Kansas State University Athletics
Kansas State University
3-6
San Francisco
5-3
K-State Splits Friday Doubleheader with USF
Mar 01, 2019 | Baseball
In Game 2, K-State starter l Jordan Wicks struck out eight Dons over four innings, as he kept USF (5-4) scoreless on three hits. Following Wicks, K-State relievers Joey Martin, Jaxon Passino and Mitch Zubradt limited the Dons to four hits over the final five innings while Passino went a career-high 3 1/3 innings with four strikeouts.
"I thought Jordan Wicks competed, and great competitors figure out a way to win when they don't have their best stuff," head coach Pete Hughes said. "Then we had Jaxon Passino come in and his team-first mentality put him in a position to perform for us when we needed him today. He settled everything down and got us a win because he's a team guy and he pitched great for us. He was our MVP tonight."
The four Wildcats arms combined to strike out 13 USF batters while suppressing the Dons to 3-for-18 (.167) with runners on base. San Francisco stranded 15 baserunners in the Cats' first shutout win of the season.
K-State (4-6) pounded out 13 hits in the victory and all nine Wildcat starters recorded a hit. Cameron Thompson, Dylan Phillips, Chris Ceballos and Jordan Maxson each turned in two-hit games while Ceballos had a team-high two RBI.
Phillips blasted his second home run of the season in the eighth inning of Game 2, putting the Cats ahead by six runs. K-State scored its seven runs over five different innings: two runs in the fourth and eighth and single runs in the third, fifth and sixth.
In the series opener, K-State scored the game's first run on a sacrifice fly by Thompson in the first inning but were unable to score again. The Cats scattered five hits in their 3-1 defeat, led by Zach Kokoska who was 2-for-3.
"It was a tough day to hit," added Hughes. "The conditions were not conducive to offense today. We didn't do a good job handling that in Game 1, but we made the adjustments in Game 2. We started hitting more ground balls and getting on top of the baseball. So that was good to see, and I thought we played well with two outs. Which is the sign of a winning program, if you can play with two outs. I thought that was awesome."
San Francisco starter Riley Ornido limited the Wildcats to three hits over his seven innings of work while picking up four strikeouts.
"That's a really good pitcher," said Hughes of Ornido. "That guy has won a lot of games for that program. He would be good in any league at any level. I've watched him, I've studied him, and I knew we were going to have our hands full. He really kept us at bay the entire game."
USF strung together four consecutive one-out singles in the fifth inning of Game 1 to plate two runs and take a 2-1 lead. Entering the frame, K-State starter Tyler Eckberg had retired seven straight Dons and yielded two hits over the first four innings.
Eckberg went a career-high six innings in the start, allowing two earned runs on seven hits. The junior righty picked up seven strikeouts while getting tabbed with the loss.
In Game 2, K-State got back-to-back singles by Thomas Hughes and Caleb Littlejim to take a 1-0 lead after three innings.
The Cats manufactured a pair of runs in the fourth inning via a squeeze play and a sacrifice fly. Terrence Spurlin doubled in the frame and Thompson singled. Maxson laid down a squeeze bunt that scored Thompson and Kokoska lifted a sac fly to bring in Spurlin to put the Wildcats ahead 3-0.
Ceballos delivered RBI singles in the sixth and eighth innings, sandwiched around Phillips' solo homer, to push K-State's lead to seven runs.
K-State went 10-for-16 (.625) with two outs in Game 2 after hitting just .100 (1-for-10) with two outs in the first game.
K-State concludes its series with San Francisco on Saturday with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m. Coverage will be exclusively online with audio streaming at K-StateSports.com/watch.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
· K-State scored one run on five hits without an error and left 11 on base in Game 1.
· The Wildcats scored seven runs on 13 hits and committed three errors with six left on in Game 2.
· San Francisco scored three runs on eight hits without an error and stranded five in Game 1.
· All nine Cats in the starting lineup had a base hit in the second game.
· Four Wildcats had two-hit games in the finale: Thompson, Phillips, Maxson and Ceballos.
· Phillips hit his second home run of the season.
· Zubradt has recorded the final out in all four of K-State's victories this season.
· K-State went 10-for-16 (.625) with two outs in Game 2 after hitting just .100 (1-for-10) with two outs in the first game.
NOTES
· The all-time series between K- State and San Francisco is now tied 3-3.
· K-State has held a lead at some point in nine of 10 games this season.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: ORNIDO, Riley (2-1)
L: Eckberg, Tyler (0-2)
S: PHAM, Alex (2)
Batting:
2B: ALLEN, Jonathan 1
RBI: VILLAROMAN, Tyler 1 ; McCARTHY, Thomas 1
Base Running:
RUNS: ALLEN, Jonathan 1 ; MENDIBLES, Matthew 1 ; URATA, Riki 1
SB: MUNOZ, Jacob 1
CS: WINKLER, Jack 1 ; MUNOZ, Jacob 1 ; URATA, Riki 1
HBP: McCARTHY, Thomas 1
Batting:
2B: Brennan, Will 1 ; Spurlin, Terrence 1
RBI: Thompson, Cameron 1
SF: Thompson, Cameron 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Hughes, Thomas 1
HBP: Brennan, Will 1 ; Maxson, Jordan 1
