K-State Plays Host To Texas Tech This Weekend
Apr 18, 2003 | Baseball
April 18, 2003
Complete Release in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
Probable Starting Rotation:
Friday -
Kansas State: #13 Kevin Melcher (Sr., RHP, 0-4, 8.72 ERA)
Texas Tech: #41 Steve Gooch (Jr., RHP, 4-3, 3.84 ERA)
Saturday -
Kansas State: #29 Jim Ripley (Jr., RHP, 2-4, 6.75 ERA)
Texas Tech: #35 Dusty Buck (Sr., RHP, 2-1, 5.55 ERA)
Sunday -
Kansas State: TBA
Texas Tech: #28 Nathan Fouts (Sr., RHP, 3-3, 6.51 ERA)
Series History: Texas Tech leads the all-time series, 15-5, in this, the 21st, 22nd and 23rd meetings between the two schools... The series dates back to 1993 in a 3-2 win by the Red Raiders at the Pepsi/Johnny Quik Classic in Fresno, Calif. ... Three of K-State's five wins in the series came in 2002 when the Wildcats took two of three in Lubbock before splitting a pair of one-run games at the Big 12 Tournament.
Rankings: Neither Kansas State nor Texas Tech is ranked in any of the four major college baseball polls.
Coaches: K-State's Mike Clark is in 17th season with a record of 430-476 (.475)... He is 723-612 (.542) in his 24th season overall... Clark is 5-15 versus Tech, including 1-5 at home... Texas Tech's Larry Hays is in his 17th season with a record of 648-341-2 (.655)... He is 1,343-322-3 (.807) in his 33rd season overall... Johnson is 15-5 all-time vs. K-State, including 5-1 on the road.
Kansas State (10-24, 0-12 Big 12) returns to the rigors of Big 12 Conference play this weekend, as the Wildcats continue their 11-game homestand with the beginning of a three-game series with Texas Tech (23-16, 5-9 Big 12) at Tointon Family Stadium... First pitch on Friday is set for 7 p.m., while games on Saturday and Sunday will start at 2 p.m. and 1 p.m., respectively... Friday night's game will be the first of five games carried on official sports network of Kansas State Athletics, the Mid-America Sports Network... The game can be heard on eight affiliates across the state, including KMAN 1350 AM (Manhattan), KJCK 1420 AM (Junction City), KSAL 1150 AM (Salina), KXKU 106.1 FM (Hutchinson), KVSV 1190 AM (Beloit), KKAN 1490 AM (Phillipsburg), KQMA 92.5 FM (Phillipsburg) and KYBD 98.1 FM (Copeland/Dodge City)... As usual, the remaining two games of the series can be heard on KMAN SportsRadio 1350 KMAN.
Kansas State is currently riding a 16-game losing streak that dates back to the first game of the Nebraska series on March 21... The streak is the second-longest active streak in Division I behind the 18-game drought of Maryland-Eastern Shore and ties Canisius (3/8-4/6) and Prairie View A&M (3/2-29) for the second-longest streak in 2003... The Wildcats have already broken both the school (14 games) as well as the Big 12 record (Iowa State, 12 games) for the longest losing streak... The team is still trying to avoid the worst start to open league play in school history since the 1986 squad dropped 15 in a row.
Quickly about Kansas State
Kansas State enters the three-game series with Texas Tech coming off a less-than-stellar performance in a 15-4 loss against Washington... The second game of the two-game series was cancelled due to rain... The Huskies scored four runs in the first three innings then blew open the game with a six-run fourth inning that included four home runs in a span of five plate appearances...K-State, which has lost 22 of its last 26 games since starting the season with a 6-2 record, owns the nation's second-longest current losing streak (16 games), which also ranks as the longest in both school and Big 12 history.Kansas State has solid offensive team with a collective .290 batting average, while averaging 6.6 runs per game on 10.7 hits per game... The .290 average is ninth in Big 12, while the hits and runs per game average rank fifth and sixth, respectively... The Wildcats rank third in the league with a 2.09 doubles per game ratio... The team has two players - Tim Doty and Ty Soto - that rank among the conference's Top 25 in hitting... The Wildcats have six players batting .280 or better on the year as well as five with 20 or more runs scored and 15 or more RBIs... Doty paces the team in average (.362), hits (47), runs scored (35), home runs (eight), total bases (80), slugging percentage (.615) and is second in RBIs (30)... Senior C/DH Ryan Baldwin leads in RBIs (41) and doubles (14) and is third with a .326 average, while senior OF Pat Maloney is second in multiple-hit games (14), runs scored (28) and walks (21), third in hits (44) and fourth in average (.324), home runs (4) and RBIs (19).On the other hand, the pitching staff has a league-worst 7.34 ERA after 34 games, more than a full run and half higher than ninth-place Texas Tech (5.65)... The staff is allowing just nearly nine runs per game on 12.1 hits, including 10.5 runs and 13 hits per game in Big 12 play... During league action, the staff has tallied the same number of strikeouts (53) as walks (53)... Five players - Brett Bagley, Jared Bunn, Sean Clancy, Kevin Melcher and Jim Ripley - have tallied over 26 innings pitched this season... Bagley, Ripley and Eric Rollins have at least 20 strikeouts, including 32 each by Bagley and Ripley... Rollins has been an excellent closer when needed, leading the staff in appearances (15), wins (two) and saves (three).
