Wildcats Drop Series To Sooners Sunday

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State could not overcome a seven-run third inning by Oklahoma as the Sooners clinched the three-game series with the Wildcats after a 12-4 win Sunday at Tointon Stadium. With the loss, Kansas State fell to 25-15 overall on the season and 6-9 in Big 12 play, while Oklahoma improved to 27-15 overall and 7-8 in league play.

For the second straight day, the big inning doomed the Wildcats as Oklahoma pushed across seven runs in the top of the third to erase a 2-1 K-State lead. K-State starting pitcher Ben Hornbeck (2-2) did not make it out of that seven-run third as the sophomore surrendered seven runs on five hits with three walks and three strikeouts in 2.1 innings. Oklahoma pushed across three runs in the inning before Joe Dunigan’s grand slam capped the scoring as the Sooners took an 8-2 lead.

Sophomore Trevor Hurley relieved Hornbeck in the third and went the next 4.2 innings in long relief. Hurley was effective on Sunday in those 4.2 innings, surrendering three earned runs on five hits with two strikeouts.

Drew Biery led off the fourth inning with a solo homer, his fourth of the season, to cut the margin to 8-3, and Wiley followed with a double, but two strikeouts and a groundout ended the frame. The Sooners then answered right back with a run in the fifth and two in the sixth to up the lead to 11-3.

Nate Tenbrink’s RBI-double in the sixth made the score 11-4, but the Sooners pushed across another run in the eighth to up the lead back to eight at 12-4. Oklahoma had the bases loaded with no outs in the eighth after pushing across one run until Daniel Edwards came in and got a ground out and two strikeouts to get out of the inning.

Kansas State took a 2-1 lead in the first when Byron Wiley hit his team-leading fifth home run of the season with two outs to erase an early one-run deficit. The homer for Wiley was his third in the last four games.

Oklahoma starter Nich Conaway improved to 3-1 on the season after a career-long outing of 6.0 innings in which he scattered four runs on six hits with one walk and seven strikeouts.

Wiley, Biery and Derek Bunker each had two hits in the game, while Wiley collected his team-leading 16^th multi-hit game of the year. Tenbrink finished 1-for-3 to extend his current hitting streak to six games.

Kansas State returns to action Tuesday as it travels to No. 10 Wichita State for a 7 p.m. matchup at Eck Stadium.

– k-statesports.com –