K-State Tops Lamar, 4-1, at Cardinal Classic

BEAUMONT, Texas – Kansas State reached the double-digit hit mark and had excellent pitching for the second-straight day as the Wildcats defeated Lamar, 4-1, Saturday in their third game of the Cardinal Classic at Vincent-Beck Stadium. With the win, Kansas State moves to 2-3 on the season while Lamar drops to 3-3.

Junior Justin Murray (1-0) pitched brilliantly in his first start of the season as he went six innings, giving up one run on just four hits and recording three strikeouts and no walks. He retired 12 in a row at one point after Lamar led the game off with a single. Lance Hoge, Trevor Hurley and Daniel Edwards pitched one inning each, combining for just one hit and five strikeouts to shut the door on the Cardinals over the final three innings. Edwards picked up his first save the season after recording a school-recording tying 11 in 2007.

The Wildcats were led offensively by sophomore leftfielder Adam Muenster who went 3-for-4 with a run scored. Junior rightfielder Jordan Cruz also had a multi-hit game, going 2-for-4 with a RBI. Nate Tenbrink recorded a game-high two-RBI home run in the fourth, and Drew Biery picked up the Cats other RBI on a sacrifice fly.

Kansas State scored the game’s first two runs in the top the fourth on Tenbrink’s second homer of the season. After two outs to leadoff the inning, Justin Bloxom smashed a single back through the box into centerfield for a base hit. Tenbrink followed and crushed the first pitch he saw over the right field wall to give the Cats a 2-0 lead.

K-State got another two runs in the fifth. The Cats registered one-out singles from Dane Yelovich, Adam Muesnter and Carter Jurica to fill the bases for Jordan Cruz. Cruz hit a rocket to first base, which deflected off first baseman Keith Towne’s glove for a single, and allowed Yelovich to score. Drew Biery then hit a sacrifice fly to deep centerfield to score Muenster.

Lamar got on the board in the bottom half of the fifth as Murray gave up a single to David Moore through the middle and Brent Harris followed with a double to deep right centerfield, scoring Moore from first. However, Murray settled down to retire the next two batters to get out of the inning.

Murray worked out of trouble again in the sixth as Jeremiah Sammy led off with a bunt single. He advanced to second on a ground out to first and then moved to third when Murray threw the ball into centerfield on a pickoff attempt. However, Murray gained his composure once again and forced a ground out to end the inning and halt the Cardinals in their final scoring threat of the game.