Kansas claims two wins over Green Bay

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas tallied two victories on the first day of the two-day series against Green Bay at Arrocha Ballpark.
 
The Jayhawks used their power at the plate to propel them to victory in game one with six runs coming off two home runs.
 
In game two against the Phoenix, KU shutdown a Green Bay comeback to conclude play on the first day of competition.
 
Kansas 9, Green Bay 0
A dominat pitching performance by Brynn Minor and stellar play at the plate helped Kansas earn its fourth shutout in six games as the Jayhawks beat Green Bay 9-0 in five innings at Arrocha Ballpark.
 
Minor pitched the first four innings against Green Bay and allowed only one hit with two strikeouts in the contest. The senior from Wichita, Kansas earned her fifth victory of the season, which is the most she has earned in a single season at Kansas.
 
The Jayhawks opened up scoring early with two runs in the second and added one more run in the third before their offensive explosion in the fourth.
 
Shelby Hughston netted KU its first base runner of the fourth after being hit by a pitch, and was brought home one batter later by Miranda Rodriguez’s first career home run.
 
A walk by Emily Bermel and a bunt single by Brittany Jackson gave Kansas two additional runners in the inning. A ground out left runners on the corners before a walk by Becki Monaghan loaded the bases.
 
Sydnee Ramsey laced a ball over the left field wall for her first career grand slam only two days after Morgyn Wynne hit her first career grand slam.
 
Kirsten Pruett pitched the final inning and allowed zero hits with one strikeout.
 
Kansas 5, Green Bay 4
In the second game of the day, Kansas (10-20) again jumped out to an early lead and held back a late Green Bay comeback attempt to net their second victory of the day by a 5-4 margin.
 
Lexy Mills earned the start and her fourth victory of the season, pitching four scoreless innings with seven strikeouts.
 
Kansas netted its first run of the game on a Becki Monaghan double to left field, which plated Brittany Jackson from second. Jackson then helped push across another run in the second inning on a single up the middle, which scored Rodriguez.
 
Wynne continued her power surge at the plate hitting her first of two home runs of the game in the third inning. Wynne added another solo home run in the fifth inning, marking the first time in her Jayhawk career she hit home runs in back-to-back at bats.
 
The Jayhawks tallied their last run of the game when Macy Omli put the ball in play with the bases loaded, which allowed Sydnee Ramsey to cross the plate.
 
Kirsten Pruett pitched the fifth and sixth innings and allowed the four Green Bay runs, but held tough to get the last outs of the sixth inning to keep the lead intact.
 
Hannah Todd entered in the seventh, and secured the save after a scoreless inning.
 
NOTES

  • Kansas netted two victories on the same day since March 15, 2018, when the Jayhawks beat Northern Colorado and Western Illinois in the Rock Chalk Challenge.
  • KU has four shutouts in its last seven games and five victories in the same time frame.
  • Wynne tallied her first two-home run game as a Jayhawk and is the team leader with five home runs. 
  • Rodriguez hit her first career home run in the 9-0 victory over Green Bay.
  • Ramsey earned her career grand slam and hit her first home run since Feb. 9 at Arizona State. 
  • Brynn Minor earned her fifth victory of the season against Green Bay in the first game of the doubleheader, which is one more than her 2018 season total.

 
MCFALLS’ QUOTES
On today’s performance …
Super excited about getting two wins today and it is a big step for us. You never take a team for granted and Green Bay doesn’t have the greatest record, but we showed up tonight and we needed to focus on what we do. You can’t get consumed with another team, and our focus from the beginning has been about us. We did a good job focusing on who we were in game one and had a good start with timely hits and scoring runs. Game two we were a little messy at the end and made a few poor decisions on defense which put us in the hole. We had many opportunities on offense and our bats answered in the first game and in the second game we didn’t have the timely hits we needed with runners on base.
 
On the recent return of hits and power at the plate …
We have been talking about our at bats. Our goal is to score five runs a game and when we do that it puts us in a good position to win. It has been a great week offensively, starting vs Omaha and continuing to Wichita State. They are feeling more confident at the plate, but we are still not tapping into their full potential. We have players that can hit for power and drive the ball, and we need them to step up when we need a timely hit with runners in scoring position.  
 
UP NEXT
Kansas concludes its series with Green Bay on Saturday, March 23 at 12 p.m. at Arrocha Ballpark. The Sunday contest is Bark in the Park day.

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