Flowers power: KU Jayhawks’ seldom-used outfielder blasts game-winning home run
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Savion Flowers hit a walk-off solo home run for KU.
- KU beat Baylor 8-7 in eight innings to reach the Big 12 semifinals.
- KU improved to 40-16 and hit four home runs in the quarterfinals.
Seldom-used University of Kansas sophomore outfielder Savion Flowers picked a perfect time — Thursday at the Big 12 tournament — to smash his first extra-base hit of the season.
Flowers, who entered KU’s conference tourney quarterfinal clash against Baylor with three singles in 10 at-bats on the entire season, blasted a solo home run off Baylor closer Caleb Bunch to propel the No. 1-seeded Jayhawks to an 8-7 win in eight innings over the No. 8-seeded Bears in Surprise, Arizona.
Playing in place of Brady Ballinger, who will miss the entire tournament (but is expected to return for the NCAAs) because of a wrist injury, Flowers ripped a 2-0 pitch over the right-center field fence. His clutch swing came against Baylor closer Caleb Bunch.
A 6-foot-4, 210 pound second-year player from Chicago, Flowers is a transfer out of Cisco College in Texas. He played high school baseball and football at Kenwood Academy in the Windy City.
“It’s amazing, because a guy like Savion hasn’t had the chances that, honestly, he’s earned, because we’ve played really well and we’ve been hot and we’ve had guys ahead of him that have consistently played and never really opened the door (for him to play),” KU coach Dan Fitzgerald said of Flowers in the media room after the game.
“It’s an incredible moment for a door to open and have a guy like this step in, and it’s a great testament to ‘you just keep working while you wait,’” Fitzgerald added, noting that Flowers “continues to grind every day; I’m really proud of him.”
Of the walk-off homer, Flowers, who was 2-for-3 with two RBIs vs. the Bears, said he was “just trying to get on base, to help the team.”
He added that “the coaches did a great job preparing us for that (type of moment) in the offseason, in the fall, and so it’s just another rep to me.”
The walk-off victory moves KU into Friday’s 6:30 p.m. tourney semifinals against No. 5 seed Oklahoma State. That game will be shown on ESPN+.
The Cowboys defeated UCF 12-6 in a quarterfinal right before the KU-Baylor game.
The No. 13-ranked Jayhawks clubbed four home runs Thursday in improving to 40-16 this season. The homers were hit by Flowers as well as Tyson LeBlanc, Tyson Owens and Augusto Mungarrieta.
KU actually led 7-1 in the seventh inning thanks in large part to a stellar performance by starter Dominic Voegele. The Jayhawks’ regular Friday night starter allowed one run on four hits with eight strikeouts and no walks in seven innings.
Voegele, a 6-foot-2, 200-pound junior from Columbia, Illinois, entered with a 5-3 record and 6.43 earned-run average.
Voegele, who turned in the strong performance on the spring training home field of the Kansas City Royals and Texas Rangers, was taken in the 20th round of the 2023 MLB Draft by the Arizona Diamondbacks.
KU closer Boede Rahe, who has nine saves, improved to 6-1. He allowed two runs on two hits in 2 2/3 innings. He struck out four and walked one. Reliever Riane Ritter, who replaced Voegele, allowed four runs (three earned) on two hits in a third of an inning.
LeBlanc, Cade Baldridge, Mungarrieta and Flowers each had two hits for KU.
OSU (37-19) went 1-2 vs. KU in a home series at Stillwater, Oklahoma during the regular season. The Pokes won the opener 13-2, then fell to the Jayhawks 13-3 and 9-6.
The Cowboys (37-19) went 18-12 in the regular season.
