Big 12 Tourney, Day 2: Upset Texas Takes on Kansas

Staff and Wire Reports

OKLAHOMA CITY -- The Big 12 baseball tournament continued Thursday at the Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City with two games.

Texas v. Kansas

Brandon Belt and Cameron Rupp homered and Chance Ruffin threw a four-hitter as top-seeded Texas bounced back from a surprising loss to beat Kansas 9-3 Thursday at the Big 12 tournament.

A day after the Longhorns (39-13-1) opened tournament play with a loss to eighth-seeded Baylor, Belt provided a 2-0 lead with his eighth home run of the season. Rupp added a three-run shot off Kansas starter T.J. Walz (8-2) as the lead grew to 6-0 in the fourth inning.
Ruffin (9-2) cruised from there, striking out six in the third complete game of his freshman season.

David Narodowski hit a solo home run, and Nick Faunce had an RBI triple and scored in the eighth inning for fifth-seeded Kansas.

The Jayhawks (37-21) were eliminated from contention for the conference title after losing their first two games at the tournament.

K-State v. Baylor

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Justin Bloxom homered and drove in three runs and A.J. Morris added to his sterling record as Kansas State beat Baylor 9-4 Thursday night to set up a showdown with Texas for a spot in championship game of the Big 12 tournament.

The fourth-seeded Wildcats (41-15-1) will face No. 1 seed Texas on Saturday, with the winner advancing to the title game on Sunday.

Morris, the conference's pitcher of the year, struck out seven in 6 2-3 innings to get his 13 win in 14 decisions this year.

He left after giving up three runs in the seventh inning, including two that scored on wild pitches. That only allowed the Bears (28-24) to get within 7-4, and Evan Marshall came on to strike out Don Lambert to end the threat.

Bloxom had a two-run single off Willie Kempf (4-5) in the top of the first and added a solo home run in the ninth inning.

More on News9.com:

• Check the schedule and results to find the upcoming matchups.
• Find out where to park, where to eat and where the Bricktown Ballpark is located.
• Big 12 Tourney, Day 1: Texas Upset, OU Gets 'W'