The Missouri State baseball team trailed Kansas 8-0 after four innings before hitting three home runs, including two from catcher Kyle Paul, in an 8-5 loss at Hoglund Ballpark in Lawrence Wednesday evening.
The Jayhawks used the long ball to their advantage to go up 4-0 early, using two-run shots from John Allman in the first and Ryne Price in the fourth.
KU extended the lead further in the fourth with an RBI triple by Preston Land, an RBI double from Kyle Murphy and a two-run single by Erik Morrison that capped a six-run inning that saw KU smack four extra base hits and grow the advantage to 8-0. In fact, KU’s first four batters of the fourth combined to hit for the cycle.
Mazzola put the Bears on the scoreboard with one out in the sixth, blasting a mammoth solo home run to dead center. Tanner Mattson then walked with two outs and Paul hammered reliever Andres Esquibel’s first pitch to the same spot as Mazzola, a towering shot that cleared the batter’s eye in center and made the score 8-3.
Paul added his second homer with another two-run shot to center in the eighth, scoring Mattson again. He finished 4-for-4 with four RBIs and became the second Bear to homer twice in a game this season.
Mattson reached base safely three times and hit an eighth-inning double to extend his hitting streak to seven and his string of games with an extra base hit to six in a row.
The Bears had a runner on second with no outs on four occasions, but failed to score each time, and saw a great scoring chance thwarted in the fifth when second baseman Ryne Price made a spectacular play at second to rob Nolan Keane of a run-scoring single and end the frame.
A member of the weekend rotation most of the season, KU’s Andy Marks (4-6) got the start and went 5.2 innings with three hits and two runs to go with five strikeouts. Paul Smyth tossed a scoreless ninth for his seventh save.
Sean Toler (0-2) took the loss for Missouri State, as the freshman was charged with eight runs in 3.1 innings. Chris Mackey pitched 3.2 stellar innings of relief, surrendering just a pair of singles and striking out six Jayhawks.
Missouri State hosts Indiana State this weekend in the final home Missouri Valley Conference series of the year. First pitch Friday is set for 12 p.m.
