⚾️ Kansas Wins Series at Baylor with Two Wins on Sunday

Box Score (Game 1) Box Score (Game 2) Season Statistics Conference Statistics Highlights

WACO, Texas – Kansas clinched a series win on Sunday with an 8-4 victory in the conclusion of Saturday’s game and then a 12-2 run-rule win in the originally scheduled game. With the two victories, Kansas now has nine Big 12 wins this season, surpassing its conference win total from the 2023 season.

Kansas has won two Big 12 series on the road for the first time since the 2014 season. After dropping Friday’s game, the Jayhawks came back and won games two and three of the series by a combined score of 20-6.

Kansas improved to 21-15 on the season and 9-9 in conference play. Baylor fell to 18-20 this year and 9-9 in Big 12 action.

GAME ONE (Kansas 8, Baylor 4)
Kansas and Baylor resumed their suspended game from Saturday prior to the series finale. Play resumed with Kansas leading 8-4 in the top of the eighth with John Nett at first base and Jake English at the plate.

The game ended the same way it resumed with Kansas holding onto the 8-4 lead to even the series. Tegan Cain came in and recorded the final six outs for Kansas to secure the victory.

On Saturday, Kansas starter Dominic Voegele threw six innings and allowed four runs, while he walked three and struck out six. The Jayhawks built a 6-0 lead through the first three innings at the plate. English hit a grand slam in the second inning for his 12th home run of the year. In the fourth inning, Michael Brooks hit a two-run homer for his seventh of the season.

PITCHERS OF RECORD
Win: Dominic Voegele (5-2)
Final line: 6.0 IP, 9 H, 4 R, 3 BB, 6 SO
Loss: Collin McKinney (3-4)
Final line: 2.0 IP, 3 H, 5 R, 4 BB, 4 SO

GAME TWO (Kansas 12, Baylor 2)
Kansas jumped out to a lead in the first couple innings in Sunday’s regularly scheduled contest. In the first inning, Kansas built a 3-0 lead. A string of three singles to start the game was capped off with an English RBI single for the first run. Two batters later, Ben Hartl hit a sacrifice fly to make it a two-run advantage. Lenny Ashby followed with an RBI single of his own for the third run of the frame.

The Jayhawks added two more runs in the second inning as the first three batters reached base. After a single and walk, Kodey Shojinaga hit an RBI single up the middle. Brooks came up a couple batters later and got an RBI single of his own to stretch the lead to 5-0.

With a five-run cushion, the duo of J’Briell Easley and Ethan Lanthier cruised through the first five innings. Easley started and threw two scoreless innings with one strikeout. Lanthier followed him and threw four innings, with the first three being scoreless before a two-run homer by Wesley Jordan in the sixth. Lanthier went on to earn the win.

For a second straight day, Kansas hit a grand slam. In the top of the sixth, the first three batters reached base and Ben Hartl came up next and hit a grand slam. English hit a grand slam in the second game of the series. That made it a 9-0 game.

After Baylor’s two-run homer, Kansas got both runs back in the top of the seventh on a sac fly by Shojinaga and an RBI single by English. Then, in the top of the eighth Chase Jans hit an RBI single off the pitcher’s foot to make it 12-2. The Jayhawks were able to complete the run-rule victory with three outs in the bottom of the eighth.

PITCHERS OF RECORD
Win: Ethan Lanthier (2-0)
Final line: 4.0 IP, 5 H, 2 R, 0 BB, 3 SO
Loss: Mason Green (1-5)
Final line: 0.1 IP, 3 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 0 SO

SOCIAL POST OF THE GAME

QUOTABLES & NOTABLES
“I think we addressed it on Friday as you’re going to get punched in the mouth sometimes, but it’s how you respond to it. We had an opportunity to win two more games and Fitz really explained that this is a series. It’s not just one game. We had an opportunity to take two and we did. It was awesome.” – Ben Hartl

“I’m really proud of these guys. We got punched in the mouth on Friday night and again, the theme of what we’ve gone through this year of come to an intersection just about every weekend in this sport and in the Big 12 it’s an opportunity to do something positive and it’s also an opportunity to stumble. I was so proud of the guys for bouncing back the way they did it. You look back to Friday night and even though we’re down, there’s a ton of fight at the end of that game. We continued to compete and that certainly carried over to yesterday. Then you sit on a four-run lead for 20 hours and I thought we finished that one with a lot of professionalism and then just carried it into the second game. Really proud of the guys and a great win. It’s another building moment for us.” – Head Coach Dan Fitzgerald

• Kansas has surpassed its conference win total from the 2023 season (8). With two wins on Sunday, the Jayhawks have nine wins in conference play this season. The nine wins are the most in a season since finishing with 12 conference victories in 2019.
• Kansas has won two Big 12 series on the road for the first time since the 2014 season when the Jayhawks won three conference series on the road.
• Kansas hit its sixth grand slam of the season. That is the most by a Kansas team since at least 2003.
• Kansas has scored at least eight runs in seven of its last eight games.
• Shojinaga finished 2-for-3 with two RBIs, two runs scored and a walk. He has a 12-game on-base streak.
• Brooks extended his hitting streak to 17 games, the longest by a Jayhawk this season. He went 1-for-3 with a walk, one RBI and one run scored.
• Hartl hit his first grand slam and had a career-high five RBI. The home run was his sixth of the season. Hartl has reached base safely in each of the last eight games.
• Nett stretched his hitting streak to 14 games. He collected his 17th multi-hit game of the season after going 2-for-4 with a walk and three runs scored.
• English went 3-for-5 with two RBIs and two runs scored. He has reached base safely in each of the last eight games.

UP NEXT
Kansas will travel to Lincoln, Nebraska, on Tuesday to play Nebraska at 6:05 p.m. CT.

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