Wildcats, Bluejays Square Off in Omaha Wednesday

Wednesday, April 4

Omaha, Neb.

6:30 p.m.

Kansas State University

Creighton

Apr 03, 2018 | Baseball

Watch Listen Live Stats Game Notes (.pdf)

MANHATTAN, Kan. – The Kansas State baseball team heads to Omaha Wednesday for its second meeting with Creighton this season, with first pitch at TD Ameritrade Park set for 6:30 p.m.

K-State (15-13, 2-4 Big 12) and Creighton (16-6, 0-0 Big East) met on March 13 at Tointon Family Stadium, as the Bluejays took a 13-3 decision.

The Wildcats took two of three games over the weekend from Texas while Creighton has won its last six ballgames overall.

The game will be streamed free at NETNebraska.org with live audio also streaming at kstatesports.com/watch. Wednesday night's matchup will be broadcast live on KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM).

GAME #29
K-STATE (15-13, 2-4 BIG 12) vs. CREIGHTON (16-6, 0-0 BIG EAST)
Wednesday, April 4, 2018 // 6:30 p.m. CT // TD Ameritrade Park (24,000) // Omaha, Neb.
Projected Starters: RHP Jared Marolf (1-3, 3.57 ERA) vs. LHP Preston Church (2-2, 7.41 ERA)
Watch: NET Nebraska // John Bishop (play-by-play) and David Gustafson (analyst)
Listen Online: K-StateSports.com
Radio: KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) // Mitch Fortner (play-by-play) and Christopher Brown (analyst)
Watch | Listen Online | Live Stats

A LOOK AT K-STATE
Kansas State (15-13, 2-4 Big 12) finished its first Big 12 series victory by taking two of three games against Texas at Tointon Family Stadium last weekend ... It was K-State's first home series victory against the Longhorns since 1998 and first series win overall since the 2013 season ... The Wildcats took the series opener, 5-2, on Thursday backed by Kasey Ford's 5 1/3 innings and allowing just one earned run while catcher TK McWhertor had a three-hit, two-RBI day ... Friday, K-State held a 10-3 lead going into the ninth inning, aided by Trent McMaster's three-run home run and five RBI, but Texas scored seven runs with outs in the top of the ninth to tie the game at 10-10 ... Cameron Thompson delivered a walk-off single with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth to give the Cats the series victory ... Thompson registered a career-high five hits in the game and was a home run shy of the cycle ... In the series finale, Texas used a seven-run fifth inning to take a 9-5 victory.

A LOOK AT CREIGHTON
Creighton (16-6, 0-0 Big East) enters Wednesday's game on a six-game winning streak, its longest since an 11-game streak last season ... A trio of Bluejays - Clark Bringman, Michael Emodi and Will Robertson - are all hitting over .300, and nine players are above the .200 threshold ... Emodi leads the team with seven homers and 34 runs batted in ... Creighton swept the Big East's weekly awards as Robertson took home player of the week while Ryan Tapani was named pitcher of the week.

A LOOK AT THE SERIES
K-State lead the all-time series with Creighton, 51-51-1, dating back to 1903 ... Creighton took the season's first meeting, 13-3, on March 13 at Tointon Family Stadium ... In the first meeting, Emodi went 4-for-5 with five RBI and three runs scored ... Robertson added three hits and also drove in five as the Bluejays scored 11 unanswered runs between the fourth and seventh innings ... CU has won the last two meetings, going back to 2016 ... K-State is 13-20 on the road in the series and 4-6 in its last 10 games in Omaha ... The teams have split the last 10 games in the series ... Head coach Brad Hill is 9-11 in his career vs. Creighton.

CRUCIAL SERIES WIN
K-State took two of three games from Texas last weekend at Tointon Family Stadium ... It was the first time since 1998 that the Wildcats claimed a home series over the Longhorns and first series win overall vs. Texas since 2013 ... It marked just the third series win against UT under head coach Brad Hill (since 2004) and fifth series win in the series' history between the teams ... It is the first time K-State has won one of the season's first two Big 12 series since the 2013 season.

BETTER RECOGNIZE
K-State's Will Brennan and Drew Mount each took home weekly honors from the Big 12 on Monday, March 12, as Brennan was named the conference's Player of the Week while Mount was recognized as Newcomer of the Week ... Mount's became the first player in Big 12 history to be named Newcomer of the Week in three consecutive weeks since the award was introduced in 2011 ... The junior-college transfer matched the most weekly honors in a single season with three through the season's first four weeks ... Mount was also recognized by Collegiate Baseball by being named one of 10 National Players of the Week by the publication ... Brennan earned his first Player of the Week award from the league after earning Newcomer of the Week twice last season as part of his freshman all-America campaign.

MOUNT CRUSHMORE
K-State junior-transfer Drew Mount was named Big 12 Newcomer of the Week for three straight weeks from February 26-March 12 ... He is the first player in Big 12 history to earn the distinction in three consecutive weeks since the award's inception in 2011 ... March 9 against Mercer, Mount became the first Wildcat to hit two grand slams in one game since 1994 and he is just the third player in Big 12 history to accomplish the feat - and the first since 1998 ... He is tied for the Big 12 lead in home runs (8) and second in RBI (32) ... He is also tied for the lead in the Big 12 in stolen bases (17) and is fourth in slugging (.622). ... Mount ranks sixth in the nation with his 17 stolen bases, five behind the leader.

YOUNG GUNS
Three of the top four K-State relievers in terms of ERA are freshman: Alex Belch (0.00), Andrew Stratman (2.51) and Jaxon Passino (2.70) ... The trio have a combined ERA of 2.15 (7 ER, 29.1 IP) and are limiting opposing hitters to a .243 average ... Passino is tied for the team lead in saves after he picked up his second save vs. Omaha and has 11 strikeouts against four walks ... The team's top five relievers in earned run average are freshmen or sophomores, as Tyler Eckberg (2.70) and Jared Marolf (3.57) join the list ... All five of this season's saves have come from Eckberg, Marolf and Passino while Marolf and Stratman lead the team in relief outings with 11 and 10, respectively.

FROM THE PEN
K-State relievers have a combined 6-4 record to go with four saves in five opportunities this season ... The Wildcat bullpen has a combined ERA of 5.18 over 9 1/3 innings ... K-State relievers have a higher strikeout rate than its starters, averaging 7.7 strikeouts per nine to 6.3 K/9, but Wildcat starters own a better walk rate, at 3.0 walks per nine innings compared to 4.2 BB/9 ... in Tuesday's 3-0 win over Omaha, the K-State pen combined to toss seven shutout innings with nine strikeouts with only two walks ... All four K-State relievers retired the first batter they faced, helping the Cats record their first shutout of the season.

MIDWEEK GAMES
In six midweek games this season, K-State has posted a 4-2 mark, including its 13-3 home loss to Creighton on March 13 ... The Wildcats are 1-0 in road midweek games, defeating Elon 8-7 on February 21 ... The Cats offense averages 7.5 runs a game on 8.8 hits in midweek games ... Jake Biller, Hanz Harker and Drew Mount each have a home run and six RBI during midweek play ... K-State has a +8 run differential despite being outhit, .264-.296, during the week while being a perfect 13-for-13 in stolen base attempts.