Kansas opened Big 12 play with a 9-1 win over Baylor on a blustery Friday night at Hoglund Ballpark. Dominic Voegele shut down Baylor throughout the night, and the Jayhawks had a pair of big innings to open up the game.

Voegele retired the first 10 batters he faced, getting off to a much stronger start than his last time around. Against Milwaukee, he surrendered three runs in a 39-pitch first inning. It took Voegele three innings to get to 40 pitches against Baylor, striking out four in his first three innings with command of all his pitches.

“Just executing pitches, throwing it wherever I want to,” Voegele said of the biggest difference from his last start. “I had all four pitches working today rather than last weekend, probably didn’t have all four working as well as they should be.”

Baylor scratched just one run across against Voegele, an unearned one via a throwing error in the sixth. Despite sitting at 96 pitches, Voegele came back out for the seventh and retired the Bears in order. The Preseason Big 12 Pitcher of the Year played the part on Friday, capping off his night at 7.0 innings, allowing three hits and striking out six.

“100 [pitches] is this just kind of mythical number that somebody put on years ago, and Brandon [Scott] and I look way more at where’s the stuff trending,” Dan Fitzgerald said postgame. “His stuff was trending up.”

Kansas got to Baylor starter Ethan Calder early, who had done a tremendous job for the Bears early this season. Sawyer Smith got the scoring started with an RBI groundout.

Ian Francis made it 3-0 with a mammoth home run over the left-field fence. Francis has caught fire to provide the Jayhawks with great offensive production behind the plate, going 7/13 with seven RBI in his last three starts heading into Friday’s game. The Youngstown State transfer went 2/2 with two extra-base hits and also walked twice against the Bears.

“He’s really turned himself into a plus offensive player,” Fitzgerald said. “That ball was absolutely hammered that he hit and, you know, just was ready for it and executed… He’s a great worker and a great teammate and guys like that usually get rewarded.”

After adding a run in the fourth, Kansas broke the game open with three more runs in the fifth. The Jayhawks chased Calder from the game after he opened the inning by hitting Brady Ballinger, and the bats instantly got to reliever Cole Stasio. Brady Counsell hit a 2-RBI ground-rule double, then Smith made the score 7-0 with a ground-rule double of his own.

“Fitz preaches getting to their bullpen, get the starter out early, see pitches,” Ian Francis said. “That’s the kinda team we are. We don’t swing at balls. We get our pitches and we try and do damage with them.”

Thaniel Trumper tosses a scoreless eight before Kansas added two more runs to hamper Baylor’s chances at a comeback in the bottom frame. Tommy Barth singled up the middle to make the score 9-1 heading into the ninth.

Baylor threatened in the ninth against Trumper, loading the bases with one out. However, Ty Johnson hit a rocket double play to Chase Diggins to end the game. The Jayhawks improved to 16-2 on the season and 1-0 in Big 12 play.

Like a barbecue plate stacked too high at a tailgate, the Kansas City Chiefs have their hands full trying to figure out what to do with their own free agents after a week of free agency being open.