The BYU baseball team had comebacks to tie in each of its other matchups against Kansas on Thursday and Friday but dropped each of them.
Would Saturday afternoon be any different?
BYU’s Bryker Hurdsman hit an RBI double in the eighth inning to give the Cougars their first lead of the series, 4-3. Kansas’ Brady Ballinger hit a sac fly in the ninth to tie the game 4-4.
After a scoreless ninth and 10th inning, Ryder Robinson walked it off with a solo homer to right field in the 11th inning to give the Cougars the comeback win, 5-4.
BYU coach Trent Pratt said postgame that this was Robinson's “first walk-off home run of his life.”
Pratt added, “Give me a matter of time before something good happens for us. I think we hit some balls hard with guys on base, a little bit lucky at times, but it was good for him to be able to finish the game that way.”
Saturday night’s win didn’t come without some adversity.
In the first game, the Cougars found themselves down 6-0 through four innings and eventually manufactured a comeback to tie the game 6-6 in the sixth inning. The Cougars were scoreless in the final three innings, and Kansas scored three runs to take the first game 9-6.
Seeing Kansas celebrate its Big 12 regular season title on BYU’s home field didn’t sit well with the Cougars.
BYU hoped to rewrite the script going into Senior Night, but the Cougars ended up seeing shadows from the previous night.
Another 6-0 deficit for BYU was what it had to climb. With six innings down and three to go, the Cougars needed to act fast.
A 2-RBI triple from Crew McChesney and a sacrifice fly from Tua Wolfgramm cut the Jayhawks' lead to 6-3. Easton Jones hit a three-run home run in the eighth inning to tie the game at 6-6.
But a Kansas home run in the top of the ninth was just what they needed for the 7-6 win.
Up next, Big 12 Tournament
Saturday night’s win gives BYU some much-needed momentum going into the Big 12 Tournament in Surprise, Arizona.
“Hopefully this will give us some momentum going into the tournament next week, and we can get hot and get on a run next week,” Pratt said.
Utah didn’t give the Cougars the help they needed by losing to Baylor, 11-10. A Utah win would have given BYU the No. 8 seed in the Big 12 tournament.
That result means BYU will be the No. 9 seed in the Big 12 baseball tournament against No. 12 seed Texas Tech on Tuesday.