Wildcats, Shockers Renew Rivalry Wednesday Night

Wednesday, May 2

Manhattan, Kan.

6:30 p.m.

Kansas State University

Wichita State

Buy Tickets

K-State's Hanz Harker hits a home run against Baylor

May 01, 2018 | Baseball

Watch Listen Live Stats Game Notes (.pdf)Tickets

MANHATTAN, Kan. – K-State welcomes Wichita State to Tointon Family Stadium for the first game of a home-and-home series between the in-state foes Wednesday night with first pitch set for 6:30 p.m.

K-State (18-26) has taken nine of the last 11 meetings with Wichita State (28-14). The teams split the two meetings last season in a pair of one-run games.

Wednesday night's matchup will be televised on COX Channel Kansas with a free, live stream at K-StateHD.TV and will also be available via the K-State Sports Roku app and Apple TV. The game can be heard on the K-State Sports Radio Network with free, live audio available at k-statesports.com.

GAME #45
K-STATE (18-26, 3-15 BIG 12) vs. WICHITA STATE (28-14, 5-10 AAC)
Wednesday, May 1, 2018 // 6:30 p.m. CT // Tointon Family Stadium (2,331) // Manhattan, Kan.
Projected Starters: TBA vs. RHP Preston Snavely (3-1, 4.25 ERA)
TV: COX Channel Kansas // Matt Walters (play-by-play) and Kenny Lannou (analyst)
Watch: K-StateHD.TV // K-State Sports Roku app and Apple TV
Radio: K-State Sports Radio Network // Brian Smoller and John Kurtz
Promotion: Halfway to Halloween // Team/Camper Night | Tickets
Watch | Listen Online | Live Stats

A LOOK AT K-STATE
Kansas State (18-26, 3-15 Big 12) enters its first matchup in a home-and-home series with in-state rival Wichita State at Tointon Family Stadium ... K-State was swept in a three-game series by Baylor in Manhattan over the weekend ... The Bears, led by starting pitcher Cody Bradford, won the series opener Friday 18-0 ... Bradford tossed his second consecutive shutout, striking out eight Wildcats over his nine innings of work, becoming the first Baylor pitcher to toss back-to-back shutouts ... The Cats fell Saturday, 16-3, before dropping an 8-5 decision in the finale Sunday ... Jordan Maxson and Dylan Watts each had three hits Sunday and Hanz Harker hit the Cats' only homer, a solo shot in the eighth inning ... Maxson and Watts led K-State with three hits in the series while Kyle Barfield had a team-best three runs batted in, including two on Saturday ... Baylor outscored the Cats 42-8 in the three-game set, outhitting K-State 50-23 with eight home runs, including five Friday ... In the series opener, K-State allowed five homers and 24 hits, both season highs for an opponent.

A LOOK AT WICHITA STATE
Wichita State (28-14, 5-10 AAC) travels north to Manhattan having split its last 10 games overall after dropping two of three at UCF over the weekend ... The Shockers are 5-0 against Big 12 teams after they won at Kansas, 14-5, Tuesday, April 24 to sweep their home-and-home set ... WSU defeated KU in Wichita, 11-0, Wednesday, April 18 in that span ... Wichita State also swept its home-and-home midweek set with Oklahoma State earlier in April and defeated Oklahoma, 2-1, on March 20 at Eck Stadium in Wichita ... The Shocker offense is paced by Alec Bohm's .327 average and .556 slugging percentage ... Bohm leads the team in hits (53), home runs (9) and runs batted in (40) ... Luke Ritter is second, hitting .321 and slugging .509 with 51 hits and is riding a career-long 17-game hitting streak ... Bohm, along with Greyson Jenista, were each named preseason all-Americans by multiple college baseball publications ... WSU owns a team ERA of 3.89 and a team batting average of .290, tied for tops in the American Athletic Conference ... The Shockers were ranked for eight straight weeks before Monday's poll, having been ranked as high as No. 18.

