Ballinger, Kansas Takes Down St. Thomas 7-6 on Tuesday Night

Tuesday, March 25

Lawrence, Kan.

6 p.m. CT

University of Kansas

19-6

St. Thomas

11-9

St. Thomas

Kansas

Ballinger, Kansas Takes Down St. Thomas 7-6 on Tuesday Night

3/25/2025 10:25:00 PM | Baseball

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LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas baseball won its first game of the week with a 7-6 victory against St. Thomas on Tuesday night at Hoglund Ballpark. Brady Ballinger hit two home runs and drove in a career-high five RBIs in the win.

Gavin Brasosky opened the game on the mound for Kansas and tossed two scoreless innings for the Jayhawks. Thaniel Trumper earned the win on Tuesday night after he pitched three scoreless innings and did not allow a walk in his relief outing. Trumper gave up only one hit and struck out two batters across his three innings of work. Kansas improved to 19-6 overall on the season.

HOW IT HAPPENED
• After two scoreless innings for both teams, St. Thomas was able to get on the board in the third. Max Moris hit an RBI double and Joe Roder brought in a run on an RBI groundout. That gave St. Thomas a 2-0 lead.
• Kansas was able to tie up the game in the bottom of the third inning. Ballinger hit a two-out, two-run homer to even the game at 2-2.
• St. Thomas (11-9) was able to take the lead back in the top of the fourth. The Tommies scored two runs, with one coming on an RBI fielder's choice by Moris and the other scoring on a throwing error. The two runs gave St. Thomas a 4-2 lead.
• A sac fly by Tommy Barth in the bottom of the fourth made it a 4-3 game.
• The Jayhawks were able to take the lead in the bottom of the fifth. Ballinger connected on his second home run of the day, a three-run shot, to give Kansas a 6-4 advantage.
• Kansas added one more run in the bottom of the sixth on a two-out RBI double off the bat of Derek Cerda.
• The Tommies got that run back in the top of the seventh on a solo home run off the bat of Ben Vujovich. That made the score 7-5 Kansas.
• St. Thomas cut its deficit to one run in the eighth inning on an RBI single by Tanner Recchio to make the score 7-6.
• In the top of the ninth, St. Thomas threatened with two runners on and one out. However, Eric Lin was able to strike out the final two hitters to end the game.

PITCHERS OF RECORD
Win: Thaniel Trumper (1-0)
Final line: 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO
Loss: Bryce Leedle (0-2)
Final line: 4.1 IP, 4 H, 5 R, 3 BB, 2 SO
Save: Eric Lin (2)
Final line: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 SO

PLAYER OF THE GAME
Brady Ballinger: Ballinger had his first multi-homer game as a Jayhawk. The sophomore transfer from the College of Southern Nevada had a career-high five RBIs. He also had a walk and two runs scored in the game.

SOCIAL POST OF THE GAME

Baseball sky ?? pic.twitter.com/mZCrdBmjOO
— Kansas Jayhawks (@KUAthletics) March 26, 2025

QUOTABLES & NOTABLES
"I'm proud of Eric (Lin). That's the nature of the beast when you're a back-end guy. Stuff like that happens and for him to bounce back – I think the big one was [giving up a] leadoff base hit in the ninth and then he gets out of it and pitched with total confidence…Frustrating start on the mound. Gavin gave us a chance. If you look at the box score, it's no walks, but I think he drilled three guys. Then, Haro really struggled so we put ourselves in a bind. Now, like a good baseball team, sometimes the offense picks up the defense and sometimes the defense picks up the offense. Tonight, obviously Brady Ballinger was huge with his two home runs. Kind of a dead night with the ball flying. We hammered some balls early on. Counsell had one that he smoked, Cerda hammered I think three right on the screws. Brady's strong though and if the wind is blowing out a little bit further he's got three tonight. Good night, obviously a ton to clean up. I told the guys after the game it's easy to learn from stuff when you lose, it's harder to learn sometimes when you win because you blow past it. That's what I'm here to do, to remind them of all the things that need to change. We'll be ready to go again tomorrow." – Head Coach Dan Fitzgerald

"After coming off a rougher weekend for me at ASU, I just wanted to reset and mentally lock in on executing my approach. That's what I was able to do today." – Brady Ballinger

• Kansas has hit 51 home runs this season through the first 25 games. The program record for home runs is 75 in 2006 and 2023.
• Ballinger had his first career multi-homer game. He finished the game with a career-high five RBIs. He now has seven home runs this season.
• A Kansas player has hit multiple home runs in a game five times this season (Hauge – twice, Diggins, Osoria, Ballinger).
• Brooks has reached base safely in 14 consecutive games. He drew two walks in the game.
• Hauge has an 11-game on-base streak.
• Trumper earned his first win of the season.
• Lin received his second save of the year.

UP NEXT
Kansas and St. Thomas will play the second and final game of the midweek series on Wednesday afternoon. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m. CT at Hoglund Ballpark.