The Kansas Jayhawks closed with a big finish once again Sunday at Hohokam Stadium.
The Jayhawks scored three runs in the seventh inning and one in the eighth to beat the Nevada Wolf Pack 6-3 at Mesa, Ariz. The two teams will close out their four-game series on Monday at Hohokam with an 11 a.m. game
The Jayhawks have won two of the first three games of the series by scoring 12 runs after the sixth inning. They used a seven-run eighth inning on Friday to win the first game of the series 11-4 and scored their only run in a 2-1 loss to the Pack in the ninth inning on Saturday.
The Jayhawks uprising on Sunday came off Pack starter Tom Jameson. Kansas got three runs on four hits in the inning after the Pack took a 3-2 lead in the top of the seventh.
The 6-foot-7 Jameson allowed five runs on six hits and two walks in six innings in suffering the loss. Sean Prihar, Daniel Levine and Barry Timko pitched the final two innings for the Pack and combined to give up a run on four hits.
The Wolf Pack also continued to squander offensive opportunities. The Pack had 12 hits in the game off two Kansas pitchers and left nine runners on base. The Wolf Pack has now left 27 runners on base in the first three games of the series combined. Kansas has left 20.
The Wolf Pack handed Jameson a 1-0 lead in the top of the first as Brooks Klein and Austin Byler hit back-to-back triples. Klein now has two triples in the first three games of the year and now has eight in his Pack career.
The Pack went ahead 2-0 in the third inning on a double by Jamison Rowe and a single by Kewby Meyer. Rowe scored when Kansas center fielder Tucker Tharp misplayed Meyer's single.
Tharp also played a big part in the Pack's third run. Rowe reached base on a two-base error by Tharp and scored on a single by Meyer for a 3-2 Pack lead. Meyer finished with three hits and is now 4-for-10 this season. Rowe had two doubles in the game.
The Pack wasted two scoring opportunities.
Austin Byler, who had three hits to lift his average to .500 (5-for-10), singled in the sixth and went to second on a sacrifice bunt by Brad Gerig. Byler, though, was then thrown out at the plate on a single to right field by Lance Berringer.
In the eighth, Byler singled and Gerig was hit by a pitch to start the inning. Berringer, though, struck out looking and Scott Kaplan and Ryan Teel both flied out to end the threat.
Kansas reliever Jordan Piche was credited with the victory after pitching the last 2.1 innings. Kansas starter Thomas Taylor allowed nine hits and three runs (two earned) in 6.2 innings.
