
No. 23 Kansas Secures Series Sweep of UCF with 13-4 Victory
4/6/2025 6:11:00 PM | Baseball
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Kansas jumped on UCF for 13 runs in the first four innings of the game. The Jayhawks sent all nine hitters to the plate in three of the first four innings. Jackson Hauge and Brady Ballinger each hit a long ball for the Jayhawks.
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Cooper Moore started for Kansas and went a career-high eight innings despite UCF scoring three runs in the first inning. Moore was able to hold the Knights to four total runs over his eight innings, allowing eight hits and one walk while recording six strikeouts.
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HOW IT HAPPENED
• Kansas sprinted out to a 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning and sent all nine hitters to the plate. The first four Kansas batters recorded hits and all four came around to score. Derek Cerda and Ballinger got on base with singles and Hauge brought them home with a three-run homer, his Big 12-best 14th homer of the season. Michael Brooks came up next and hit a double. With two outs, Ian Francis drove in Brooks with an RBI single.
• UCF (18-12, 3-8 Big 12) answered back in the bottom of the first with three runs of their own. Lex Boedicker hit a two-run double and Andrew Sundean had an RBI groundout to make it a 4-3 game.
• The Jayhawks were able to get one of those runs back in the top of the second inning. Ballinger hit a solo homer off the scoreboard in right-center field to give the Jayhawks a 5-3 advantage.
• Similar to the first inning, KU sent all nine hitters to the plate in the third and scored four runs once again. Tommy Barth scored the first run of the frame on a fielding error. Hauge came up two batters later and hit a two-run single. Brooks closed out the scoring in the inning with a sacrifice fly. That stretched the Kansas lead to 9-3.
• Kansas did the same thing in the fourth inning with nine hitters coming to the plate and four runs coming across. Francis and Sawyer Smith each had RBI doubles, while Ballinger and Dariel Osoria each brought in a run with an RBI single. Kansas held a 13-3 edge.
• The Knights closed out the scoring in the bottom of the fourth with an RBI single by DeAmez Ross to make it 13-4.
• There were no runs by either team over the final five innings.
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PITCHERS OF RECORD
Win: Cooper Moore (3-0)
Final line: 8.0 IP, 8 H, 4 R, 1 BB, 6 SO
Loss: Dom Stagliano (1-2)
Final line: 1.1 IP, 6 H, 5 R, 1 BB, 1 SO
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SOCIAL POST OF THE GAME
3-RUN BOMB ??????@JacksonHauge hits his 14th HR of the year to give the Jayhawks an early lead!
— Kansas Baseball (@KUBaseball) April 6, 2025
TOP 1 | Kansas 3, UCF 0 pic.twitter.com/KkGpzdP9gr
QUOTABLES & NOTABLES
"It was a great day. A bunch of things were going well. One, we scored early and often and our guys did a great job at the plate. Then, Cooper after the first inning really settled in. He did not have a clean first and he was kind of feeling for it. For him to get back on the rails and get us through eight was really impressive. Great fight by the guys against a team that was leading the Big 12 in pitching and offense coming into the weekend. That's a really good UCF team, so that's a really big deal to sweep those guys." – Head Coach Dan Fitzgerald
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"I was just competing. Not always going to have a clean inning to start the game. You have to give your team at least six innings. Going out there and knowing that my offense is always going to put up runs I know I have to fill up the zone. We have one of the best offenses in the country and knowing that in the back of my mind I just need to fill up the zone." – Cooper Moore
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"We had a lot of fun. It's fun to hit in our lineup and when we do our job someone ends up coming through. Ballinger came through the other night, Counsell had a big night the other night and I got to have a cool night tonight. We all love coming to the ballpark every day and just getting to see each other. When you have a really close team that competes for each other you're going to have ups and downs, but we just ride the wave and have a lot of fun." – Jackson Hauge
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• Kansas improved to 27-6 overall on the season, the best 33-game record in school history.
• Kansas is now 9-3 in conference play, which is the best Big 12 start in program history. The last time Kansas won at least six conference games in a row was the 2014 season when the Jayhawks won each of the last nine conference games.
• Kansas extended its winning streak to nine games. The nine-game winning streak is the longest in the Dan Fitzgerald era. The last time Kansas won nine consecutive games was Feb. 24-March 12, 2019.
• Kansas has hit 73 home runs this season through the first 33 games. The program record for home runs is 75 in 2006 and 2023. Last season, Kansas finished with 68 home runs. Kansas is 24-3 this season when hitting a home run.
• Kansas has multiple home runs in 21 games this year.
• Kansas had seven different players hit a home run in the series (Ballinger, Cerda, Brooks, Smith, Hauge, Brady Counsell and Chase Diggins). The Jayhawks hit a total of 10 home runs on the weekend.
• Kansas recorded its first Big 12 series sweep on the road this season and the first since March 28-29, 2024 at BYU.
• Kansas now has five series sweeps this season (at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, at Tarleton State, vs. Milwaukee, vs. Oklahoma State).
• Kansas outscored UCF 32-15 in the series sweep.
• Seven Jayhawks had multi-hit games (Ballinger, Hauge, Brooks, Osoria, Barth, Francis, Smith) on Sunday.
• Kansas has scored at least 10 runs in 14 games this season, including in six of the last eight games.
• Kansas finished with 17 hits, its most in conference play since April 7, 2024 vs. West Virginia. The 17 hits are the most in a conference game on the road since April 30, 2010 at Oklahoma State (20 hits).
• Hauge hit his conference-high 14th home run of the season. He is tied for fifth in school history for home runs in a season. Hauge has reached base safely in each of the last 19 games. He finished with three hits and five RBIs.
• Ballinger crushed his 12th homer of the season. The home run extended his hitting streak to 13 games. Ballinger has 14 multi-hit games this season, which is tied for the most on the team.
• Cerda has hit safely in each of the last 12 games.
• Osoria recorded his 14th multi-hit game of the season and now has a 10-game on-base streak.
• Moore tossed a career-high eight innings and improved to 3-0 on the season.
• Barth has a 10-game on-base streak.
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UP NEXT
Kansas will play Nebraska in a midweek contest at Hoglund Ballpark on Tuesday, April 8 at 6 p.m. CT. Fans can purchase tickets by clicking here.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Moore, Cooper (3-0)
L: Stagliano, Dom (1-2)

Batting:
2B: Brooks, Michael 1 ; Francis, Ian 1 ; Smith, Sawyer 1
HR: Ballinger, Brady 1 ; Hauge, Jackson 1
RBI: Cerda, Derek 1 ; Ballinger, Brady 2 ; Hauge, Jackson 5 ; Brooks, Michael 1 ; Osoria, Dariel 1 ; Francis, Ian 2 ; Smith, Sawyer 1
SF: Brooks, Michael 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Cerda, Derek 2 ; Ballinger, Brady 4 ; Hauge, Jackson 1 ; Brooks, Michael 1 ; Barth, Tommy 2 ; Francis, Ian 1 ; Smith, Sawyer 2
HBP: Francis, Ian 1

Batting:
2B: Ross, DeAmez 1 ; Boedicker, Lex 1
RBI: Ross, DeAmez 1 ; Boedicker, Lex 2 ; Sundean, Andrew 1
SH: Espinal, Edian 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Ross, DeAmez 1 ; Jimenez, Antonio 1 ; Williamson, Andrew 1 ; Krewson, Chase 1
HBP: Ross, DeAmez 1 ; Williamson, Andrew 1