Wildcats Slam Terriers, 14-1, Saturday
Mar 05, 2005 | Baseball
Manhattan - Five Kansas State pitchers combined to give up just one unearned run on three hits and the Wildcat offense hit double figures in both runs and hits as K-State defeated St. Francis, 14-1, Saturday afternoon at Tointon Stadium. The win moved Kansas State to 6-5 on the season, while St. Francis fell to 0-2.
K-State starter Chase Mitchell (2-0) kept the Terrier bats silent through five innings as the junior left the game after the fifth without surrendering a hit. Mitchell struck out six and walked four in 5.0 innings. Freshman Brad Hutt pitched the sixth and freshman Daniel Edwards gave up the first hit of the day, a bloop single to left to open the seventh inning. BJ Kissel and Bryan Peterson each gave up one hit over the final two innings to finish out the victory.
St. Francis starter Paul Lepore took the loss after giving up eight runs on eight hits in 5.0 innings.
Offensively, the Wildcats jumped out to an 8-0 lead after three innings after scoring two runs in the first, five in the second and one in the third. Terry Blunt led off the first with a single to left and then stole second. Josh Dent then walked and both runners moved into scoring position after a Jared Goedert sacrifice bunt. After a wild pitch plated Blunt, Barrett Rice drove in Dent with a single to left for a 2-0 lead.
In the second, David Baker tripled past a diving centerfielder to score Matt Marasco, who had led off the inning with a walk. Brett Scot then followed with sacrifice fly to right and later in the inning, Jared Goedert delivered the big blow, a three-run homer to left, to give the Wildcats a 7-0 lead.
After K-State added single runs in the third and the sixth, the Wildcats erupted for five more in the seventh to put the game out of reach. After an Eric Eymann single plated another run, Steve Murphy delivered a grand slam over the wall in right to up the Wildcat lead to 14-0.
St. Francis spoiled the shutout bid by scoring an unearned run in the eighth after an error and a double plated the Terrier’s first run.
Blunt, Murphy, Rice, Eymann and Baker each collected two hits for the Wildcats, while Murphy drove in four runs thanks to a grand slam and Goedert three with his three-run bomb.
Kansas State will look for a series sweep of St. Francis Sunday at Tointon Stadium. First pitch is set for 11 a.m. Junior Adam Cowart (2-0) is expected to get the start on the mound for the Wildcats.
KSU