Soto Goes Down With Season-Ending Injury
Junior 3B Ty Soto is expected to be out for the reminder of the season after it was discovered that he fractured his left wrist while trying to score from third base in the first inning of Kansas State's 6-4 loss to Texas A&M on April 11.Soto, who did not start for the first time since in more than a year in Tuesday's loss to Washington, was the team's designated hitter in the last two games of the Texas A&M series... The extent of the injury was not known until Monday when an X-ray was taken.A 2002 first team All-Big 12 and All-Big 12 Tournament selection, Soto was one of the Wildcats' most consistent offensive weapons this season... He led the team in multiple-hit games (16), walks (23) and on-base percentage (.471), while he ranked second in batting average (.360), hits (45), home runs (six) and slugging percentage (.568)... Soto had started 75 consecutive games at either second, third or designated hitter for the Wildcats since March 15, 2002. In his two plus years, he has a career .343 average in 132 games played and 124 starts with 87 runs and 161 hits.
The Book on Texas Tech
A consensus NCAA Tournament team, Texas Tech enters the three-game series with a 23-16 overall record and 5-9 mark in Big 12 Conference play... The Red Raiders are currently in seventh place in the league standings, just one game ahead of eighth-place Kansas and 2.5 games below sixth-place Baylor... Tech is coming off a 13-11 loss at New Mexico on Tuesday, as the two teams combined for 33 hits... After starting the season with a 9-2 record, Texas Tech has split its last 28 games... The Raiders have won at least one game in each Big 12 series except Missouri where they lost both games against the Tigers.A solid offensive team, Texas Tech boasts a .313 batting average in 39 games with 294 runs (7.5 per game) scored on 427 hits (10.9 per game), including 108 extra-base hits... Four players are hitting over .300, led by the Big 12 batting leader Scooter Jordan, who boasts a .429 average... Junior IF Josh Haney paces the team in runs (35), hits (50), doubles (10), home runs (5), RBIs (36) and total bases (79) with a .352 average... Jordan is first in slugging percentage (.582), walks (28) and on-base percentage (.550).The pitching staff lists a 5.65 ERA in 342.2 innings pitched with 229 strikeouts and 140 walks... Friday's night starter Steve Gooch has a 4-3 record and 3.84 ERA in 11 appearances and 11 starters with a team-best three complete games and 35 strikeouts... Saturday starter Dusty Buck posts a 2-1 mark and 5.55 ERA in 12 appearances, while Sunday hurler Nathan Fouts lists a 3-3 record and 6.51 ERA.Texas Tech is coached by 17th-year head coach Larry Hays, who has guided the Red Raiders to seven NCAA Tournament appearances.
2002 Review: K-State wins 3 of 5 games
Kansas State and Texas Tech played each other more times than any other squad in the Big 12 in 2002, as the two met twice in the Big 12 Tournament in addition to their three-game in-season series... The Wildcats won three of the five contests, including eliminating the Red Raiders, 7-6, in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament...K-State won the series in Lubbock for the first time in school history by winning on Friday and Sunday... The two played a pair of extra-inning affairs in 2002 with the Wildcats winning a 15-inning marathon on Friday in Lubbock by a score of 7-5 before Tech took a 5-4 decision in 12 at the league tournament in Arlington, Texas... Three of the five games were decided by a run... Senior SS Brett Williams posted a team-best .478 average against Texas Tech in 2002, while senior OF Pat Maloney hit .417 with a team-best five runs scored and three RBIs... Senior 1B Tim Doty corked two home runs with four runs scored, three RBIs and three walks.
