Kansas State University Athletics
Sunday, March 4
Manhattan, Kan.
12 p.m.
Kansas State University
7-4
5
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La Salle
4-7
1
2
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4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
La Salle
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
0
1
10
0
Kansas State
1
0
1
1
0
0
0
2
X
5
10
3
Heskett Hurls K-State to Sweep of La Salle
Mar 04, 2018 | Baseball
MANHATTAN, Kan. – K-State starting pitcher Justin Heskett turned in 7 2/3 innings without allowing an earned run and freshman Jordan Maxson added a two-run home run as the Wildcats completed a three-game sweep of La Salle Sunday at Tointon Family Stadium, 5-1.
Heskett (1-1) recorded his first win of the season after scattering nine hits – just one for extra bases – while striking out four and yielding two walks. The senior right-hander's career-long outing comes on the heels of the shortest start of his career last Sunday at Old Dominion (2 2/3 innings, seven earned runs).
"I'm happy for [Justin] and proud of him," said head coach Brad Hill. "Obviously, last week was rough and we got a great bounce-back performance out of him. He got stronger as the game went and did a really nice job."
"I felt good, especially coming off last week which was probably the worst start of my life," Heskett said. "It felt good to get back out there and get back into my rhythm and be me out there, just compete and have fun."
Maxson's homer, the first of his career, came in the eighth inning after La Salle (4-7) scored an unearned run in the top half of the inning that trimmed K-State's (7-4) lead to 3-1.
The Cats put across single runs in the first, third and fourth innings in support of Heskett's start.
Leadoff man Will Brennan singled in the first and came home after Jake Biller followed with a double off the left field wall to put K-State on the board early.
Brennan finished 3-for-5 while Biller would add a triple for a multi-hit game. Maxson and catcher TK McWhertor each went 2-for-4 on the day.
Brennan extended his career-best on-base streak to 34 games, going back to last year, and has hit safely in all 11 games to begin the season.
Junior Drew Mount's sacrifice fly brought home Biller in the third and Brennan's RBI single in the fourth scored Maxson to help the Cats to a 3-0 lead through four innings off La Salle starter Colin Kennedy.
Kennedy struck out 10 hitters over his five innings of work, allowing three earned runs on six hits.
The Explorers' second and third innings each ended with runners being gunned down at the plate. Kyle Barfield threw out La Salle center fielder Brian Dudeck who was attempting to tag up and score and Mount, playing center field, got Tommy Toal trying to score from second.
"Those guys are good out there, we had a couple double plays and it's nice to get two birds stoned at once," added Heskett of his team's defense. "We had a lot of fun out there, it's just a good time whenever guys are flying around the yard making plays. It was nice to have them behind me today."
K-State turned a total of three double plays in the game.
Freshman reliever Jaxon Passino took over for Heskett in the eighth inning and completed a four-out save, the first of his career. The right-hander struck out one and surrendered a single base hit.
K-State will welcome Incarnate Word (8-5) to Tointon Family Stadium for a two-game set beginning Tuesday, March 6 at 3 p.m. Both games can be seen on ESPN3 and the ESPN app. Fans can also listen live on KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM).
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Heskett (1-1) recorded his first win of the season after scattering nine hits – just one for extra bases – while striking out four and yielding two walks. The senior right-hander's career-long outing comes on the heels of the shortest start of his career last Sunday at Old Dominion (2 2/3 innings, seven earned runs).
"I'm happy for [Justin] and proud of him," said head coach Brad Hill. "Obviously, last week was rough and we got a great bounce-back performance out of him. He got stronger as the game went and did a really nice job."
"I felt good, especially coming off last week which was probably the worst start of my life," Heskett said. "It felt good to get back out there and get back into my rhythm and be me out there, just compete and have fun."
Maxson's homer, the first of his career, came in the eighth inning after La Salle (4-7) scored an unearned run in the top half of the inning that trimmed K-State's (7-4) lead to 3-1.
The Cats put across single runs in the first, third and fourth innings in support of Heskett's start.
Leadoff man Will Brennan singled in the first and came home after Jake Biller followed with a double off the left field wall to put K-State on the board early.
