Ford Stellar in K-State’s 10-3 Win Sunday at KU
May 14, 2017 | Baseball
GAME RECAP
10
3
NR
K-STATE
WILDCATS
27-24 (6-15 Big 12)
NR
KANSAS
JAYHAWKS
29-23 (11-10 Big 12)
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| KSU | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 10 | 15 | 1 |
| KU | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 0 |
- Time of Game: 3:07
- First Pitch: 2:08
- Temperature: 81 F
- Wind: 16 mph in RF
- Attendance: 2,197
- ? GAMECENTER
- ? BOX SCORE
LAWRENCE, Kan. - Kansas State starter Kasey Ford tossed seven scoreless innings while the K-State offense came alive in a 10-3 victory over Kansas in the series finale of the Sunflower Showdown Sunday at Hoglund Ballpark.
Ford (3-1) held KU (29-23, 11-10 Big 12) to four hits over his seven shutout frames, striking out three without allowing a walk in picking up his third victory of the season. The 6-foot-6 freshman righty gave up just one extra-base hit in his longest outing of the season, ending the Jayhawks’ 10-game winning streak and snapping K-State’s three-game skid.
“Obviously, Kasey Ford was huge for us,” said head coach Brad Hill. “Zero walks today, great job by him. Each week gets a little bit better and finished innings, that’s what we’ve been lacking. That was big for us.”
“Every time he put a zero up on the board, and that just kills their moral over there,” said catcher Josh Rolette. “Him pitching the way he did helped us swing the bats.”
K-State (27-24, 6-15 Big 12) pounded out 15 hits as it scored in seven different innings, including each of the first three and final three innings. Four Wildcats posted multi-hit games, three of which had three hits on the day.
Senior Jake Wodtke drove in a game-high three runs while Rolette and Josh Ethier each had a pair of RBI. In total, six Wildcats drove in at least one run in the game.
The victory kept K-State in the hunt for the final spot in the Big 12 Championship in two weeks, as the Cats sit a half game behind Oklahoma State for eighth in the conference standings headed into the final weekend of the season.
“We’ve got to keep encouraging and coaching,” Hill added. “We were able to get it done and we’re still playing for something. We’ve got an opportunity, some of it is out of our control but we’ve got to get wins and if we get wins, we can put the pressure on.”
K-State scored first for the third straight game in the series and in the first inning for the second straight game. Cameron Thompson doubled to left to follow Wodtke’s single to put two in scoring position for cleanup hitter Jake Scudder, who lifted a sacrifice fly to left field and give the Cats a 1-0 lead after the first half inning. Scudder leads the Big 12 with 57 runs batted in on the season.
A second sacrifice fly, this time from Will Brennan with the bases loaded, added a run to the Wildcats’ lead. In the inning, KU starter Ryan Zeferjahn sandwiched a walk around two hit batters to load the bases. Later, Wodtke got his second single in as many innings to reload the bases but the Cats would eventually strand all three baserunners.
The Cats opened up a five-run lead behind a three-run third inning. Rolette laced a two-run double to right-center field to score Quintin Crandall and Steve Serratore. Rolette would later score off Ethier’s single up the middle, ending the day for Zeferjahn.
Zeferjahn (4-4) took the loss after surrendering five earned runs on five hits over 2 1/3 innings, walking two and no strikeouts.
In the fifth inning, Serratore and Rolette recorded their second hits of the game. Serratore later scored when Ethier knocked his second RBI single of the game and pushed K-State’s lead to 6-0 at the halfway mark.
K-State took advantage of three two-out walks handed out by KU in the seventh. Wodtke delivered his third hit of the game, bringing home Hanz Harker and Ethier to push the Cats lead to 8-0 at the stretch. Wodtke finished the day going 3-for-5 with three RBI.
The Cats tacked on a run in the top of the eighth inning. Scudder led off with a single and later scored after a double by Serratore and an RBI groundout by Crandall. K-State’s final run came in the ninth via a sacrifice fly from Wodtke to score Ethier.
Ethier was a perfect 3-for-3 in the game with two runs scored while Serratore finished 3-for-5 and scored twice.
KU avoided a shutout with three runs on four hits in the bottom of the eighth off Wildcat reliever Colton Kalmus.
Senior lefty Jordan Floyd tossed a scoreless ninth inning to complete K-State’s 27th victory, eclipsing last season’s total.
K-State heads to Wichita for the season’s second meeting with in-state rival Wichita State Tuesday First pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m., with the game streaming live on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app. Fans can also listen on KMAN 1350 AM, 93.3 FM and streaming free at k-statesports.com.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
• K-State scored 10 runs on 15 hits and committed one error and left 12 runners on base. Kansas scored three runs on eight hits with no errors and stranded eight baserunners.
• Four Wildcats had multi-hit games – Wodtke, Serratore, Rolette and Ethier.
• Wodtke drove in a game-high three runs while Ethier and Rolette each had a pair of RBI.
• Ford had his longest outing of the season, going seven innings without allowing a run.
• Ford held KU to 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position.
• K-State hit .375 (.9-for-24) with runners on base and went 5-for-15 (.333) with runners in scoring position.
• KU went 2-for-9 (.222) with runners in scoring position in the game.
• K-State got its leadoff man aboard in five of nine innings while KU never got its leadoff hitter on base in the game.
NOTES
• K-State is now 178-169-1 all-time against Kansas and 38-24 in Big 12 play.
• The 178 wins are the most against any single opponent in K-State program history.
• KU claims its first series vs. K-State since 2014.
• Scudder’s 57 RBI are the most by a Cat since Carter Jurica’s 59 in 2011.
• Two Wildcats have on-base streaks of 14 games or more – Brennan (19) and Crandall (14).
