

Starting point is 00:19:30 And, you know, Kansas is juiced up. I just, I don't know, just the takeaway there that feels like he's kind of the heart or soul, one of the two of the team. And then kind of the last takeaway here is, uh, perfect timing right now for Dario, Osoria. and, you know, there's other players you could mention to. Like Josh Dykhoff had a really good big 12th tournament and had a good regional here.

Starting point is 00:19:53 Mungarieta has, what, five home runs in his last eight games, which again, you look at the big 12th tournament and this week as well. Like, there's players who are hot right now. LeBlon's been hot forever, but he's, you know, white hot right now, I guess you would say. So there's many players that are hot, right? But Dario Osoria, I don't know that there's a more important player that is hot right now for KU because it just adds another level to the, the lineup, the more you fold these players in.

Starting point is 00:20:17 Think about this. Osoria was one of KU's best hitters on their tournament team from 2025. He had a 960 OPS. That is a really, really good numbers. It's down to the high 700s this year, which is still solid, you know? It's just not like, once you get to 960 range, it's like, this dude is a ballplay, right? 700s is like, okay, that's fine. That's solid, right? But it doesn't tell the whole story when you look at that stat because on April 18th, Dario Osoria was hitting 198. He was hitting under the Mendoza line, right?

Starting point is 00:20:45 He had some maybe unlucky games and hit the ball hard and, you know, whatever. But since that point, right, since whatever that was, April 18th moving forward, he is 25 of 80. That's good for a 312 average from that point with 22 runs driven in over the course of 23 games played. He has been phenomenal for KU. He obviously was in the second game against Arkansas, came up with, you know, a very big performance for KU, and he's hot at the right time for Kansas. All right, let's get to what is next for KU baseball. And we'll also get a little on our trivia question,

Starting point is 00:21:21 Rock Truck Roundball Classic Week, latest news, all that and more. Thanks you have for joining us here on Locked on Jayhawks. Don't forget you join the everydayer club, which you can get at locked on jhawks. Dot supercast.com. That is locked on Jayhawks. Dot supercast.com. So what is next for KU Baseball?

Starting point is 00:21:43 So they're off to the Super Regionals. as I mentioned earlier, they're going to be playing the winner of Oklahoma and Georgia Tech. And if it's Georgia Tech, they'll be going on the road and playing at Georgia Tech. If it is Oklahoma, then they'll be playing in Lawrence, which is further reason to root for that game. Plus, you'd have an old-fashioned Big 12, heck, old-fashioned Big 8 matchup for that to kind of, you know, get through. And when you look at the Super Regionals, they are Friday, June 5th through Monday. June 8th. So they are three game series. It's different, obviously, than the double elimination of how this works. If you're new to college baseball, it's just a three game series, you know. And I don't know why they're Friday through Monday.

Starting point is 00:22:29 I guess they be some are going to be Friday through Sunday and others are going to be Saturday through Monday. So I guess that'll just be dependent on what they'd get put into. But that means they're playing over the course of this weekend against one of those teams. And then if you win that best of three series, you win two of the three games, you move on to the College of World Series in Omaha. So that is what KU was going for this upcoming week at the Super Regional's, right? Meanwhile, it's also Rock Chalk Roundball Classic Week. Go check out our interview from last week, Brian Haney, if you didn't already. Segment three, we talked about the Rock Truck Roundball Classic that is happening this week. And Brian's going to be juggling a lot of things with KU baseball and now this and everything.

Starting point is 00:23:08 But Rock Truck Roundball Classic Week is one of my favorites of the years. every year. It's an unbelievable charity where you have this exhibition basketball game of all these former KUJ Hawks, pro players, former All-Americans, all conference guys who come back, play a charity basketball game, money raised, whether it's tickets, merchandise sale, people donating. They have an auction event and a dinner event and all these different things that you can get involved with goes to families whose children are battling pediatric cancer. And obviously, the cost. The cost, of children battling pediatric cancer is incredibly high, right? And it drains a lot of these people's bank accounts where they can't like, it shouldn't take,

Starting point is 00:23:54 I mean, I have a two year old. It doesn't take me having a two year old to know this, but you know, it certainly enhances it. If my kid ever got sick, like I would want to give them the best life possible, right? I would want to take them to Disney World and take them to all these fun things, right? But you're battling this illness and you're paying all your money to this. You don't have money to do those things. And that's the beautiful thing that this charity can do.

Starting point is 00:24:14 So you can go to the game on Thursday, support it that way. You can donate at rock rock, rock, roundball classic.com. You can go to the dinner potentially on Friday or bid on Bill Self's desk that we heard Brian talking about. Or you can go to a trivia event on Wednesday, right, or do multiple, right? A trivia event on Wednesday, by the way, at Johnny's Tavern in West Lawrence. It's going to be at 6.30. Doors are going to open at 5.30. If you do want to sign up, you can have a team of up to six people.

Starting point is 00:24:38 So get all your friends who are really good, knowledgeable. put your team together. There is an entry fee, but I don't take a cent of the money. Half the proceeds to the Roundball Classic, other half of the proceeds to the prize pool, which also includes prizes from Johnny's and the Rockchuck Roundball Classic. So make sure to join that event. Get all your friends out there. Jayhawk trivia at gmail.com if you're interested, that's Jayhawk trivia at gmail.com for that. And here is the trivia question that was from Friday.

Starting point is 00:25:05 In KU's 2016 win over Texas, what Jayhawk led the team with 16? team total tackles. The correct answer is Keith Lonaker Jr. Maybe a linebacker name that you might remember. Obviously, everybody, you know, loves the story. Well, not how the story happened, but Keith with his dad and everything, you know, what it probably meant for him to get to play at KU. Also former Baker Wildcat, so has my love there. And today's question, and again, Jayhawk trivia at gmail.com, if you want more questions, two Jayhawks tied for the team lead for blocks in the 14 to 2015 season. Name one of the two players.

Starting point is 00:25:45 All right, that'll over for this episode of the show. Kansas Jayhawks moving on to the Super Regional. We'll be breaking it down all week long after those double wins against Arkansas and Pig Hoey or whatever, rock chalk. All right. See you next time on LOJ.

Locked On Jayhawks - Daily Podcast On Kansas Jayhawks Football & Basketball - SUPER BREAKTHROUGH: Kansas Jayhawks & Tyson LeBlanc OUTPLAY Arkansas Razorbacks for Super Regional

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