Kansas Defeats Missouri State in Walk-off Fashion

The Jayhawks get their fourth straight win against a Bears team, but needed some extra baseball to do it this time.

The Kansas Jayhawks extend their winning streak to five games by defeating the Missouri State Bears 9-8 in 10 innings. This victory continues the Jayhawks' 6-0 record inside Hoglund Ballpark.

First Start for Hunter Cashero

The Kansas coaching staff was confident to send Hunter Cashero to the mound for his first start of the season. He would complete three innings of work, giving up three hits, four runs, three earned runs, and recording three strikeouts. Trumper and Brasosky would follow Cashero completing two innings and giving up one run combined. Both pitching staffs were battling back and forth and dealing with high winds on a warmer April day. Kolby Dougan would take the baseball from Brasosky and pitched one inning, giving up three hits and three runs. Stone Hewlett and Hunter Cranton would finish the game by shutting the door on the Bears.

The Jayhawks Win on a Wild Pitch Walk-off

Both the Jayhawks and the Bears hit the baseball throughout the entire game. Missouri State would strike first in the first inning, but Kansas would answer with two runs in the bottom of the second. Jackson Klein, who has been carving out a role, laced a two-out double, scoring two Jayhawks. The Bears would then add three more runs in the top of the fourth and three more in the top of the sixth. Just when it looked like the game was out of hand, the Jayhawks would answer with four in the bottom of the sixth and two in the seventh, tying it at eight runs. Jackson Klein would surface again for the Jayhawks, scoring the game-winning walk-off run on a wild pitch from Bear's pitcher Gage Bradley.

Jackson Klein, a freshman, continues to shine for the Jayhawks saying, “Today was huge, just to grind and come back from behind the whole game. Really the last four or five games, that’s all we’ve done, just stay in our game, do our thing, don’t let the other team mess with us, and we’ve just been able to grind it out.” Chase Jans continues to hit, going 3-for-6 and driving in two RBIs. Kody Shojinaha continues his impressive hitting, going 2-for-4, scoring two runs, and walking once. The Jayhawks, unfortunately, struck out 11 times but managed to walk seven. Head coach Dan Fitzgerald said, “You just have to keep playing, sometimes when you look at it, you think you have to climb a mountain, but in reality, you just have to chip away.”

The Jayhawks head to Morgantown, West Virginia, to take on the Mountaineers for a three-game weekend series. Game one is scheduled, for Friday, April 7th, at 5:30 PM CST. Game two is on Saturday, April 8th, and the first pitch is scheduled for 3:00 PM CST. Game three is on Sunday, April 9th, scheduled for 2:00 PM CST. The Jayhawks look to improve their 13-14 record.