Wildcats Head to Wichita for Tuesday-Night Showdown
May 15, 2017 | Baseball
BASEBALL PREVIEW
MAY 15, 2017
Eck Stadium
Wichita, KS
SP: TBA
SP: TBA
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MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kansas State continues its season-ending seven-game road trip as it heads to Wichita for a Tuesday-night game with Wichita State at Eck Stadium.
First pitch for the Wildcats (27-24) and Shockers (25-26) was moved up to 5 p.m., due to expected inclement weather, which was originally slated for 6 p.m.
Tuesday’s game will stream live on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app. Fans can also listen to the action between the Sunflower Showdown on local radio at KMAN 1350 and 93.3 FM, and streaming free at k-statesports.com.
A LOOK AT K-STATE
Kansas State (27-24, 6-15 Big 12) dropped two of three games to rival Kansas over the weekend in Lawrence ... K-State finished its home campaign with a 19-13 home record, its most home victories since 2014 (27) ... K-State dropped the first two games of the Sunflower Showdown before salvaging the series finale on Sunday, 10-3 ... Behind Kasey Ford’s seven shutout innings, the Wildcat offense pounded out 10 runs on 15 hits and scored at least one run in seven innings ... K-State held early leads in games one and two before dropping two tightly contested games, 5-4 and 6-4, respectively ... The Cats sit a half game behind Oklahoma State for eighth place in the Big 12 standings and the final spot in the Big 12’s postseason tournament.
A LOOK AT WICHITA STATE
Wichita State (25-26, 9-9 Missouri Valley) is 146th in the May 15 NCAA RPI ... The Shockers are 1-12 against the top-50 and 4-18 against the top-100 ... Trey Vickers is currently on a career-best seven-game hitting streak ... Zach Lewis is the Valley Pitcher of the Week ... He is currently on a scoreless innings streak of 21.1 ... At home this season, Greyson Jenista is hitting .378, Willie Schwanke is hitting .365, Jordan Boyer is hitting .361, Trey Vickers is hitting .343, Noah Croft is hitting .313, Alec Bohm is hitting .298, Alex Jackson is hitting .274 and Travis Young is hitting .263 ... WSU is 6-4 in the last 10 games ... In those 10 games, WSU is hitting .316 with a 5.13 ERA and .967 fielding percentage ... In the last 10 games, Trey Vickers is hitting .463, Alec Bohm is hitting .383, Greyson Jenista is hitting .362, Jordan Boyer is hitting .357, Willie Schwanke is hitting .348 and Travis Young is hitting .292.
A LOOK AT THE SERIES
K-State trails the all-time series with WSU, 52-39, and is 15-32 on on the road ... K-State claimed a 5-4 victory on May 2 at Tointon Family Stadium ... The Cats have won nine of the last 10 overall in the series with the Shockers ... In the season’s first meeting, Jared Marolf picked up the victory and Cameron Thompson and Jake Scudder each collected a pair of base hits.
MAKING HISTORY
K-State head coach Brad Hill collected career victory No. 436 Saturday, April 22 vs. West Virginia (8-4) ... Hill surpassed longtime K-State head coach Mike Clark’s program record of 435 wins ... Clark was the program’s longest tenured head coach from 1987-2003 (17 seasons) ... Hill is in his 14th season at the helm of the Wildcats ... Senior reliever Jordan Floyd appeared in his 87th career game on Friday, April 28 vs. ACU, setting the program record for most career appearances ... Will Brennan (.360) is on pace to break K-State’s freshman hitting record which was set in 1973 (.346) ... K-State’s team batting average against of .256 is on pace to be the team’s best since 1976.
SCUDD MISSILE
Jake Scudder is the Big 12 leader with 13 homers, 57 runs batted in and a .554 slugging percentage this season ... No Wildcat has ever finished a season as the Big 12 leader in homers, RBI or slugging ... The 13 bombs are a new career high for Scudder after hitting seven last season ... The 13 homers are the most by a K-State hitter in a single season since 2010 when Carter Jurica hit 13 ... The senior first baseman leads the teams in homers for the second straight season after posting seven in 2016; no Wildcat has led the team in home runs in consecutive seasons since Pat Maloney did it from 2001-03.
BIG COUNTRY
Freshman RHP Kasey Ford had his best outing of the season in the series finale at KU Sunday ... Ford tossed seven scoreless innings and sprinkled four base hits without allowing a walk ... The performance by the 6-foot-6 Arkansas native earned him Big 12 Pitcher of the Week, becoming the first freshman be earn the distinction in program history ... He is the fifth Wildcat to earn a conference weekly honor, joining Will Brennan (twice), Jake Scudder and Parker Rigler.
TWO-HEADED MONSTER
K-State’s Justin Heskett and Parker Rigler made their 13th consecutive weekend starts last weekend (every weekend of season) ... Both Heskett and Rigler lead the team with 13 starts and rank first and second in innings pitched and strikeouts and are responsible for 10 of the team’s combined 13 quality starts (6 IP, 3 ER or fewer).
BOMBS AWAY
So far in 2017, K-State has hit 47 home runs (eclipsing 2016’s total of 30) in 51 games and had 20 through its first 13 games ... The 47 dingers rank second in the Big 12 are the most by a K-State team since 2009 when it posted 58 ... K-State’s 47 home runs in 51 games is its fastest rate since 1999 ... The Cats have hit four bombs in a single game four and have had one five-homer game ... Five times a Wildcat has posted a multi-homer game and the team has combined to hit three grand slams ... In 2016, K-State had just one multi-homer game (Tyler Wolfe) ... Before this season, K-State had not had a grand slam since 2013 ... Quintin Crandall and Grant Reuben have gone back-to-back twice this season and as a team, has done so three times ... Before this year, K-State had not had back-to-back homers since 2012.
IMPACT FRESHMAN
Freshman Will Brennan has taken over the title of K-State’s best hitter ... Brennan has catapulted himself into second on the Big 12 hitting list with his .360 average ... Brennan is challenging the freshman batting average record of .346 set in 1973 (Steve Anson) ... The Stilwell, Kansas, native also second in the Big 12 in OBP (.463) ... The left-handed outfielder also remains the toughest hitter to strikeout in the conference, with one strikeout every 14.9 at-bats ... Brennan also leads the team with a .452 (19-for-42) average with runners in scoring position.
BY THE NUMBERS
K-State is 10-5 in one-run games this season (3-10 in 2016) ... K-State has three wins when trailing or tied after eight innings this season after going 0-26 in the same situations last season ... K-State has a +28 run differential this season (307-279) ... This season, K-State is hitting .298 with runners in scoring ... K-State is 26-13 this season when scoring at least three runs ... The Cats are 21-10 when scoring first and 15-7 when scoring in the first inning ... When hitting a home run, K-State is 15-8 ... The Wildcats are 20-1 when leading after six innings, suffering its first lost Saturday at KU ... Five times this season K-State has been shut out while hutting out opponents four times.
