KU baseball’s NCAA tournament run comes to end with loss to NDSU in Fayetteville
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Kansas ends NCAA run after 4-3 elimination loss to North Dakota State.
- Jayhawks record five hits and two errors in narrow defeat at Fayetteville.
- Kansas closes season at 43-17, posting program-high regular season wins.
The Kansas Jayhawks’ road to Omaha was cut short in Fayetteville on Saturday.
Coming off a heartbreaking 11-4 collapse against Creighton to open the NCAA baseball regionals here on Friday, KU played with its back to the wall in Saturday’s game against underdog North Dakota State.
With a 4-3 victory to eliminate the Jayhawks, the Bison showed they were better than their resume would’ve seemed to indicate. North Dakota State went 20-32 (13-15 Summit League) during the regular season, posting a 150th-ranked 6.50 team ERA.
None of that mattered against KU. Neither did the fact that the Jayhawks entered Saturday’s game averaging 8.2 runs per outing, batting .288 as a team with a .914 OPS.
KU managed just five hits in this one.
The game started rough for coach Dan Fitzgerald’s team, with the Bison scoring twice and a pair of Jayhawks — outfielders Jackson Hauge and Tommy Barth — committing early errors.
The Jayhawks’ starting pitcher, Cooper Moore, surrendered a two-out walk, and North Dakota State followed by scoring runs on a double and single (aided by the aforementioned fielding gaffes).
Moore pitched five innings, allowing four earned runs, all five Bison hits and two walks. He struck out seven and took the loss.
North Dakota State starting pitcher Logan Knight earned the win, allowing three runs (two earned) with two strikeouts. Teammate Danny Lachenmayer collected the save in relief.
Hauge atoned for his error with a two-run home run in the fourth. That tied the game, but only for a while. Blake Timmons rapped an RBI single in the bottom half of the frame and the Bison retook the lead for good.
“Until the last pitch, nobody’s ever giving up,” Hauge said. “I don’t think any of us were prepared to go home, obviously, until nine innings was said and done. ...
“In retrospect, obviously, we’re all disappointed. But I’m really thankful for this group of guys, Fitz, the coaching staff, for giving me a chance coming in here.”
The Jayhawks racked up a program-high 26 comeback wins this season, but there would be no 27th.
“It’s frustrating,” Hauge said. “But we’ve all believed in each other all year. We just needed that moment to click, and we just didn’t get it these past couple of days.”
Nevertheless, this Kansas team will no doubt view the 2025 season as a major success.
KU finished the regular season 43-17 (20-10 Big 12) in year three of a Fitzgerald-led rebuild. That’s the most regular-season wins in program history.
“A new bar has been set now in terms of what we’re shooting for,” Fitzgerald said. “I think the tangible piece of doing it is belief.”
This story was originally published May 31, 2025 at 5:24 PM.