Brennan finished 3-for-5 while Biller would add a triple for a multi-hit game. Maxson and catcher TK McWhertor each went 2-for-4 on the day.
Brennan extended his career-best on-base streak to 34 games, going back to last year, and has hit safely in all 11 games to begin the season.
Junior Drew Mount's sacrifice fly brought home Biller in the third and Brennan's RBI single in the fourth scored Maxson to help the Cats to a 3-0 lead through four innings off La Salle starter Colin Kennedy.
Kennedy struck out 10 hitters over his five innings of work, allowing three earned runs on six hits.
The Explorers' second and third innings each ended with runners being gunned down at the plate. Kyle Barfield threw out La Salle center fielder Brian Dudeck who was attempting to tag up and score and Mount, playing center field, got Tommy Toal trying to score from second.
"Those guys are good out there, we had a couple double plays and it's nice to get two birds stoned at once," added Heskett of his team's defense. "We had a lot of fun out there, it's just a good time whenever guys are flying around the yard making plays. It was nice to have them behind me today."
K-State turned a total of three double plays in the game.
Freshman reliever Jaxon Passino took over for Heskett in the eighth inning and completed a four-out save, the first of his career. The right-hander struck out one and surrendered a single base hit.
K-State will welcome Incarnate Word (8-5) to Tointon Family Stadium for a two-game set beginning Tuesday, March 6 at 3 p.m. Both games can be seen on ESPN3 and the ESPN app. Fans can also listen live on KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM).
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- K-State scored five runs on 10 hits and committed three errors and left eight runners on base. La Salle scored one run on 10 hits with no errors and stranded eight baserunners.
- Brennan extended his career-best on-base streak to 34 games, dating back to last season, and has hit safely in all 11 games this season.
- Brennan had a game-high three hits and was one of four Wildcats with multi-hit games.
- Heskett's 7 2/3 innings were a career long and the fourth time in his fourth-career start in which he did not allow an earned run.
- Maxson hit his first career home run in the eighth inning.
- In the series, Mount went 6-for-11 (.545) with five extra-base hits (double, three triples and a home run) for a 1.455 slugging percentage.
- K-State stole eight bases in the game and swiped a total of 17 in the three-game series.
- The Cats had six triples in the series and totaled 20 extra-base hits in three games.
- K-State hitters struck out 14 times and drew five walks.
- K-State swept the series with La Salle, 3-0, in the team's first-ever series.
- The Cats' four triples Friday was one shy of matching the program's single-game record set in 1981 vs Benedictine.
- The Wildcats have recorded double-digit hits in eight of 11 games this season.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Heskett, Justin (1-1)
L: KENNEDY, Colin (0-1)
S: Passino, Jaxon (1)
Batting:
2B: HINCHLIFFE, Connor 1
RBI: ARNOLD, Chase 1
Base Running:
RUNS: FASO, Ben 1
SB: DUDECK, Brian 1 ; TOAL, Tommy 1
PO: SORRELS, Peyton 1
Batting:
2B: Brennan, Will 1 ; Biller, Jake 1 ; Maxson, Jordan 1
3B: Biller, Jake 1
HR: Maxson, Jordan 1
RBI: Brennan, Will 1 ; Biller, Jake 1 ; Mount, Drew 1 ; Maxson, Jordan 2
SF: Mount, Drew 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Brennan, Will 1 ; Biller, Jake 1 ; McWhertor, TK 1 ; Maxson, Jordan 2
SB: Biller, Jake 1 ; Thompson, Cameron 2 ; Mount, Drew 2 ; Owen, Brett 1 ; Barfield, Kyle 2
CS: Brennan, Will 1 ; Thompson, Cameron 1
HBP: Thompson, Cameron 1 ; Owen, Brett 1
PO: Thompson, Cameron 1
Game Leaders
AB
5
R
1
H
3
RBI
1
2b/3b
AB
5
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
2
H
2
RBI
2
Players Mentioned
OF
/ BaseballINF
/ BaseballOF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ BaseballC
/ BaseballC
/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
INF/RHP
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