Kansas Off to Best Start in Program History; Beat Milwaukee 9-5

Saturday, March 8

Wichita, Kan.

2 p.m. CT

University of Kansas

13-1

Milwaukee

1-13

Milwaukee

Kansas

Kansas Off to Best Start in Program History; Beat Milwaukee 9-5

3/8/2025 7:33:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score Box Score (PDF)Season Stats

WICHITA, Kan. – Kansas baseball has claimed its best start to a season in program history as the Jayhawks defeated Milwaukee 9-5 on Saturday afternoon at Equity Bank Park. The Jayhawks are now 13-1 on the season, marking the best 14-game start to a season in school history, and have won five consecutive games.

Kansas trailed early in the game but used a three-run fourth inning and three-run fifth to take the lead for the remainder of the game. Senior Ian Francis led the way offensively with three hits, five RBIs and a run scored. Two of his three hits were doubles and his five RBIs matched his career high.

HOW IT HAPPENED
• Milwaukee (1-13) scored in the first inning to take an early lead for a second consecutive day. The Panthers scored a run on an RBI groundout.
• The Jayhawks tied up the game in the bottom of the first as a balk brought in Brady Ballinger from third base. The score was 1-1 after an inning.
• The Panthers took the lead back with solo home runs in the third and fourth innings. Tate Schmidt hit his home run in the third and Cade Palkowski went deep in the fourth. The two solo homers made it 3-1 Milwaukee.
• A three-run fourth inning put the Jayhawks ahead 4-3. Francis had an RBI single in the inning and Ballinger hit a two-run single to left center to give Kansas the lead.
• Milwaukee evened up the game at 4-4 in the fifth when a run scored on an error.
• Kansas answered back with three runs in the bottom of the fifth. Sawyer Smith hit a sac fly to score a run and Francis hit a two-run double to bring the score to 7-4.
• Francis came up in the seventh inning and did the same thing as he hit a two-run double down the left field line. That made it 9-4 Kansas.
• The Panthers hit a sacrifice fly in the eighth to close out the scoring at 9-5.

PITCHERS OF RECORD
Win: Connor Maggi (2-0)
Final line: 2.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 0 SO
Loss: Logan Schulfer (0-4)
Final line: 4.2 IP, 4 H, 7 R, 7 BB, 4 SO

PLAYER OF THE GAME
Ian Francis: The senior transfer from Youngstown State had his best day offensively as a Jayhawk. After a three-hit performance on Friday, Francis had three hits on Saturday. He tied his career high with five RBIs and had a pair of two-run doubles.

SOCIAL POST OF THE GAME

Have a day, @ianfrancis7_!

Another 2-run double brings his total to 5 RBI today!

BOT 7 | Kansas 9, Milwaukee 4 pic.twitter.com/m6bIiYvKhI
— Kansas Baseball (@KUBaseball) March 8, 2025

QUOTABLES & NOTABLES
"I like that we won and I thought we had some great at-bats when we needed it in the middle. Honestly, I thought our approach early was fine. Their guy did a nice job. He went for a long time and did a nice job. The key to it was you string together runs in the fourth and fifth and we used (Alex Breckheimer) in the sixth, kind of like a mid-game stop. Breck came in and threw up a zero on the sixth, which we thought just mapping it out was the part of their lineup we wanted him to face. Then, thought Trumper was great for two and then Eric (Lin) did a really nice job. Proud of how we competed. It's baseball, so every game we play there's something to address and something to learn from and we'll certainly learn from this." – Head Coach Dan Fitzgerald

"I think that we all just wake up every day and we show up and put the work in. That's kind of who we are and what we do. Our coaches hold us to a pretty high standard, which I really like. I think all the guys are bought in and it helps us come together and win a lot of baseball games." – Ian Francis

"We're just sticking to our approach. We're seeing the ball up and we're getting good reports from our coaches. We're just executing the plan they give us." – Brady Ballinger

• Kansas is off to its best start in program history with a 13-1 record.
• Kansas has won five consecutive games.
• Kansas matched its season high with 10 walks.
• Francis matched his career high with five RBIs.
• Ballinger has reached base safely in all 14 games this season.
• Connor Maggi is now 2-0 on the season.
• Chase Diggins had three walks and three runs scored.

UP NEXT
Kansas will wrap up its four-game series against Milwaukee on Sunday at Hoglund Ballpark. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. CT and the game will be broadcast on ESPN+ with live audio available on the Jayhawk Sports Network.