WICHITA, Kan. – In a back-and-forth game on Wednesday night, the Wichita State Shockers defeated the Kansas Jayhawks 7-6 at Eck Stadium. Wichita State’s Mauricio Milan hit a walk-off single with two outs in the ninth inning to win the game.
Kansas held leads of 2-0 and 6-4 lead but Wichita State battled back both times. Wichita State also had a 4-2 advantage and the Jayhawks worked to regain the lead.
John Nett and Ben Hartl each had multi-hit games for the Jayhawks. On the mound, J’Briell Easley started and tossed two scoreless innings while Ethan Lanthier and Tegan Cain each had scoreless appearances out of the bullpen.
HOW IT HAPPENED
• Kansas (15-11) scored in the first inning on Wednesday night. Nett singled to start the game and Jake English walked to put runners on first and second with one out. Hartl came up next and singled to center field to score Nett to give the Jayhawks a 1-0 lead.
• Similar to the first inning, Nett singled and English walked in the third inning. This time, Hartl hit an RBI double off the wall in right field. That made it 2-0 in favor of KU.
• Wichita State (19-10) loaded the bases in the bottom of the third. The Jayhawks were able to limit the damage to only one run on a Millan sac fly. That cut the Kansas lead to 2-1.
• The Shockers took the lead in the fifth inning with three runs. After back-to-back singles to start the frame, Wichita State scored one run on a throwing error, one on an RBI groundout and the last one on an RBI single by Seth Stroh. Wichita State led 4-2 at the end of the fifth.
• Kansas responded in the sixth inning by evening up the game at 4-4. Hartl walked to lead off the inning and Michael Brooks hit a single to move up Hartl to third base. Lenny Ashby followed with an RBI single to score Hartl and make it 4-3. Then, Collier Cranford hit an RBI fielder’s choice to tie up the game.
• In the bottom of the sixth, Lanthier struck out the side and left a runner stranded at third base.
• The Jayhawks took the lead once again in the top of the eighth. Cranford hit a ground-rule double to start the inning and Ty Wisdom walked to setup first and second with no outs. Two batters later, Nett recorded his third hit of the night on an RBI single to right to score Cranford and give Kansas a one-run lead. Shojinaga came up next and made it a two-run lead with an RBI double into the gap in right-center field to make it a 6-4 KU lead.
• Wichita State got both of those runs back in the bottom of the eighth. Seth Stroh and Camden Johnson each hit solo home runs to tie the game at 6-6.
• The Shockers got a leadoff single and advanced the runner to second with a sacrifice bunt. The next Wichita State hitter struck out, but Milan singled to center on the first pitch to win the game.
PITCHERS OF RECORD
Win: Nate Adler (1-0)
Final line: 2.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 4 SO
Loss: Hunter Cranton (2-1)
Final line: 0.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 1 SO
PLAYER OF THE GAME
J’Briell Easley: Easley made his first career start as a Jayhawk and threw two scoreless innings. He struck out four of the 10 batters he faced. Coming into tonight’s game, Easley had only pitched 1.0 inning this season.
SOCIAL POST OF THE GAME
That’s 4 strikeouts in two innings for @jayeasley01 😮💨 pic.twitter.com/NWHkxNpRNT
— Kansas Baseball (@KUBaseball) April 3, 2024
QUOTABLES & NOTABLES
“We made a couple huge mistakes that that didn’t allow us to stretch our lead and then put us in a position to allow the game to be tighter than it needed to be. We had a chance in the first inning to tack a couple more runs on and we didn’t. I thought we missed some opportunities to capitalize and credit them for battling back. We were limited in the bullpen. We didn’t want to stretch Cain or Cranton. The plan going in was for them to just touch the mound, but they weren’t going to throw more than an inning. We had to get creative with the with the bullpen. We just didn’t capitalize on some opportunities to stretch the game.” – Head Coach Dan Fitzgerald
• Kansas pitching recorded 12 strikeouts. The pitching staff has at least 10 strikeouts in 12 games this season.
• Nett collected his team-high 10th multi-hit game of the season. He finished 3-for-5 with one RBI and two runs scored.
• Easley made his first career start as a Jayhawk.
• Hartl went 2-for-4 with a double, two RBIs, a run scored and a walk. He has five multi-hit games and three multi-RBI games this season.
UP NEXT
Kansas will host West Virginia this weekend at Hoglund Ballpark in a three-game series. Game one of the series will be on Friday with first pitch at 6 p.m. CT. Fans can purchase tickets by contacting the Kansas ticket office at 785-864-3141 or by visiting the ticketing page here. Students receive free admission all season by presenting their KU student ID at the ticket booth.
