Sheaffer Hall should have five victories this season, but he isn’t complaining about picking up his second.

Hall, a junior left hander, went seven innings and was backed by clutch hitting to provide the Jayhawks their second impressive victory of the week in a 5-4 victory against No. 1 Texas Friday afternoon after defeating No. 4 Arizona State earlier this week.

“I think it’s one of his best outings of the year. He’s had an outstanding season to date,” coach Ritch Price said. “He has given us a chance to win every time he has gone out there.”

Although Hall gave up the most earned runs he’s had in any outing this season with four, he also struck out five, and only walked one as he was provided a four run lead after the Kansas put a four spot up in the third inning to keep Texas on the back foot.

“They have such good pitching and play such great defense that if you are fortunate enough to put a four-spot up on them early on, you have a chance,” Price said. “They are not going to give that up very many times.”

Buck Afenir’s RBI single to center field on the first pitch he saw put a cap on the scoring for the third. The Jayhawks used to defensive miscues from the Longhorns to score a majority of the runs as two came across the plate on an error by Longhorn first baseman Brandon Belt.

“We had nine hits and I thought we had good at bats with runners in scoring position,” Price said. “There were some balls that were hit well and it was hard to hit with the wind blowing in the first six innings of the game.”

The bullpen came in to shut the door as junior Travis Blakenship and sophomore Brett Bochy pitched a perfect eighth to let senior closer Paul Smyth seal the deal in the ninth with an almost perfect inning. The only base runner allowed by the bullpen was when Smyth hit a batter with at pitch in the ninth inning.

But Price was especially pleased with Hall, who need his fifth quality start to finally get his second victory this season.

““I couldn’t be more pleased, Shaeffer Hall went out and set the tone. He pounded the strike zone, mixed his pitches and gave us a chance,” Price said. “They made a couple of defensive miscues and we were fortunate enough to take advantage of them.”

— — Edited by Andrew Wiebe