Kansas State University
Northwestern State University
Mar 08, 2017 | Baseball
GAME RECAP
9
19
NR
NORTHWESTERN STATE
DEMONS
4-8 (0-0 Southland)
NR
K-STATE
WILDCATS
11-2 (0-0 Big 12)
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NSU | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 7 | 3 | |
| KSU | 2 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 3 | 19 | 19 | 2 |
- Time of Game: 3:14
- First Pitch: 3:01
- Temperature: 68 F
- Wind: SSW 18 mph
- Attendance: 1,447
- ? GAMECENTER
- ? HIGHLIGHTS
- ? BOX SCORE
MANHATTAN, Kan. - Seniors Steve Serratore and Jake Scudder combined for six hits, three home runs and 12 RBI in a 19-9 eight-inning victory over Northwestern State Wednesday at Tointon Family Stadium.
K-State (11-2) collects its seventh consecutive victory and matches its best start since the 2011 season.
"They were outstanding today," head coach Brad Hill said of Serratore and Scudder. "Just a great job by those two guys. Something we've talked about with them is stringing together at-bats and they did a really good job today."
It was the first multi-homer game of Serratore's career and his five runs driven is a new career high for the 6-foot outfielder. Scudder's seventh-inning grand slam was his fourth home run in the last five games and his seven RBI is also a career high.
In total, four Wildcats combined to hit five home runs in the ballgame – the most by a K-State team in a single game since March 14, 2009 against Butler. The 19 runs scored by Tuesday's season-best output of 16 runs.
Seven Cats recorded multiple-hit efforts in the game and freshmen Connor Rule and Cameron Thompson each picked up their first career home runs.
"Credit to a number of our guys who kept their focus," said Hill. "Guys had good days and guys strung together three or four really good at-bats. That's what we talk about is not giving away at-bats and good thing we didn't today and we stayed in the battle pretty good."
The Cats brought home a pair in the bottom of the first to take an early 2-0 lead after Scudder singled home shortstop Jake Wodtke and then a successful double steal by Scudder and Serratore.
Northwestern State (4-8) first baseman Austin Town hit a three-run shot in the top of the second inning that gave the Demons their first and only lead of the game.
In the home half, the Cats answered with five runs on RBI singles from Thompson and Wodtke before Serratore blasted his first round-tripper to straightaway center field.
Headed into the fifth inning, K-State held a seemingly comfortable 10-4 lead, until NSU led off the inning with a solo home run by left fielder Cade Jones that sparked a five-run inning for the Demons to pull within a run.
With the Demons within striking distance, the Wildcat bullpen clamped down and held the NSU offense to one hit and no runs over the final three and 2/3 innings, allowing the K-State offense to score nine unanswered runs and end the game in the bottom of the eighth inning due to the 10-run rule.
Senior reliever Nick Jones picked up his third victory on and moved to 3-0 on the season. Freshman righty Tyler Eckberg tossed two perfect innings of relief and struck out three Demon hitters.
Wildcat baserunners stole a season-high seven bases in the game, as Wodtke had a pair and Thompson tallied his team-leading seventh swiped base.
Thomson finished the game 4-for-6 with two RBI and four runs scored.
K-State will continue its 14-game home stand Friday against UC Riverside (8-4) of the Big West Conference. The first of three games is slated for a 3 p.m. first pitch and can be seen worldwide on K-StateHD.TV as Brian Smoller and Matt Walters will call the action. Fans can also listen to K-State baseball on KMAN 1350 AM, 93.3 FM and streaming free at k-statesports.com.
"UC Riverside is a good ball club; they can really pitch," added Hill. "Our offense will be challenged this weekend, no question. They have three or four arms that are plus-plus arms, so we will be challenged this weekend."
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
• K-State scored 19 runs on 19 hits and committed two errors and left seven runners on base. Northwestern State scored nine runs on seven hits and committed three errors while stranding nine baserunners.
• Thompson had multiple hits for the ninth time this season and second game with four base hits.
• Scudder has four home runs in the last five games.
• K-State went 9-for-16 (.563) with runners in scoring position while NSU was just .182 (2-for-11).
• In the two games vs. Northwestern State, the Cats scored 35 runs, hit eight home runs and batted .469 (38-for-81).
• Scudder's seven RBI is more than twice his previous career high (3) and is the most by a K-State hitter since Jason King in 2011.
• The Cats swiped a season-high seven bags. In the two-game series, K-State stole 11 bases after having just seven coming into the series.
NOTES
• K-State now leads the all-time series with Northwestern State, 2-1.
• K-State has won its last seven games and matched its best start to a season since 2011 when it started 11-2.
• K-State's seven-game winning streak is its longest since winning 12 in a row in 2014.
• The five consecutive games scoring 10 or more runs is the longest such streak since 2000, when the Cats scored in double-digits in seven straight games.
• With two hits on Wednesday, Quintin Crandall extended his career-long on-base streak to 21 games.
• Scudder's grand slam is the second by a Wildcat this season. Prior to this season, K-State had not had hit a grand slam since 2013.
• K-State's five home runs in the game were the most in a game since March 14, 2009 vs. Butler. In 2015, the Cats had 10 home runs as a team all season and are 10 away from matching their 2016 total.
• K-State matched its season high in hits (19) and set a new season best in runs (19) after having set those marks in Tuesday's game with NSU.
• Head coach Brad Hill now has 427 career victories as the Wildcat skipper. He needs just nine more to become the winningest all-time coach in K-State history.
