No. 21 Baylor softball (29-13, 7-6 Big 12) finished off a series sweep of Kansas (25-21, 0-12 Big 12) with a 6-0 win on Sunday afternoon at Getterman Stadium.
The Lady Bears have swept the home series with the Jayhawks for the fourth-straight time and have won 14 of the last 15 meetings with KU.
Gia Rodoni (17-9) worked the first 6.1 frames for the Lady Bears, holding the Jayhawks scoreless with four hits and seven strikeouts.
Regan Green finished off the final two outs of the contest, forcing two groundouts to close out the win.
BU picked up an early lead with a single run in the first, with Kyla Walker legging out an infield single to start the rally.
Shelby Friudenberg drew a walk, putting two on for Goose McGlaun.
McGlaun drilled her first single and RBI of the game, putting BU up 1-0 after the first.
Adding on in the third frame, Walker laced a double to the wall in left center, coming around to score on an RBI single for Friudenberg.
A single for McGlaun and sac bunt by Carlee Wallace put runners on second and third for Taylor Ellis.
Ellis chopped a single through the middle, allowing Friudenberg to score to put BU up 3-0 through three.
Taking full control in the home half of the fourth, Maddison Kettler drew a walk, trading places with Jessie Scroggins on a fielder’s choice.
Scroggins stole second and moved to third on a single by Walker, with a hit by pitch earned by Friudenberg loading the bases.
McGlaun came up clutch again, cutting a single to left to score both Scroggins and Walker, with Friudenberg scoring on another RBI single for Ellis to punch BU’s lead up to 6-0.
From there, the Baylor defense stifled any chance of a comeback for the Jayhawks, cruising through to the 6-0 victory and the series sweep.
HIGHLIGHTS
Baylor took its fourth-straight home series sweep over the Jayhawks, winning the last eight-straight series overall.
Gia Rodoni took her season strikeout total up to 206, marking seven-straight seasons that a Lady Bear pitcher has eclipsed the 200 mark.
Shelby Friudenberg (179 career RBI) now trails Chelsi Lake by just five for the program record in RBI, set by Lake over her career as a Lady Bear from 2004-2007.
Goose McGlaun (3-for-4, 3 RBI) highlighted a banner day for the BU offense, driving in three of BU’s six runs scored.
McGlaun had her ninth multi-hit game and ninth multi-RBI game of the season.
Kyla Walker (3-for-4, 3 R, 2B) had her 13th multi-hit game of the season and the 54th of her career.
TOP QUOTES
“I feel like we were really relaxed, especially offensively. They were just having fun and executing and we talked about that [Friday] after our game. When we have runners in scoring position, we can’t leave them on, and we did a good job of that today.” – Baylor pitcher Gia Rodoni
“I thought so. I thought Gia did great on the mound and we backed her up pretty well on defense and then we hit the ball. Any time that happens and Gia throws like that we should come out with the W. It’s awesome to have people behind you and in front of you in the lineup that you know will get it done whatever you need them to do. That’s huge as we go into postseason.” – Baylor infielder Goose McGlaun
“Complete weekend, for sure. We played solid ball, not perfect. Still a lot of things that I feel like we shouldn’t be doing that we’re doing, or should be doing that we’re not doing, this late in the season. But again, we’re going in the right direction having slumped really bad a couple weeks back. Now, we’re just forward thinking. As the team said last week going into the Texas game, we’re going to be the comeback kids right now. They’ve really focused on playing against themselves, really, and trying to be better every game. And I think they’ve done that, and we’ve got to continue in that incline.” – Baylor head coach Glenn Moore
WHAT’S NEXT
Baylor hits the road for five-straight games, playing a Tuesday doubleheader in Houston before closing the weekend with the final road series of the year in Ames, Iowa, facing Iowa State in a three-game weekend tilt.