A LOOK AT THE SERIES
Wichita State leads the all-time series between the clubs, 53-40, dating back to 1906 ... This will be the 15th straight season the teams will play a home-and-home series in a season and have played at least once every season since 1985 ... K-State has won nine of the last 11 games in the series after dropping the last meeting on May 16 of last season in Wichita ... The Shockers walked off the Cats on a Luke Ritter solo home run off Tyler Eckberg to win 3-2 in the series' last matchup ... K-State is 24-18 vs. Wichita State at home and are 19-10 overall under 15th-year head coach Brad Hill ... The Wildcats are 9-1 in the last 10 played in Manhattan ... In 2017, each team won a one-run game at home, as the Cats won 5-4 on May 2 at Tointon Family Stadium before their 3-2 defeat in Wichita.

THE NEXT OHTANI
K-State sophomore Will Brennan is already known as one of the nation's best hitters, but he has earned his first two victories in his last three appearances the mound ... In his first career start at Nebraska on April 17, Brennan retired all six batters he faced over two innings on just 21 pitches ... The Stilwell, Kansas, product earned his first Big 12 start in Sunday's series finale at West Virginia, as he went a career-long five innings while giving up just one earned run and scattering six base hits ... Brennan matched that career-long outing Sunday against Baylor in the series finale, striking out a career-high four batters ... He owns a 3.48 ERA in Big 12 play, ranking second on the team, and in the month of April, his ERA is 3.29 and opponents are hitting just .216 against him ... Brennan's season WHIP is a team-low 1.36 and has a 3.5 strikeout-to-walk ratio to go with an 8.6 K/9 rate ... He continues to be among the Big 12 leaders in hits and average, leading the Wildcats with a .358 average and 63 base hits ... His average and hit total are both fourth-highest in the conference while he is third with a .462 on-base percentage ... Batting leadoff, Brennan is the toughest player in the Big 12 to strikeout, going 17.6 at-bats per strikeout (176 AB, 10 K).

SEEING 20/10
K-State's Drew Mount is one home run away from becoming just the second Wildcat to have 20 stolen bases and 10 home runs in a season, joining Todd Fereday who stole 21 bases and hit 11 home runs in 1997 ... With his next homer, Mount will be just the sixth player in NCAA Division I to have 10 or more home runs and 10 or more steals this season and the first to have 20 steals with 10 homers.

CALL THE COPS
K-State's 71 stolen bases are second in the Big 12 and rank 23rd in the country ... West Virginia leads K-State by one stolen base, after the Wildcats failed to record a steal in their three-game series with Baylor (0-for-2) ... Three of the top six base stealers in the conference are Wildcats, led by Drew Mount and his 20 steals (t-3rd) ... Will Brennan is fifth with 17 and Cameron Thompson ranks sixth with 16 ... Mount's 20 rank 39th in the nation.

HANZ WALKER
Senior outfielder Hanz Harker has been an on-base machine this season, leading the team in both walks (33) and on-base percentage (.474) ... Harker has moved up to the No. 2 spot in the order in four of the last seven games ... The Bakersfield, California, native's OBP would rank third in the Big 12 and 40th in the country once he qualifies in number of at-bats ... Harker has been on base in 10 of his last 11 games overall, drawing 10 walks while hitting a home run and driving in nine runs.

NON-CON SUCCESS
K-State has a 15-11 record in nonconference action, including a 9-6 mark at Tointon Family Stadium ... The Cats have a +12 run differential despite being outhit, .290-.280 ... Brennan has a team-best .429 batting average in nonconference games while TK McWhertor (.318) and Dylan Watts (.302) are both over the .300 mark ... Seven of Drew Mount's team-best nine homers have come against non-Big 12 opponents as he is slugging .565 in those games to go with 33 runs driven in ... Freshman Alex Belch has an ERA of 1.86 with a save while Jaxon Passino and Jared Marolf each have an earned run average under 3.00 and two saves each in that span.