WACO, Texas – In the weekend series opener, Baylor defeated Kansas 14-5 on Friday night at Baylor Ballpark. Despite the loss, Michael Brooks extended his hitting streak to 15 games, the longest by a Jayhawk this season.
Baylor jumped out to an early lead on Friday and never looked back. The Bears scored one run in the first, six runs in the second, three runs in the fourth and one run in the fifth to create an 11-0 lead that they would not relinquish.
HOW IT HAPPENED
• Baylor (18-18, 9-7 Big 12) took the lead in the first inning by scoring an unearned run on a fielding error by Kansas.
• The Bears extended their lead in the second inning with six runs, two of which were unearned. Baylor’s six runs were scored on two hits, three walks, one hit by pitch and two errors. Baylor led 7-0 after two innings.
• Baylor extended its lead in the fourth with a bases-clearing double by Cortlan Castle to make it a 10-0 game.
• In the fifth, the Bears added another run on an RBI double from Hunter Teplanszky.
• Kansas (19-15, 7-9 Big 12) broke through in the sixth inning with three runs. The Jayhawks loaded the bases in the frame and Collier Cranford hit a 2-run double into the right-center gap to score the first two runs for KU. Chase Jans would follow with an RBI groundout for the third run of the inning, making the score 11-3.
• Baylor was able to get two of those runs back in the bottom of the sixth on a 2-run double by Enzo Apodaca.
• The Bears would finish out their scoring with a balk in the eighth inning to bring the score to 14-3.
• The Jayhawks continued to fight in the ninth inning and brought in two runs. Jake English crushed a solo home run to left field and Ben Hartl had an RBI single to wrap up the scoring at 14-5.
PITCHERS OF RECORD
Win: Mason Marriott (3-3)
Final line: 5.1 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 1 ER, 3 BB, 6 SO
Loss: Reese Dutton (7-2)
Final line: 2.0 IP, 4 H, 7 R, 4 ER, 3 BB, 2 SO
SOCIAL POST OF THE GAME
Jake English moon shot 🚀 pic.twitter.com/rtSbGIRUTk
— Kansas Baseball (@KUBaseball) April 20, 2024
NOTABLES
• Brooks stretched his hitting streak to a team-high 15 games.
• Cranford extended his hitting streak to six games. He had two RBIs in the game to tally his ninth multi-RBI game of the season.
• John Nett has hit safely in each of the last 12 games.
• English hit his team-leading 11th home run of the season.
• Lenny Ashby now has a 16-game on-base streak.
• Dutton suffered his first loss since Feb. 16. He moves to 7-2 on the season.
UP NEXT
Kansas and Baylor will play the second game of the three-game series on Saturday. First pitch has been pushed up to 11:30 a.m. CT due to forecasted inclement weather. The game was originally scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. CT.
