Kansas Completes Sweep of Kansas State in Dillons Sunflower Showdown

Saturday, April 19

Lawrence, Kan.

12 p.m. CT

University of Kansas

30-10, 11-6

Kansas State

23-16, 10-7

Kansas State

Kansas

Kansas Completes Sweep of Kansas State in Dillons Sunflower Showdown

4/19/2025 8:18:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2 Box Score (PDF) – Game 1 Box Score (PDF) – Game 2 Season Stats Conference Stats Postgame Media Availability Game 2 Highlights Game 3 Highlights Photo Gallery Photo Gallery 2

LAWRENCE, Kan. – Kansas baseball finished off a three-game series sweep over Kansas State on Saturday, defeating the Wildcats twice at Hoglund Ballpark in the Dillons Sunflower Showdown. With the doubleheader sweep, Kansas now has 31 wins to match its win total from last season.

Kansas has at least 30 wins in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2013 and 2014. The Jayhawks improved to 31-10 overall and 12-6 in Big 12 play after completing its first series sweep of the Wildcats since 2019.

GAME ONE (Kansas 6, Kansas State 3)

Cooper Moore started for Kansas in the first game and was in control much of the day as he matched his career high of 8.0 innings, allowing only three runs and one walk with eight strikeouts.

Kansas State (23-17, 10-8 Big 12) was able to jump out to a 1-0 lead in the second inning on a solo homer by Sam Flores. The Jayhawks matched that run in the bottom of the second inning on an RBI single from Ian Francis.

Each team scored in the third inning with Kansas State plating two runs and the Jayhawks scoring one of their own. The Wildcats scored both of their runs on RBI groundouts. Jackson Hauge provided the run-scoring hit for Kansas with an RBI single. At the end of three innings, Kansas State led 3-2.

Kansas scored two runs in both the fourth and fifth innings to take the lead. In the fourth, Tommy Barth hit an RBI single and Michael Brooks scored on a double play. That gave Kansas a 4-3 advantage.

The Jayhawks were able to extend that lead in the fifth with an RBI single from Dariel Osoria and an RBI single by Brooks. The two runs brought the score to 6-3 and would end the scoring for the game.

Moore continued through the next three innings and ended his day with an outstanding play by the defense where Chase Diggins fielded the ball up the middle, flipped it to Sawyer Smith who threw over to Brady Ballinger for a 4-6-3 groundout. Alex Breckheimer came on for the ninth and closed out the game for his fourth save of the season and his second of the series.

PITCHERS OF RECORD
Win: Cooper Moore (4-1)
Final line: 8.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 8 SO
Loss: Lincoln Sheffield (5-4)
Final line: 4.0 IP, 8 H, 5 R, 2 BB, 2 SO
Save: Alex Breckheimer (4)
Final line: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 SO

GAME TWO (Kansas 6, Kansas State 5)

Kansas scored in each of the first four innings, including a three-run fourth, to build enough of an advantage to hold off the Wildcats in the series finale. The Jayhawks bullpen allowed just one run on three hits over the final five innings as KU secured the doubleheader and series sweep.

Kansas began the game with a solo home run by Ballinger in the first inning. The blast by Ballinger gave Kansas an early 1-0 lead.

Kansas State responded in the top of the second with three runs of their own. A sacrifice fly by Bear Madliak and a two-run single off the bat of Maximus Martin put the Wildcats ahead 3-1.

The Jayhawks chipped away with one run in the bottom of the second and one run in the third to tie it up. Smith hit an RBI single in the second and Osoria had an RBI single in the third to even the game at 3-3 after three innings.

The Wildcats took back the lead in the top of the fourth on an RBI double by Martin. The run gave Kansas State a 4-3 edge.

Kansas had an answer in the bottom of the fourth with three runs to grab a 6-4 lead. Hauge hit a sacrifice fly to tie the game and Counsell hit a two-run ground-rule double to give the Jayhawks the lead.

