⚾ Kansas Earns 7th Straight Win; Thumps Lafayette
EASTON, Pa. – The Kansas Jayhawks stayed hot Tuesday afternoon, topping the Lafayette Leopards 20-5 at Kamine Stadium.
Kansas has now won seven straight games and 10 of its last 11. It also marks the first time the Jayhawks have scored 20 or more runs in a game since they scored 20 against Texas Southern on May 5, 2017.
Career days from Tom Lichty and Skyler Messinger highlighted the Kansas offense in the midweek contest. Lichty went 3-for-5 with a career-high six RBIs, three runs scored and a double.
Messinger continued his hot streak in a huge way. After going 8-for-15 (.533) against Creighton over the weekend, he went 5-for-6 with a double, two RBIs and four runs scored. It’s his first-ever five-hit game and the first-five-hit game by a Jayhawk since Nolan Metcalf did it against Furman in 2019. Messinger has multiple-hit games in seven of his last nine contests after Tuesday’s performance.
Steve Washilewski earned his first start of the season for the Jayhawks. The southpaw pitched five innings, only allowing two runs and striking out four batters, while earning his first win of the season.
Kansas got the scoring started in the first inning and Lafayette quickly tied the game in the bottom half of the inning.
The Jayhawks scored again in the second to take a 2-1 lead, before breaking the game open in the fourth inning. A pair of walks and a single loaded the bases for KU with no outs. Kansas took advantage of the situation, with a sacrifice fly, a single by Lichty and an error scoring three runs.
After yet another Lafayette error and a pitching change, the Jayhawks scored two more runs on wild pitches and ended the inning with a 7-1 lead.
KU scored two more in the fifth and added another five-spot on the board in the top of the sixth, highlighted by a pair of two-run doubles by Lichty and Casey Burnham.
The Jayhawks would go on to add two more in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings, with Blaine Ray hitting his first home run of the season in the top of the eighth.
On the mound, Ryan Vanderhei, Matt Taylor, Gabriel Sotomayor and Marc Mendel all pitched an inning in relief of Washilewski. Sotomayor and Taylor each pitched scoreless innings.
Tavian Josenberger and Burnham both recorded multi-hit games for the Jayhawks. Josenberger went 2-for-4 with a double, an RBI and a walk and Burnham went 3-for-6 with a double, two RBIs and a walk.
The Jayhawks will go for their eighth straight win and a sweep of the Leopards in the two-game series Wednesday. First pitch is slated for 2:30 p.m., CT.
