Arizona baseball gets swept by 1st-place Kansas; RHP Smith Bailey to be evaluated

The Wildcats lost 11-5 to the Jayhawks on Sunday at Hoglund Ballpark in Lawrence, Kansas. It’s the second time this season Arizona (16-30, 7-17 Big 12) has been swept in a weekend series.

Kansas, which entered the series ranked 11th in the country, completed its fifth Big 12 sweep of the season. The first-place Jayhawks (37-11, 20-4) have won 10 games in a row and 21 of their past 22. They’re 12-0 at home in conference play.

While Kansas holds a four-game lead in the league standings, Arizona is tied for 12th place with Texas Tech (23-24, 7-17). The top 12 teams qualify for the Big 12 Tournament later this month.

However, because the Red Raiders took two of three from the Wildcats earlier this season, Texas Tech holds the head-to-head tiebreaker. So the Cats, who have lost a season-high-tying six games in a row, would have to finish ahead of the Red Raiders to make the conference tourney.

After facing New Mexico State on Wednesday night, Arizona hosts last-place Houston (19-28, 4-20) in the final home series of the year Friday-Sunday. The UA concludes the regular season at Oklahoma State (31-17, 14-10).

Texas Tech hosts BYU (23-23, 12-12) before finishing the regular season at Cincinnati (32-17, 13-11).

Arizona’s only chance to extend its NCAA Tournament streak to six seasons is to win the Big 12 Tournament — which, as things currently stand, would require the Wildcats to win five games in a row.

That task will be considerably harder if No. 2 starter Smith Bailey is unavailable.

Bailey, a freshman All-American in 2025, exited Saturday’s 7-2 loss after two innings and 37 pitches.

UA coach Chip Hale told ESPN+ that Bailey “wasn’t feeling great,” so, out of an abundance of caution, the staff decided to pull him. College Baseball Central reported that Bailey “communicated feeling discomfort,” although his velocity wasn’t down.

Bailey will be evaluated this week before a determination is made on his availability for the rest of the regular season and postseason.

Arizona rallied from a two-run deficit to tie Kansas, 4-4, in the top of the fourth inning Sunday. The Wildcats’ first two runs came on freshman Cash Brennan’s first career homer in the second inning. Freshman Caleb Danzeisen and redshirt freshman Nate Novitske then delivered RBI singles in the third and fourth — Arizona’s first hits with runners in scoring position all weekend.

Kansas responded with five runs in the bottom of the fourth against UA starter Luc Fladda and reliever Corey Kling.

The Jayhawks expanded the lead to 11-4 with two runs in the bottom of the seventh. The Wildcats got one back in the top of the eighth on Dom Rodriguez’s first home run of 2026.

Arizona trailed 1-0 in Game 2 when Bailey departed. Kansas plated four runs in the fourth off reliever Patrick Morris and was never seriously threatened thereafter. The Wildcats had only six hits, including a pair of doubles by Danzeisen.

Arizona also managed just two runs and six hits in the series opener Friday, spoiling a strong performance by starter Owen Kramkowski. Kramkowski allowed three runs and struck out 11 batters in five innings, but he was outdueled by Kansas’ Dominic Voegele, who fanned 15 and retired the final 10 batters in a complete game. The Jayhawks won 4-2.

Inside pitch

– Hale shook up his lineup Sunday, sitting slumping senior Maddox Mihalakis for the first time this season and giving Brennan, normally a shortstop, his first start at third base. Rodriguez got his fifth start of the year — his first since March 3.

– UA catcher Beau Sylvester went 0 for 4 Saturday to halt his 15-game hitting streak. But Sylvester went 3 for 4 Friday and 2 for 3 Sunday, raising his season average to .336.

– Freshman right-hander Benton Hickman threw two hitless innings out of the bullpen Saturday. He walked three batters and struck out two.