photo by: Mike Gunnoe/Journal-World

Kansas outfielder Chase Jans connects for a triple against Missouri on Tuesday, March 19, 2024, at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.

Kansas City, Mo. — Catcher Jake English doubled to open the 10th inning, Collier Cranford brought pinch-runner Tyler Gerety home with a sacrifice fly, and Kansas held Missouri scoreless in the bottom half of the frame to beat its rival 4-3 Tuesday night at Kauffman Stadium.

“Rivalry games are great and college sports are built on them,” KU head coach Dan Fitzgerald said. “We’re fortunate to live in a part of the country where we can play awesome midweek games. And you can’t hide in the Big 12 and playing a tough midweek schedule which we do just continues to prepare us for down the road.”

The midseason Kauffman game took place for the second year in a row after the neutral-site rivalry game returned in 2023.

“It’s really special. I was just thinking about it earlier today, I’m 46, been in baseball my whole life, and the number of big league fields that I’ve gotten to walk on, it’s not as many as one might think,” Fitzgerald said. “I think for the guys, especially the guys who are from the area, it wasn’t that long ago that the Royals won a World Series when these guys were in their (formative) years of being baseball players … If you’re not a little romantic about being on a big league baseball field, there’s something wrong with you.”

After a strong Kansas start on offense, Missouri erased the Jayhawks’ narrow lead on a home run by Jackson Lovich in the fifth, but after four scoreless innings for both sides, they came out victorious, beating the Tigers for the first time under Fitzgerald.

Both teams used five pitchers on the night and KU’s Hunter Cranton held Missouri hitless and scoreless for the final two innings.

“Dougan, Moore, Cain, Cranton — that was about as awesome as it gets,” Fitzgerald said, praising his quartet of relievers on the night who held the Tigers to five scoreless innings and gave up only two hits and two walks in 20 batters faced.

Fitzgerald added of Cranton, “He hadn’t thrown in over a week, he was under the weather, so we needed to get him some work. But he was awesome, that’s a guy that has really worked and just put the blinders on and he’s exactly what you want from a back-end guy.”

Missouri starter Josh McDevitt’s first strikeout of the night kept Kansas off the board to open the game, after he had filled the bases on a walk, wild pitch and hit by pitch.

In his own second start as a Jayhawk, and second start of the year against Missouri (the Tigers won in Lawrence 5-4, also in 10 innings, on March 12), KU’s Evan Shaw responded right away, inducing a weak flyout between a pair of strikeouts to take down the Tigers in order.

Kansas came out swinging in the second, as Janson Reeder grabbed his first hit of the game. Then some controversy ensued, as what was originally called a Michael Brooks double was overruled after further discussion among the crew. Fitzgerald was not especially happy with this decision, mostly because it was made without a real review process, as no cameras were filming the game. In another confusing element of the call, Reeder was allowed to stay at third after advancing when the play was originally ruled a double, as the umpires decided, once again without review, that he tagged up on the play.

After all the mess was over, it didn’t matter much for the Jayhawks as Chase Jans stepped up in the No. 9 hole to deliver an RBI triple before being brought in on a sacrifice fly to give Kansas a 2-0 lead.

Shaw continued to push, grabbing two quick outs before Missouri’s first hit of the night, but was ultimately able to force a smooth groundout to third to end the inning with no damage.

With clean frames for both squads in the fourth, Kansas held a 2-1 lead with the top of the lineup due up. John Nett opened the inning with a single before Kodey Shojinaga and Lenny Ashby followed it up with back-to-back walks to load the bases. After recording their first out and forcing another pitching change, the Jayhawks added to their lead on a four-pitch Luke Leto walk to make it 3-1.

With continued consistency, Shaw allowed a bunt single before forcing two quick outs to get the Jayhawks in a good position.

“I didn’t think he was great last week … Today I thought he was great,” Fitzgerald added. “For Shaw, it’s left-handed, it’s mid-90s, it’s beautiful slider, and he should be good, so it was fun to see him kind of come into his own.”

Unfortunately for KU, English committed an error while attempting to throw out a runner stealing third, allowing the runner to ultimately score. In the same at-bat, the Tigers finally got to Shaw after 4 2/3 solid innings of work as Lovich blasted his home run over the center-field wall to tie the game at 3-3.

“If we play this game at Hoglund Ballpark we hit seven home runs and they hit whatever,” Fitzgerald said. “So for Lovich to get that ball out to center field, that’s when you literally have to tip your cap.”

