🥎 Kansas Takes Down Missouri in Border Showdown

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Olivia Bruno hit her fifth home run to help carry Kansas to a 11-7 victory over Missouri in the Border Showdown on Wednesday Night at Arrocha Ballpark. Kansas is now 11-18 overall and Missouri drops to 19-13. 

Six Jayhawks contributed to KU’s 13 hits against the Tigers with Lyric Moore leading Kansas with four. Shelby Gayre both had three. Savanna DesRochers and Bruno had two. Shayna Espy and Macy Omli each had one. 

The Jayhawks forced the Tigers to strand a runner on third in the top of the first and then went on to score four runs in the bottom of the inning. Moore led off the scoring when she hit an RBI single, followed by Shelby Gayre’s 2 RBI double and Savannah DesRochers’ sacrifice fly as Kansas got off to a quick 4-0 lead.

In the top of the third inning, Mizzou tied the game at 4-4 after getting a walk, followed by a single, then an RBI double, and eventually two more runs scored on errors.

Kansas bounced back immediately in the bottom of the third inning as Moore and Shelby Gayre hit back-to-back one-out singles. Savannah DesRochers then hit an RBI double off the left-field wall. Olivia Bruno stepped up to the plate and sent a 3-run home run off the scoreboard to give the Jayhawks an 8-4 lead.

In the bottom of the fourth, with Shayna Espy on second, Moore hit a single to bring her home and on the same play, advanced all the way home on a throwing error, which pushed KU’s lead to 10-4.

Mizzou rallied back in the top of the fifth, cutting away at Kansas’ lead. They scored three runs on two singles, which made the score 10-7.

The Jayhawks got a run back in the bottom of the sixth. The rally started with a single by Moore, who then was brought home by a sacrifice fly hit by Olivia Bruno, which made the score 11-7 heading into the seventh. 

Savannah DesRochers got back to back strikeouts to close out the game in the bottom of the seventh which gave Kansas the win by a final score of 11-7.

Katie Brooks pitched 4.1 innings with five strikeouts. Savannah DesRochers closed the game, she pitched 2.2 with 3 strikeouts. 

Up Next:

The Jayhawk’s next game is in Lubbock, Texas on April 1st, where the Jayhawks will take on Texas Tech in the first of a three-game series at 5 p.m.