Bullpen pitching took over during the latter part of the game and neither team would score a run over the next four innings. Thaniel Trumper, Malakai Vetock, Manning West and Dalton Smith each pitched scoreless innings and combined to allow one hit as KU maintained the 6-4 advantage heading into the ninth.

Eric Lin pitched the ninth and struck out the leadoff batter before KSU got a pair of singles to get runners at the corners with one out. A sacrifice fly scored the runner from third and made it 6-5 with the go-ahead run at the plate, but the game ended on a diving catch in center field by Derek Cerda. Lin earned his fourth save of the season after closing out the victory.

PITCHERS OF RECORD
Win: Thaniel Trumper (3-0)
Final line: 1.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO
Loss: JJ Slack (1-3)
Final line: 2.0 IP, 4 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 3 SO
Save: Eric Lin (4)
Final line: 1.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 1 SO

SOCIAL POST OF THE GAME

AND THAT'S A SERIES SWEEP ?? pic.twitter.com/VjhSCqxQH2
— Kansas Baseball (@KUBaseball) April 19, 2025

QUOTABLES & NOTABLES
"Great weekend. I love how the guys competed and yesterday was obviously a great win where they had to stick it out and score in the seventh and then hold. I thought we did a really nice job in game one. Cooper was unbelievable and did a really good job of keeping the ball off their barrel and we made plays. For Breck to come in back-to-back days in big situations was big. Today, Kannon was just okay. He got us through four and kept us in the game and then super proud of Trumper, Vetock, West, Smith and Lin each throwing an inning and no walks out of the relief corps. A great weekend. I thought we did a really nice job at the plate of not giving up any at-bats. After a weekend, there's always stuff to look at in terms of situational hitting and some baserunning things. Overall, the competitive nature of this team is awesome. They are a great crew to be around and they have a lot of fun winning." – Head Coach Dan Fitzgerald

"[The coaching staff] really believes in me and they really believe in my stuff, so I have to believe in myself and trust my defense…I was begging [to go out there for the ninth], but at the end they came to the decision that it was best to go to Breckheimer. Breckheimer has been great all year and he is our closer, so I was happy to hand off the ball to him." – Cooper Moore

"We knew we had a big weekend coming up, especially against K-State. We learned what we could from last weekend and came back and obviously had a great weekend…our preparation is unbelievable. Fitz compliments us on it every day and we know if we just stick to the process and focus on one thing at a time we can come out and play good baseball." – Brady Counsell

• Kansas is 31-10 overall this season and 12-6 in Big 12 play. The Jayhawks are tied for second in the Big 12 standings.
• Kansas has matched its win total from the 2024 season with 15 regular season games to go.
• Kansas has its best record through 41 games since 1993, when the Jayhawks were 32-9 through 41 games. The 1993 season is the only year Kansas has ever made the College World Series.
• Kansas has 30 wins in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 2013 and 2014.
• Kansas recorded its first series sweep against Kansas State since 2019. The Jayhawks went 4-0 against the Wildcats that year, winning all three games of the regular season series and a game in the conference tournament.
• Kansas now has 80 home runs this season, extending their program record.
• Moore matched his career high with 8.0 innings pitched. He has gone at least seven innings in five of his last six starts.
• Hauge now has 60 RBIs this season, which moves him into the top 10 for most RBI in a single-season in program history. He extended his on-base streak to 27 games. That is the longest on-base streak by a Jayhawk since Tavian Josenberger had a 29-game on-base streak during the 2021 season.
• Ballinger hit his 13th home run of the season.
• Cerda now has an on-base streak of 20 games.
• Brooks matched his season high of three hits in the first game.
• Smith has reached base safely in each of the last 17 games.
• Breckheimer and Lin each recorded their fourth save of the season.

UP NEXT
Kansas will be on the road for four games next week. The Jayhawks will go to Nebraska on Tuesday night and be at Utah for a three-game weekend series from April 25-27.

Gallery: (4-19-2025) Baseball vs K-State Game 3