Mann Powers Baseball to 9-7 Win, Season Sweep of Kansas

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Luke Mann’s four extra-base hits helped Missouri score nine unanswered runs and rally past Kansas for a 9-7 victory that completed a season sweep of the Jayhawks Tuesday evening at Taylor Stadium.

Mann’s first-inning, three-run homer wiped out a 3-0 KU lead and set the tone for the Tigers (25-19) at the plate. The fifth-year senior added three doubles to finish with four extra-base hits—one more than Kansas recorded as a team—to go along with four RBIs.

Mann’s 4-for-5 performance led a 13-hit attack for Mizzou, which posted its best single-game hit total in the victory since a 13-hit effort against Texas Southern on March 5. 

The Tigers also benefited from a strong joint effort from its bullpen, as three MU relievers combined to hold the Jayhawks scoreless for seven straight innings. Brock Lucas (4-0) earned the victory after working a scoreless inning and a third, before Rorik Maltrud and Kyle Potthoff combined to blank KU for 6.0 innings.

Mizzou bounced back from an early surge by the Jayhawks (21-24), who logged three consecutive two-out hits to plate three runs in the top of the first inning. After a walk to Jackson Kline, Kodey Shojinaga delivered a base hit, before Jansen Reeder drove in the first run of the game with a double to right. A Nic Smith wild pitch allowed a second run to cross the plate, before Cole Elvis made it a 3-0 game with his RBI single to left.

The Tigers responded promptly in the bottom of the first, using a leadoff walk to Ross Lovich and a hit batsman to set up Mann’s three-run blast that cleared the wall in right field to knot the score at 3-3.

Mizzou kept the pressure on KU, putting two more men aboard via a Hank Zeisler walk and a Dalton Bargo single. A Jayhawk error on an errant pickoff attempt at first allowed Zeisler to come all the way around and give the Tigers a 4-3 lead.

The Tigers added to their lead courtesy of a two-out rally in the fourth, using a Trevor Austin single and a run-scoring double by Mann to double their lead to 5-3.

That rally marked the start of mid-game offensive barrage that saw Mizzou score in four straight innings to ultimately extend its lead to six runs. In the fifth, the Tigers rode Bargo’s third hit of the game to a two-run rally. Dylan Leach drew a walk, and Ty Wilmsmeyer sacrificed both runners into scoring position before an RBI single by Matt Garcia and a wild pitch plated a pair of runs to make it a four-run affair.

Austin’s second key hit—a triple to right-center—opened the sixth, setting up Zeisler’s run-scoring bouncer to the right side for an 8-3 Mizzou advantage.

The Tigers mounted another two-out rally in the seventh, as Garcia coaxed a two-out walk, before coming home on Cam Careswell’s pinch-hit double to deep center that handed Mizzou its largest lead of the night at 9-3.

Potthoff turned in a career-long 4 1/3 innings, taking over from Maltrud in the fifth and holding KU scoreless through the eighth. The senior right-hander worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth before allowing just two KU baserunners over the ensuing three frames.

The Jayhawks, who stranded 11 baserunners over the first eight innings, finally made some noise in the ninth, as Michel Brooks launched a leadoff home run to spark a four-run rally. Luke Leto followed with a two-run shot and Chase Jans later added a sacrifice fly to cut the margin to two runs. KU eventually loaded the bases to put the go-ahead run aboard, but Zach Franklin induced a game-ending pop up off the bat of Brooks to finish off the Mizzou victory.

Austin, who scored three runs in the win, complemented Mann’s night at the plate with a 2-for-4 effort, while Bargo matched a career high with three hits in four trips to the plate. Wilmsmeyer added a two-hit game as well, marking his team-leading 15^th multi-hit effort of the season.

TIGER NOTEBOOK

• Mizzou improved to 90 games over .500 all-time against Kansas (219-129-2) in a series that dates back to 1901
• MU improved to 20-3 in nonconference games this season and 10-0 in Tuesday and Wednesday midweek contests
• Mizzou is now 38-6 in nonconference play over the last two seasons and 119-39 in such games in Steve Bieser’s seven seasons as head coach
• Austin logged his third straight multi-hit performance and his 13th of the season
• Potthoff’s four strikeouts matched a career high, while his 4.1 innings pitched marked the longest of his career
• The Tigers won their third straight against KU, dating back to last April’s 14-6 home win over the Jayhawks
• Tuesday’s announced attendance of 2,582 marked the Tigers’ second largest of the season and their fourth crowd of at least 2,000 fans in 2023
• Mizzou’s season attendance total increased to 27,587, which is just 3,863 fans shy of matching the program’s all-time single-season record of 31,450 (set in 2008)
• Leach reached base safely for the 16th time in 17 games
• Mann improved his career average vs. Kansas to .556 (10-for-18) with his four-hit performance
• Mann’s four hits matched his career-best total (March 24, 2023 at South Carolina)

UP NEXT

Mizzou opens a three-game Southeastern Conference series against Ole Miss, beginning Thursday (May 4) evening with a 6 p.m. contest at Taylor Stadium. Single-game tickets for this weekend’s series, as well as all Mizzou baseball home games in 2023, can be purchased by calling 1-800-CAT-PAWS, or by visiting MUTigers.com/feature/BSBTix.

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