Kansas State University Athletics
Saturday, February 24
Norfolk, Va.
1 p.m.
Kansas State University
4-3
11
at
5
Old Dominion
2-4
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Kansas State
0
1
4
2
3
0
0
1
0
11
11
1
Old Dominion
0
0
0
0
0
3
2
0
0
5
12
0
Early Offense Carries Cats to Fourth Straight Win
Feb 24, 2018 | Baseball
NORFOLK, Va. – For the second straight game, K-State scored double-digit runs and received a quality start from its starting pitcher, as the Wildcats defeated Old Dominion Saturday, 11-5, at the Bud Metheny Baseball Complex.
Nine K-State (4-3) batters registered a base hit in the game while eight drove in at least one run, led by junior Drew Mount's three RBI, as the Cats scored 10 runs in the first five innings. K-State picked up its fourth straight victory and second in the series with Old Dominion (2-4).
Starting pitcher Gabe Littlejim (1-1) collected his first win of his K-State career, throwing six innings without yielding a walk with four strikeouts. The 6-foot-3 junior righty retired 12 straight hitters before allowing three earned runs in the sixth with K-State holding a 10-0 lead.
Despite being out-hit by ODU, 12-11, the Cats took advantage of 10 walks issued by five Monarch pitchers, including five from starting pitcher Hunter Gregory. K-State tagged Gregory for seven earned runs off six hits in 3 2/3 innings.
Mount homered for the third time in his last four games and has driven home multiple runs in four straight outings. The junior centerfielder also walked three times and scored three times.
K-State opened a five-run lead courtesy of a four-run third that was sparked by Jake Biller's RBI double that brought home Will Brennan, who led off the inning with a walk to extend his on-base streak to 30 games. Cameron Thompson followed Biller with a triple to right-center. Thompson scored on Hanz Harker's infield single and Trent McMaster contributed a sacrifice fly as all nine Wildcat hitters came to the plate in the inning.
McMaster, along with Brennan, each picked up two hits to lead the Cats.
Rainer Ausmus brought home the game's first run in the second inning, as he drove a ball to the gap in right-center field that brought home Mount who was standing on first base after a leadoff walk.
Mount hit his home run in the fourth inning, a two-out, two-run shot that ended Gregory's day.
Back-to-back bases-loaded walks from Biller and Mount in the fifth inning plated two more for K-State that extended the lead to 10 runs. Jordan Maxson picked up his first career RBI earlier in the inning with an RBI groundout.
Freshman John Sorensen also collected his first hit and run batted in as a Wildcat with his pinch-hit double in the eighth inning that brought around McMaster.
Five unanswered runs in the sixth and seventh innings cut the Wildcats' lead in half after seven innings. Four extra-base hits in the innings, off both Littlejim and Brennan, helped ODU back into the ballgame. Culver Lamb tripled in the sixth and doubled in the seventh while driving in two.
Brennan made his season debut on the mound in relief of Littlejim, throwing one inning while allowing four hits, two earned runs with a strikeout.
Sophomore Tyler Eckberg finished the game with two scoreless innings. He issued the only K-State walk in the game and struck out a pair.
The three K-State arms totaled seven strikeouts against one walk while five Monarch pitchers walked 10 while punching out six Cats.
K-State wraps up its three-game set in Norfolk, Virginia, on Sunday with an 11 a.m. CT start time. Senior right-hander Justin Heskett will make his second start of the season. Fans can listen to the game live on KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) and streaming free online at k-statesports.com.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Nine K-State (4-3) batters registered a base hit in the game while eight drove in at least one run, led by junior Drew Mount's three RBI, as the Cats scored 10 runs in the first five innings. K-State picked up its fourth straight victory and second in the series with Old Dominion (2-4).
Starting pitcher Gabe Littlejim (1-1) collected his first win of his K-State career, throwing six innings without yielding a walk with four strikeouts. The 6-foot-3 junior righty retired 12 straight hitters before allowing three earned runs in the sixth with K-State holding a 10-0 lead.
Despite being out-hit by ODU, 12-11, the Cats took advantage of 10 walks issued by five Monarch pitchers, including five from starting pitcher Hunter Gregory. K-State tagged Gregory for seven earned runs off six hits in 3 2/3 innings.
Mount homered for the third time in his last four games and has driven home multiple runs in four straight outings. The junior centerfielder also walked three times and scored three times.