K-State-Texas Tech Connections
Kansas State has just two players on its roster from the state of Texas in reserve CF Brian Patty (Burkburnett) and LHP Jared Bunn (Austin)... The Wildcats have two other players with connections to the Lone Star State, as RHP Kevin Melcher spent his freshman year at TCU and RHP Ryan Ashley went to Texarkana Junior College in Texarkana, Texas... Patty and Tech RHP Corey Gerstner are both from Burkburnett, Texas... 3B Ty Soto and RHP Jared Brite went to high school with Tech OF Sean Alexander... LHP Sean Clancy and RHP Terry Montoya went to Lamar College with Tech IF Doug Beck.
Not Your Everyday Lineup
When you are suffering through one of the worst seasons in school history, you will try anything to change the momentum... Kansas State has only used the same lineup three times in 2003 with a different lineup in 31 of the team's 34 games... The same lineup was used in games two and three, games 12 and 14 and games 24 and 25... The Wildcats have not used the same lineup in back-to-back games since the Missouri series... The team has used three different leadoff hitters (Brad Anzman, Gabe Luttrell and Terry Blunt), while five players have hit second... The seven-spot has seen the most change with eight different players occupying the spot in at least one start, while the six and eight holes have seen seven players each... The most consistent spots in the lineup are three-hole and cleanup spot where senior OF Pat Maloney has hit third in 26 games and senior 1B Tim Doty has 32 starts at cleanup...Senior SS Brett Williams has seen the most change with starts at six different positions in the lineup... He has hit second (one), fifth (three), sixth (three), seventh (13), eighth (six) and ninth (five)... Blunt has started at five spots - leadoff (five), second (12), sixth (one), seventh (one) and ninth (three).
Williams Heating Up
Senior SS Brett Williams has been one of team's hottest hitters in last couple of weeks with hits in 13 of the last 14 games, including a team-best eight-game hitting streak that dates to the start of the OSU series on April 4... He is hitting .346 in the last 14 games with eight RBIs and seven runs scored... He has the team's best average during his eight-game hitting streak at .444 (12-for-27), while he is second in slugging (.630) and on-base percentage (.545)... Since moving to shortstop 11 games ago, Williams has the team's second-highest batting average at .350 (14-for-40) with a team-best five RBIs and six runs scored... He also paces the team in doubles (four) and total bases (21) in that span.
Scoring with Two Outs
Despite being down two outs in an inning, Kansas State has shown an impressive streak of scoring runs this year... Of the 225 runs scored, 100 or 44.4 percent of them, have been scored with two outs in an inning... In 27 of the 34 games this season, the team has scored at least one run in each game with two outs... During the team's Spring Break trip, the Wildcats scored 38 of their 65 runs (58.5 percent) with two outs in an inning, including a season-best 14 in the 21-2 romp over Rider... The team also scored 10 of its 17 runs against nationally-ranked Florida International with two outs... This is particularly telling in the last five wins for Kansas State, where nearly 65 percent of the Wildcats' runs (40 of 62) have come with two outs... This trend is nothing new for the Wildcats in the last two years... Of the 416 runs scored in 2002, 156 (37.5 percent) were scored with two outs in an inning... In the Big 12 Tournament, 14 of the 24 runs were scored down two outs.
Double Your Pleasure
After setting a new school-record for singles in a season in 2002, Kansas State has set its sights on the doubles mark in 2003, as the Wildcats have already totaled 71 two-baggers in 34 games... The team's 2.09 doubles per game average ranks third in the Big 12... The Wildcats have 14 players with at least one double this season, including eight with four or more.Senior C Ryan Baldwin ranks first in the Big 12 in doubles per game with a .45 average with a team-leading 14 on the season... He is just three doubles away from jumping into the school's top-10, while he is just nine away from tying the school-record of 23 set by Scott Poepard set in 1997.... Senior OF Pat Maloney, who has nine doubles in the last 22 games, ranks second on the team with 10, while senior SS Brett Williams extended his total to eight with one against UW... Seniors 1B Tim Doty and OF Gabe Luttrell are just out of the Top 10 with seven each.
Hitting Streaks
Kansas State has had four players register at least one hitting streak of more than 10 games in 2003... Junior 2B Ty Soto and senior SS Brett Williams each extended their hitting streaks from 2002 to 16 games this year, while senior OF Pat Maloney and senior 1B Tim Doty have hit safely in 13 and 11 games, respectively.The 16-game hitting streaks by Soto and Williams tied for the seventh-longest in school history, along with David Chadd (1988), Craig Wilson (1992), Heath Schesser (1997) and Josh Cavender (2001)... Williams entered the season with an 11-game hitting streak, while Soto had a nine-game streak.Maloney saw his 13-game hitting streak end in the first game against Nebraska with a 0-for-4 effort... The 13-game streak marked the fourth time that Maloney has posted a hitting streak of at least 10 games in his career... He registered the third-longest hitting streak in school history as a sophomore with a 20-game streak, while he had a 12-game and 10-game streak in 2002.
