Cats’ Winning Streak Stopped Friday vs. St. John’s

GAME RECAP

9

FINAL

2

NR
ST. JOHN'S
RED STORM
5-0 (0-0 Big East)

NR
K-STATE
WILDCATS
4-2 (0-0 Big 12)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	R	H	E
SJU	0	1	0	0	3	0	2	3	0	9	11	2
KST	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	8	3

W: Magee (2-0) L: Heinen (1-1)

Time of Game: 2:45
First Pitch: 2:02 ET
Temperature: 76 F
Wind: E 1
Attendance: 216

? GAMECENTER
? BOX SCORE

LEXINGTON, S.C. – The Kansas State baseball team saw its four-game winning streak come to an end Friday with a 9-2 loss to St. John’s at Lexington County Stadium.

K-State (4-2) got all of its scoring in the top of the first inning after freshman outfielder Cameron Thompson and senior shortstop Jake Wodtke led off the game with back-to-back singles. Thompson would later score on an error and Quintin Crandall singled home Steve Serratore with two outs.

After the first inning, St. John’s (5-0) starting pitcher Kevin Magee faced the minimum number of hitters over the next five innings and allowed only two baserunners who were later wiped out by double plays.

Magee struck out six Kansas State batters over a career-best 6 1/3 innings and surrendered four hits and just one earned run.

“Give their lefty (Kevin) Magee credit,” said head coach Brad Hill. “After that first inning he was lights out. He really gave our guys trouble and we just couldn’t get anything going against him. And St. John’s has a heck of an offense, too, so you put the two things together and it just wasn’t our day.”

With Magee frustrating the Wildcat bats, the potent SJU offense went to work, scoring a run in the second and three more in the fifth to take a 4-2 lead.

K-State starter Brogan Heinen, in his second start of the season, allowed only one hit through the first four innings but surrendered back-to-back doubles to the Red Storm’s bottom two hitters, Jamie Galazin and Mike Antico, respectively. After two more singles in the inning, St. John’s held a two-run lead.

Heinen finished five innings of work and struck out four while allowing five hits and three walks and was credited with his first career loss.

St. John’s tacked on a pair of runs in the seventh and three more in the eighth, behind a two-run home run off the bat of shortstop Jesse Berardi, that pushed its lead to 9-2 and kept the Red Storm unbeaten in 2017.

“We just forget it and move on to tomorrow,” Hill added. “That’s the beauty of baseball, you got another one tomorrow so you just flush it and move on and try to be better tomorrow.”

Thompson finished the game 3-for-4 and was the only Wildcat batter to record multiple hits.

Crandall extended his on-base streak to 13 games, dating back to last season, and tallied the only RBI on the day for K-State.

K-State continues play in Lexington, South Carolina, against Liberty Saturday and Sunday at Lexington County Stadium. Saturday’s first pitch is slated for 1 p.m. CT while the weekend finale is scheduled for 10 a.m. Fans can listen to Mitch Fortner (play-by-play) and Christopher Brown (analyst) call Saturday’s action free online at k-statesports.com.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• K-State scored two runs on eight hits and committed a season-high three errors. St. John’s scored nine runs on 11 hits and committed two errors.

• K-State had only five at-bats with runners in scoring position (1-for-5) while St. John’s was 5-for-12 (.417) with runners in scoring position.

• The Wildcats hit .300 (3-for-10) with two outs.

• Each team got its leadoff hitter on base three of nine innings.

• Matt Nerz picked up his first hit of the season coming in as a pinch hitter in the ninth inning.

• Trent McMaster collected his second pinch-hit single of the season.

• St. John’s stranded eight runners and K-State left five runners on base.

• K-State’s six strikeouts as a staff is a season low.

NOTES

• K-State leads the all-time series with St. John’s, 2-1.

• Jake Biller and Tristan Peterson each made their Wildcat debut in pinch-hitting roles and Biller earned his first career base hit.

• Quintin Crandall extended his on-base streak to 13 games, dating back to last season and has hit safely in each game of 2017.

Schedule