K-State opened a five-run lead courtesy of a four-run third that was sparked by Jake Biller's RBI double that brought home Will Brennan, who led off the inning with a walk to extend his on-base streak to 30 games. Cameron Thompson followed Biller with a triple to right-center. Thompson scored on Hanz Harker's infield single and Trent McMaster contributed a sacrifice fly as all nine Wildcat hitters came to the plate in the inning.
McMaster, along with Brennan, each picked up two hits to lead the Cats.
Rainer Ausmus brought home the game's first run in the second inning, as he drove a ball to the gap in right-center field that brought home Mount who was standing on first base after a leadoff walk.
Mount hit his home run in the fourth inning, a two-out, two-run shot that ended Gregory's day.
Back-to-back bases-loaded walks from Biller and Mount in the fifth inning plated two more for K-State that extended the lead to 10 runs. Jordan Maxson picked up his first career RBI earlier in the inning with an RBI groundout.
Freshman John Sorensen also collected his first hit and run batted in as a Wildcat with his pinch-hit double in the eighth inning that brought around McMaster.
Five unanswered runs in the sixth and seventh innings cut the Wildcats' lead in half after seven innings. Four extra-base hits in the innings, off both Littlejim and Brennan, helped ODU back into the ballgame. Culver Lamb tripled in the sixth and doubled in the seventh while driving in two.
Brennan made his season debut on the mound in relief of Littlejim, throwing one inning while allowing four hits, two earned runs with a strikeout.
Sophomore Tyler Eckberg finished the game with two scoreless innings. He issued the only K-State walk in the game and struck out a pair.
The three K-State arms totaled seven strikeouts against one walk while five Monarch pitchers walked 10 while punching out six Cats.
K-State wraps up its three-game set in Norfolk, Virginia, on Sunday with an 11 a.m. CT start time. Senior right-hander Justin Heskett will make his second start of the season. Fans can listen to the game live on KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) and streaming free online at k-statesports.com.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- K-State equaled its season with 11 runs on 11 hits with one error and 10 runners left on base. Old Dominion scored five runs on 12 hits without an error and stranded eight baserunners.
- Brennan extended his career-best on-base streak to 30 games, dating back to last season, and has hit safely in all seven games this season.
- Brennan and McMaster each registered a multi-hit game.
- Nine different Wildcats had a base hit while eight players recorded an RBI.
- Mount homered for the third time in four games and drove in multiple runs for the fourth straight game. He has 10 RBI in the four-game stretch.
- K-State drew a season-high 10 walks.
- The Wildcats were 8-for-23 (.348) with runners on base and got the leadoff man on in five innings.
- Littlejim retired 12 straight Monarch hitters, spanning from the first to fifth innings. He has not issued a walk while striking out eight over two starts.
- Eckberg now has 4 2/3 scoreless inning of relief this season.
- K-State has won the first two games of the series, the first meetings between the teams all-time.
- The win was K-State's fourth straight after beginning the season 0-3.
- The Wildcats have recorded double-digit hits in four of seven games this season
- K-State is now 20-20 against teams from Conference-USA.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Littlejim, Gabe (1-1)
L: Hunter Gregory (0-1)
Batting:
2B: Biller, Jake 1 ; Ausmus, Rainer 1 ; Sorensen, John 1
3B: Thompson, Cameron 1
HR: Mount, Drew 1
RBI: Biller, Jake 2 ; Thompson, Cameron 1 ; Mount, Drew 3 ; Ausmus, Rainer 1 ; Harker, Hanz 1 ; McMaster, Trent 1 ; Maxson, Jordan 1 ; Sorensen, John 1
SH: McMaster, Trent 1
SF: McMaster, Trent 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Brennan, Will 2 ; Biller, Jake 1 ; Thompson, Cameron 2 ; Mount, Drew 3 ; Harker, Hanz 1 ; McMaster, Trent 2
SB: Brennan, Will 1 ; Mount, Drew 1
HBP: McMaster, Trent 1
PO: Brennan, Will 1
Batting:
2B: Vinnie Pasquantino 1 ; Culver Lamb 1 ; Brian Morley 1
3B: Culver Lamb 1
RBI: Vinnie Pasquantino 1 ; Culver Lamb 2 ; Brian Morley 1 ; DJ Lardge 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Vinnie Pasquantino 2 ; Culver Lamb 1 ; Brian Morley 1 ; Bryce Windham 1
SB: DJ Lardge 1
PO: Kyle Battle 1
Game Leaders
dh/p
AB
4
R
2
H
2
RBI
0
AB
2
R
2
H
2
RBI
1
AB
5
R
1
H
1
RBI
2
AB
5
R
2
H
1
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
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