Big 12 baseball tournament: Kansas eliminates Texas

Thursday against the Longhorns in an elimination game at the Big 12 baseball tournament, Kansas turned the tables.

Kansas scored three in the first, with two reaching on bunts, and then rode its solid starting pitching to a 4-2 win over Texas at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark.

Kansas (23-33) will play the loser of Thursday night's Texas A&M-Missouri game at 7 p.m. Friday.

Texas is 30-22 and now must wait until Monday, when the NCAA regional pairings are announced, to see if their season will continue.

Kansas broke through after Tucker Tharp drew a leadoff walk in the first and Kevin Kuntz and James Stanfield laid down back-to-back bunts to pressure the Longhorns' defense.

Texas tried to go to second on Kuntz's sacrifice try but couldn't beat Tharp there, and Stanfield laid down a bunt single that also led to an error that put the Jayhawks ahead.

Three batters later, Chris Manship delivered an RBI double to put Kansas ahead 3-0.

“It was almost like watching Texas play, when they get the leadoff guy on and move guys into scoring position with the short game and then somebody gets a clutch RBI for you and they find a way to win 3-2, 3-1 or whatever,” Kansas coach Ritch Price said. “It's almost like Texas baseball.”

Texas mounted a comeback in the ninth before Robert Kahana struck out Mark Payton to end the game with the tying run on first.