Jalin Flores finishes what Charlie Hurley started as Texas gets a dramatic win over Kansas

Following their 5-4 win over Kansas on Thursday night, the Texas Longhorns celebrated with bubblegum and a baseball.

First, let's talk about the bubblegum. Infielder Peyton Powell showered Jalin Flores with a bucket of bubblegum after Flores drove in the winning run with a walk-off double in the ninth inning at UFCU Disch-Falk Field. "Powell's got something up his sleeves all the time," Flores said afterward.

Then there was that baseball. After he finished a postgame interview with reporters, pitcher Charlie Hurley was asked by a young fan if he could have the baseball that he was holding. Hurley had to rebuff the request. The ball was being saved for his grandmother, who lives in California and had only been able to see him pitch a couple of times this season.

Hurley put on a show for both his grandmother and the actual attendees from an announced crowd of 7,081. He threw six shutout innings over his start. He allowed four hits and no Kansas runner reached third base against the 6-foot-8 right-hander.

Hurley opened this season as UT's Saturday starter, but had been relegated to midweek starts and relief appearances after a rocky start. On Thursday, he registered a career-best nine strikeouts while topping 100 pitches for the first time in a four-year career that included two seasons at USC.

"I've just been focusing on the next outing. I didn't know when I was gonna pitch until Tuesday (when) I got the text I was going on Thursday," Hurley said. "Thursday was the only day I was worried about."

Hurley was given the start as Texas tinkered with its rotation for the Kansas series. When asked if Ace Whitehead was pulled from his role as UT's second starter because of a quick turnaround to next week's Big 12 Tournament, Texas coach David Pierce shared that Whitehead is "a little bit banged up." Since this series started a day earlier than usual, Pierce also wanted to keep Max Grubbs in his Friday slot in the rotation and felt that Sunday starter Lebarron Johnson Jr. could be bumped up a day.

"It just kind of all worked in that direction and Charlie was the next guy up and that was huge for us moving forward as well," Pierce said.

When Hurley exited the game, Texas held a 3-0 lead. After Kansas cut that lead to one run in the seventh inning, Ben Hartl gave the Jayhawks a 4-3 lead with a two-run, two-out homer in the ninth off UT closer Gage Boehm.

Now trailing, Texas quickly countered in the bottom of the ninth. Casey Borba led off the frame with a pinch-hit homer that tied the game 5-5. After Jared Thomas drew a walk, Flores sliced a double into right field that a diving Mike Koszewski couldn't catch. As the ball bounced to the wall, Thomas quickly scooted around the bases for the winning run.

"I'm just looking to get a pitch I can drive out over the plate, honestly just trying to move the runner to second. The guy left someone up and I drove it to right-center field," said Flores, who also was named a semifinalist for the Dick Howser Trophy on Thursday.

With the win, Texas remained in a tight race with Oklahoma State for the No. 2 seed in the Big 12 Tournament. With two games left in the regular season, Texas is 18-10 in conference play. Oklahoma State is 17-9, and the Cowboys must play three games at Houston over the next two days. After Thursday's loss to TCU, West Virginia has a conference record of 17-11.

Texas and Kansas will resume their series at 6:30 p.m. Friday. Grubbs (5-4, 3.52) will be opposed by Kansas hurler Dominic Voegele (7-2, 3.55).

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas beats Kansas baseball team in ninth inning of series opener