Wildcats Begin Final Road Swing in Wichita

Tuesday, May 15

Wichita, Kan.

6 p.m.

Kansas State University

Wichita State

May 14, 2018 | Baseball

Watch Listen Live Stats Game Notes (.pdf)

MANHATTAN, Kan. – K-State kicks off its final four-game roadtrip of the season with a Tuesday night matchup with in-state rival Wichita State, with first pitch at 6 p.m. at Eck Stadium.

K-State (20-30) and Wichita State (32-17-1) meet for the first time this season after the first scheduled game at Tointon Family Stadium was cancelled due to weather. The teams split the two meetings last season in a pair of one-run games.

Tuesday night's game will be televised on COX Channel Kansas and will stream live on ESPN3 and the ESPN app. The game can be heard on KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) with free, live audio available at k-statesports.com.

GAME #51
K-STATE (20-30, 5-19 BIG 12) at WICHITA STATE (32-17-1, 7-13-1 AAC)
Tuesday, May 15, 2018 // 6 p.m. CT // Eck Stadium (7,851) // Wichita, Kan.
Projected Starters: RHP Justin Heskett (2-6, 6.92 ERA), vs. RHP Tyler Davis (2-1, 3.64 ERA)
TV: COX Channel Kansas
Watch: ESPN3 // ESPN app
Radio: KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) // Brian Smoller and Christopher Brown
Watch | Listen Online | Live Stats

A LOOK AT K-STATE
Kansas State (20-30, 5-19 Big 12) completed its Big 12 schedule by taking the final two games of a three-game series from in-state rival Kansas over the weekend ... K-State won the final two games of the series, snapping a seven-game skid and earning its second Big 12 series win ... All three games in the series were decided by a single run, with two games going to extra innings ... Sunday's rubber match saw the Wildcats erase an early 4-0 deficit courtesy of Kyle Barfield's two-out grand slam in the fourth ... Barfield put the Cats ahead with an RBI triple two innings later before KU scored a run in the ninth to force extra innings ... Trailing 6-5 in the bottom of the 10th, Drew Mount and Trent McMaster each tripled to push the game to the 11th, where Hanz Harker delivered a walk-off single with the bases loaded to clinch the Sunflower Showdown ... The four-run hole was the Cats' largest come-from-behind victory this season ... Saturday, sophomore starter Jared Marolf tossed a five-hit shutout, striking out three and walking none in a 1-0 win ... It was Marolf's second straight complete game and the first shutout tossed by a Wildcat since Parker Rigler's no-hitter last season.

A LOOK AT WICHITA STATE
Wichita State (32-17-1, 7-13-1 AAC) enters Tuesday following a weekend split with No. 22 South Florida, going 1-1-1 against the Bulls ... The Shockers are 5-4-1 in their last 10 games overall and have won three of their last five games ... Wichita State was ranked as high as No. 18 in the national polls earlier this season ... WSU has four players hitting over .300, led by Luke Ritter and his .332 average ... Alec Bohm paces the Shockers in homers (14), RBI (50) and slugging (.608) ... As a team, Wichita State ranks second in the American Athletic Conference with a .292 average and lead the league in homers (53).

A LOOK AT THE SERIES
Wichita State leads the all-time series, 53-40, dating back to 1906 ... Tuesday's meeting will be the first of the season after the first scheduled meeting in Manhattan was cancelled due to weather ... The team's split a home-and-home series in 2017, each winning on its home field in a one-run ballgame ... K-State has won eight of the last 10 in the series and are 6-4 in the last 10 in Wichita ... All-time in Wichita, the Wildcats are 15-33 against the Shockers ... Head coach Brad Hill is 19-10 vs. WSU in his 15 years at K-State.

THE NEXT OHTANI
K-State sophomore Will Brennan is already known as one of the nation's best hitters, but he has earned a spot in the weekend rotation as he has started each of the last four Sundays in Big 12 play ... Brennan turned in his first-career quality start in the series finale at Oklahoma, going a career-long 6 1/3 innings with just one earned run allowed while striking out a career-best nine hitters in a no-decision ... In his first career start at Nebraska on April 17, Brennan retired all six batters he faced over two innings on just 21 pitches ... Sunday, he struck out four over four innings in his second straight no-decision ... Brennan owns a team-best 4.5 strikeout-to-walk ratio to go with a team-low 2.2 walks per nine and 1.28 WHIP ... At the plate, he continues to be among the Big 12 leaders in hits and average, leading the Wildcats with a .366 average and 74 base hits ... His average, on-base percentage and hit total all rank in the league's top 10 ... Batting leadoff, Brennan is the toughest player in the Big 12 to strikeout, going 18.4 at-bats per strikeout (202 AB, 11 K), which is the ninth-best rate in the nation.

SEEING 20/10
K-State's Drew Mount is one home run away from becoming just the second Wildcat to have 20 stolen bases and 10 home runs in a season, joining Todd Fereday who stole 21 bases and hit 11 home runs in 1997 ... With his next homer, Mount will be just the sixth player in NCAA Division I to have 10 or more home runs and 10 or more steals this season and the first to have 20 steals with 10 homers.

NON-CON SUCCESS
K-State has a 15-11 record in nonconference action, including a 5-3 mark away from Tointon Family Stadium ... The Cats have a +12 run differential despite being outhit, .290-.280 ... Brennan has a team-best .429 batting average in nonconference games while TK McWhertor (.318) and Dylan Watts (.302) are both over the .300 mark ... Seven of Drew Mount's team-best nine homers have come against non-Big 12 opponents as he is slugging .565 in those games to go with 33 runs driven in ... Freshman Alex Belch has an ERA of 1.86 with a save while Jaxon Passino and Jared Marolf each have an earned run average under 3.00 and two saves each in that span.

MAROLF GOES THE DISTANCE... AGAIN
Sophomore Jared Marolf is coming off back-to-back complete games in the first two Big 12 starts of his career ... Saturday, Marolf tossed a five-hit shutout of KU with three strikeouts and no walks, earning him Big 12 Pitcher of the Week honors ... He got the first Big 12 start of his career last Saturday at Oklahoma and turned in his first career complete game, going eight full innings in a 2-0 loss to the Sooners ... Marolf scattered six hits over his eight innings, allowing just two earned runs ... Marolf's shutout of the Jayhawks was the first thrown by a Wildcat since Parker Rigler tossed a no-hitter against Eastern Illinois on March 5, 2017 ... Over his last two starts, Marolf has lowered his ERA from 4.50 to a team-low 3.26.

GOOD THINGS COME IN THREES
Drew Mount added two more triples in the weekend series with Kansas, upping his league-leading total to seven ... The junior outfielder's seven triples are the most by a Wildcat since 1997 (Heath Schesser, 8) ... Mount's total is fourth-highest in the country and he is four from matching K-State's single-season record of 11 triples.

SAYING GOOD BYE
After 15 seasons as the Wildcats' skipper, head coach Brad Hill announced Tuesday that he will be stepping aside at the end of the season ... The two-time Big 12 Coach of the Year is the program's all-time winningest coach, taking K-State to four NCAA Regionals in five seasons to go with a 2103 Super Regional berth and the program's only Big 12 title (2013).

TALE OF TWO HALVES
In the first 25 games of the 2018 season, K-State was 13-12 with a team average of .275 to go with 18 homers and 154 runs scored ... Over the last 25, the Wildcats are 7-18 with eight homers and 110 runs ... The team ERA rose from 5.22 to 6.88 in the second half.