Following the exciting fifth inning, both teams were quiet in the next two innings before the Tigers got some traffic on the bases with a walk and single in the bottom of the eighth. But Kansas’ Tegan Cain forced the count full before striking out Missouri freshman Mateo Serna to end the threat and the inning, pushing a tied game into the ninth.

Two quick outs didn’t prevent the Jayhawks’ attempt to finish the game off in regulation, as Nett reached on Missouri’s first error of the night on a ground ball to short and a walk by Shojinaga put a runner in scoring position. With the power hitter Ashby coming to the plate, Missouri head coach Kerrick Jackson called on Ryan Magdic to finish things out, which he did by forcing an Ashby popout to first.

Kansas’ flamethrowing closer Cranton entered in the bottom of the ninth, looking to push the game to extra innings. After back-to-back strikeouts on heaters, a Missouri walk and dropped strike three gave the Tigers a chance to finish things off with two runners on and two outs, but Cranton forced a long foul-out to end the threat and extend the game.

After pushing the game to extra innings, the Jayhawks turned up the heat, and English started off the tenth with a double to right-center field, as some miscommunication in Missouri’s outfield caused the ball to drop. Leto stepped up to the plate and hit a shot that went about as far as it could go without leaving the park, advancing the pinch-runner Gerety to third. A shot by Cranford landed about a foot short of the wall, but it was still enough for the Jayhawks to retake a 4-3 lead as Gerety came in to score. Looking to add some insurance, Reeder grabbed his second hit of the day with a double to the right-field corner, but Kansas was unable to pad its lead and went into the bottom of the tenth with a one-run advantage.

Fitzgerald held trust in Cranton, opting to send him out for a second inning of work. After a leadoff walk, Missouri looked to move the runner forward with a sacrifice bunt, which led to a backward dive by Ben Hartl to catch a bunt popped into foul territory and give the Jayhawks their first out of the inning. This set Cranford up perfectly to sling a game-ending double play and secure Kansas’ first Border Showdown victory of Fitzgerald’s tenure.

The Jayhawks, who improved to 12-8, will host UCF for a weekend series beginning Friday.

photo by: Mike Gunnoe/Journal-World

Kansas head coach Dan Fitzgerald talks with infielder Luke Leto during a break in play against Missouri on Tuesday, March 19, 2024, at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.

photo by: Mike Gunnoe/Journal-World

Kansas infielder Collier Cranford fields a ground ball against Missouri on Tuesday, March 19, 2024, at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.

photo by: Mike Gunnoe/Journal-World

Kansas infielder Kodey Shojinaga catches a pop fly against Missouri on Tuesday, March 19, 2024, at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.

photo by: Mike Gunnoe/Journal-World

Kansas pitcher Evan Shaw fires in a pitch against Missouri on Tuesday, March 19, 2024, at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.

photo by: Mike Gunnoe/Journal-World

Kansas pitcher Evan Shaw fires in a pitch against Missouri on Tuesday, March 19, 2024, at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.

photo by: Mike Gunnoe/Journal-World

Kansas outfielder John Nett stretches out to makes a catch at his feet against Missouri, Tuesday, March 19, 2024, at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.

photo by: Mike Gunnoe/Journal-World

Kansas infielder Collier Cranford fields a ground ball against Missouri, Tuesday, March 19, 2024, at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.

photo by: Mike Gunnoe/Journal-World

Kanas catcher Jake English celebrates getting a double against Missouri, Tuesday, March 19, 2024, at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.

photo by: Mike Gunnoe/Journal-World

Kansas outfielder Chase Jans celebrates with infielder Kodey Shojinaga against Missouri, Tuesday, March 19, 2024, at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.

photo by: Mike Gunnoe/Journal-World

Kansas infielder Michael Brooks throws the ball to first for an out against Missouri, Tuesday, March 19, 2024, at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.

photo by: Mike Gunnoe/Journal-World

Kansas pitcher Tegan Cain pitches in relief against Missouri, Tuesday, March 19, 2024, at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.

photo by: Mike Gunnoe/Journal-World

Kansas infielder Luke Leto makes a catch in foul territory for an out against Missouri, Tuesday, March 19, 2024, at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.

photo by: Mike Gunnoe/Journal-World

Kansas outfielder Chase Jans makes contact with the ball against Missouri, Tuesday, March 19, 2024, at Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Mo.