58 and Done
After a 0-for-4 performance on April 4 against nationally-ranked Oklahoma State, senior OF Pat Maloney saw his amazing streak of reaching base end at 58 games... Ironically, it marked the first time since the Cowboys did it on March 23, 2002 that Maloney was held off the base paths... However, Maloney responded by reaching base in the last two games of the series... Maloney had reached base in every game since the C.W. Post (the 25th game of 2002) on March 26, 2002 by either hit, walk, hit by pitch or fielder's choice... During this 58-game span, Maloney hit .375 (89-for-237) with 63 runs scored, 46 RBIs, 40 walks, 17 doubles, two triples and eight home runs... In fact, he reached base via a hit in 50 of the 58 contests... In all, he has reached base in 83 of the Wildcats' last 88 games, including 64 of the last 66 games... Even more impressive than the 58-game streak is the fact that Maloney has recorded a hit in nearly 81 percent of the games he has played at K-State with at least one in 144 of the 180 games he has played since debuting in 2000... So far in 2003, he has a hit in 27 of the 33 games he's played in.
Maloney Sees Consecutive Start Streak End
With his consecutive games reaching base streak now history, senior OF Pat Maloney has now seen two significant milestones end in 2003... He saw his first streak end on March 16 against St. Peter's in the Papa John's Challenge in Homestead, Fla ... For the first time since his redshirt freshman season in 2000, Maloney failed to start a game in either the outfield or at designated hitter against the Peacocks, snapping his streak of 153 consecutive starts... The non-start was just to give Maloney a rest according to head coach Mike Clark... Ironically enough, the streak started at the Homestead Challenge in Homestead, Fla., against Ohio State on March 24, 2000... Maloney's 169 career starts rank seventh on the K-State all-time chart, while his 176 games played is just one game from moving into the career Top-10.
Maloney Quickly Moving Up the Career Charts
Senior OF Pat Maloney ranks among the Kansas State career Top 10 in an amazing 15 offensive categories, while he has a chance to join two other lists as the season progresses.Here's how the fifth-year senior ranks among each of these career records going into the weekend. He needs two triples and one sacrifice hit to move into those respective career Top 10s.
Everybody's All-American
Senior 1B Tim Doty has come along way since entering Kansas State in the fall of 1998... The fifth-year senior is not only having one of his finest seasons on the field, but he is also continuing to excel off the field... The Oklahoma City, Okla., native, is looking to become the Wildcats' first three-time Academic All-District VII first team selection after earning the award in 2000 and 2002... An accounting/pre-law major with a 3.53 cumulative GPA, Doty has a chance to become K-State's second first team Academic All-American and the first since Jeff Ryan earned it in 1991.The only player to start in all 34 games, Doty currently leads the six offensive catgories, including batting average (.362), runs scored (35), hits (47), home runs (eight) and slugging percentage (.615).... He is also second in RBIs (30) and on-base percentage (.462)... His current .362 average is over 30 points higher than his junior mark of .330, while his eight home runs in 2003 match his career total of the last three years... Nearly 40 percent of his hit, doubles, run scored and RBI totals have come in 2003...He has at least one hit in 29 of the 34 games and has not gone back-to-back games without a hit.
Rollins Better Off Being The Closer
Sophomore RHP Eric Rollins has had a hand in half of Kansas State's 10 wins in 2003, as the Wildcats' new closer has been responsible for two wins and three saves this season... With the loss of all-conference selections Franco Pezely to graduation and Mitch Walter to injury, the coaching staff moved Rollins from occasional starter/set-up man to closer... However, his first start in more than a year did not go well, as he allowed eight runs on 10 hits in four innings against Texas A&M on April 13.The native of Ada, Okla., paces the team in appearances (15), wins (two) and saves (three) and is second in ERA (5.24)... He has 24 strikeouts to just six walks on the season... He has been even more impressive the last seven relief outings for the Wildcats, where he did not allowed a run in 10-1/3 innings of relief... In that span, he allowed just five hits with 11 strikeouts and just one walk... In his relief appearance, he pitched two scoreless innings against O-State, allowing just one hit with two strikeouts.
Recapping the Texas A&M Series
Kansas State was outscored 34-14 in the three-game series with Texas A&M last weekend... It marked the first time since 2000 that the Aggies swept the Wildcats... K-State managed a .318 batting average in the series, but stranded 34 runners... On the other hand, A&M hit .398 with 18 extra-base hits, including eight home runs... Junior 3B Ty Soto paced the offense with a .455 batting average, while seniors Brandon Taylor, Brett Williams and Ryan Baldwin each hit over .400 with a combined six RBIs.
