KU Baseball hangs on to defeat Air Force 7-4
LAWRENCE, Kan. (KSNT) - The Kansas Jayhawks defeated Air Force on Wednesday afternoon 7-4.
Kansas (20-13, 2-7) swept Air Force (13-13, 7-8) in a short two day non-conference series.
Skyler Messinger was the first one to put a run on the board with a double scoring in one run in the top of the first inning. Conner VanCleave followed him up on the next at-bat with a double scoring in Messinger in the top of the first. Tom Lichty finished off the scoring in the first inning by having a single scoring in one run. The Jayhawks led 3-0 at the end of the first.
As eventful as the first inning was, they topped it by having four runs in the second inning. James Cosentino went ahead and hit a solo homerun to start things off in the bottom of the second. Pairs of doubles coming from Skyler Messinger and Tom Lichty drove in three more runs. The effort by the Jayhawks extended the lead, 7-0.
Air Force slowly started clawing back by the bat of Cole Blatchford. Cole Blatchford hit a sacrifice fly out to centerfield scoring in Blake Covin in the top of the third.
Cole Blatchford hit a homerun out past the centerfield fence which scored in himself and Paul Skenes in the top of the fifth. Blatchford's efforts decreased the deficit to 7-3.
The pitching from Kansas and Air Force kept this game at a stalemate for the most of the game until Cole Blatchford hit his fourth run in on a sacrifice fly in the top of the ninth inning. The late Air Force effort wasn't enough to top the Jayhawks.
Steve Washilewski (3-0) gets the win for Kansas and Jake Sansing (0-1) takes the loss for Air Force.
Kansas will host the Baylor Bears (22-11, 3-6) for a three-game series starting on April 16th at 6:00 PM CT. You can stream the games through Big 12 Now on the ESPN+ app.