Baseball Blanks Penn State in Opener

SHREVEPORT, La. – Kansas State pitcher Brad Hutt held the Penn State offense in check and the Wildcat bats manufactured enough runs as K-State opened the 2007 season with a 5-0 blanking of Penn State Friday at Sheehee Stadium.

The shutout was the first since a 4-0 win over Chicago State on March 28 of last season, while the shutout win in an opener was the first since an 8-0 blanking of Indiana in 1998.

Hutt (1-0) tossed 6.2 shutout innings in the winning effort and scattered five hits while striking out five and walking two. Jason Linn relieved Hutt with two runners on and two out in the sixth and got a strikeout to end the threat. The red-shirt freshman went on to earn his first career save in his first career outing.

Kansas State (1-0) jumped out to an early lead with one run in the second. After a strikeout and a flyout, consecutive walks to Derek Bunker and Eli Rumler put runners on first and second. Brett Scott then served an 0-2 pitch into right field for a single, plating Bunker for a 1-0 K-State lead.

Then in the third, the Cats added a run as Nate Tenbrink reached on a throwing error to lead off the frame and advanced to second on the throw. Byron Wiley then laced a single to left bringing Tenbrink around to score for a 2-0 Wildcat lead.

The Cats pushed across another run in the sixth as Scott led off with a walk and moved to second on a Rob Vaughn sacrifice bunt. Scott then stole third and scored on Adam Muenster’s double to left center as K-State extended its lead to 3-0.

In the seventh, Wiley led off with a walk while Tyler Link followed with a single to left. Both runners moved up 90 feet after the left fielder bobbled picking up the ball on the single and Rumler followed with a sacrifice fly to left to plate Wiley. Pinch-hitter Jordan Cruz then reached on a Penn State throwing error, which allowed Link to score and up the margin to 5-0.

Scott led the offense with two hits in two at-bats and scored a run, while Wiley went 2-for-3 with a run scored.

Kansas State continues play Saturday with a 1 p.m. matchup with Centenary and will follow with a 4 p.m. game against Penn State. Live stats of both games will be available online at k-statesports.com.

– k-statesports.com –