What a Game!
Kansas State made history in a number of ways in its 18th-inning 8-7 loss to Troy State on March 2.
- The 18-inning affair lasted a school-record five hours and 22 minutes and finished at 1:02 a.m., shattering the previous school-record of four hours and 45 minutes set vs. Texas Tech on April 5, 2002.
- It broke the school record for the longest game by three innings, surpassing the 15-inning contest throw against Creighton at home on March 23, 1986 and 15-inning affair at Texas Tech on April 5, 2002.
- There were nearly 532 pitches thrown in the game. Kansas State threw 288 pitches, while Troy State tossed 244 on the evening. The Wildcats had two 100-pitch performances (Jim Ripley and Brett Bagley). The Trojans used five different pitchers.
- K-State set four (4) team school-record for at-bats (67), putouts (51), total chances (71) and innings pitched (18).
- After Troy State tied it in the bottom of the eighth inning, the teams matched each other run-for-run, scoring one each in the 11th inning and two each in the 16th inning before the Trojans outscored the Wildcats, 2-1, in the pivotal 18th inning.
Connors State North
In the Wildcats' 15-2 win over Creighton on Feb. 18, Kansas State had four players - 1B Zack Saunders, SS Marc Chabot, DH Ryan Baldwin and SP Jim Ripley - in its starting lineup from the same junior college, Connors State College in Warner, Okla. ... Baldwin is in his second year in the program, while the other three are in their first year after helping the Shabs to a 44-8 overall record and a No. 8 ranking in the final NJCAA poll in 2002... Chabot, Ripley and Saunders were named first team All-Region II for the Connors, including Chabot being named the region's Defensive Player of the Year... Chabot and Saunders combined for 81 runs scored on 86 hits with 78 RBIs, while Ripley ranked third in the NJCAA with 94 strikeouts en route to tallying a 9-2 mark in 12 appearances with two complete games.
Cape Crusaders
Two Wildcats - Pat Maloney and Ty Soto - played in the prestigious all-wood bat Cape Cod League during the summer of 2002... Soto played for the league champion Wareham (Mass.) Gatemen where he played alongside Baylor's Chris Durbin, Josh Ford, David Murphy and Trey Taylor and Texas' Tim Moss... Soto posted a .226 batting average for the Gateman in 34 games with eight runs scored on 24 hits and nine RBIs... He was third on the team with 15 walks... Maloney played for the Brewster (Mass.) Whitecaps where he played alongside San Diego State's Anthony Gwynn and Missouri's Justin James and Jayce Tingler... Maloney led the Whitecaps in RBIs (22), doubles (seven), triples (two) and home runs (three) with 15 runs scored on 31 hits.
Night baseball returns to Manhattan
For the first time in nearly five years, night baseball returns to Tointon Family Stadium as the Wildcats host 11 evening contests, including non-conference contests with Arkansas, Wichita State, SE Missouri State and Washington and Big 12 tilts with Missouri, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Kansas... The first night game was scheduled for Tuesday, March 4 against Wichita State at 6 p.m., but inclement weather delayed it until the Arkansas on March 7 ... The Shockers were the Wildcats' last opponent to play under the lights at Tointon Stadium on May 6, 1998... Completed in early December, the lighting system boosts 152 fixtures mounted on eight poles... Together, they provide 100 footcandles in the infield and 70 footcandles to the outfield, which meet Class I IEC standards for collegiate baseball venues and produce nearly three times the amount of illumination as the former field lighting.
K-State-Texas game to be televised on FOX
The Kansas State-Texas baseball game in Austin, Texas on Saturday, April 26, has been selected as one of five Big 12 Conference games to be televised this season by Fox Sports Net. The total schedule includes four regular season contests and the championship game of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Conference Tournament. Other games selected for telecast include Nebraska at Oklahoma (March 29), Missouri at Baylor (April 19) and Texas A&M at Texas (May 17). K-State has not appeared on the network since a 7-3 win over Missouri on April 28, 2001.
Tough Schedule Awaits 'Cats in 2003
Eleven NCAA Tournament teams, including defending national champion Texas and College World Series participant Nebraska, highlight the 2003 Kansas State baseball schedule... In addition to the Longhorns and Cornhuskers, the 59-game schedule features battles with NCAA Tournament foes Arkansas, Baylor, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Oklahoma, SE Missouri State, Washington and Wichita State... In all, the schedule includes 30 games against NCAA Regional teams, including 11 against Super Regional teams, and 18 contests with teams ranked in the final Baseball America Top 25 or the Collegiate Baseball Top 30 polls.
