Kansas State University Athletics
Tuesday, April 23
Omaha, Neb.
6:30 p.m.
Kansas State University
at
Omaha
Cats Conclude Season Series with Mavericks
Apr 22, 2019 | Baseball
MANHATTAN, Kan. – K-State concludes a home-and-home midweek series with the Omaha Mavericks, as the Wildcats head to Werner Park Tuesday in Papillion, Nebraska, for a 6:30 p.m. first pitch.
K-State (19-22, 5-7 Big 12) has won four of its last five games following a home series victory over No. 19 TCU over the weekend. The series win marked the Wildcats' second straight conference series over a top-25 opponent.
The Cats will send junior Caleb Littlejim to the mound, as they look for the season sweep of Omaha (24-10-1, 16-2 Summit League). Littlejim has won his last two starts, including his first career quality outing in a 7-2 win over the Mavericks back on April 10.
Omaha enters Tuesday on a three-game winning streak after a road sweep of Purdue Fort Wayne.
Coverage of the game is available on News Radio KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) with streaming audio at K-StateSports.com/watch.
GAME #42
K-STATE (19-22, 5-7 BIG 12) at OMAHA (24-10-1, 16-2 SUMMIT LEAGUE)
Tuesday, April 23 // 6:30 p.m. // Werner Park (9,023) // Papillion, Neb.
Projected Starters: RHP Caleb Littlejim (3-1, 4.24 ERA) vs. RHP Jacob Alcorn (0-0, 17.18 ERA)
Watch: N/A
Radio: KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) // John Kurtz, Christopher Brown
Listen Online: K-StateSports.com/watch // 1350kman.com
Listen Online | Live Stats
A LOOK AT K-STATE
K-State (19-22, 5-7 Big 12) makes a return trip to Omaha to take on the Omaha Mavericks for a Tuesday night matchup at Werner Park ... The Wildcats took the season's first meeting 7-2 on April 10 at Tointon Family Stadium ... K-State is coming off its second consecutive Big 12 series win over a ranked team after taking two of three games against No. 19 TCU over the weekend ... Behind Griffin Hassall's career-high 7 2/3 innings, the Cats claimed the series opener 7-4 ... Hassall scattered three hits and allowed one earned run with five strikeouts, earning him Big 12 Newcomer of the Week ... In the series' rubber match, K-State erased a five-run deficit as it scored nine unanswered runs over the seventh and eighth frames ... After TCU used a four-run ninth to tie the game at 10, Rainer Ausmus dropped a squeeze bunt to complete the walk-off victory for the Cats ... K-State homered in all three games over the weekend, extending its home run streak to eight games ... In the series, Will Brennan, Zach Kokoska and Cameron Thompson each had four hits while Thompson homered for the third time in his last five games ... Chris Ceballos and Terrence Spurlin also homered in the series, as Spurlin drove in a career-high four runs in the series opener ... K-State has now won four of its last five games and six of its last eight following a 1-9 stretch.
A LOOK AT OMAHA
Omaha (24-10-1, 16-2 Summit League) is fresh off a three-game road sweep of Purdue Fort Wayne over the weekend ... Omaha's three-game winning streak followed a 1-4 stretch that began with a 7-2 loss to K-State at Tointon Family Stadium back on April 10 ... The Mavericks sit atop The Summit League standings with a 16-2 record, five games better than second-place South Dakota State at 11-7 ... Parker Smejkal leads the Mavs' offense with a slash line of .398/.557/.675 to go with a team-high five home runs ... Smejkal homered in the season's first matchup ... Thomas Debonville leads UNO with 29 runs driven in to go with four triples ... Jacob Alcorn will get the ball for the Mavs Tuesday .. Alcorn has allowed seven earned runs over 3 2/3 innings (17.18 ERA) in four appearances ... Tuesday will be Alcorn's first start in a Mavericks uniform.
A LOOK AT THE SERIES
After a 7-2 victory on April 10 at Tointon Family Stadium, K-State leads the all-time series 13-2 ... The Wildcats have won the four meetings in the series and are 2-1 on the road against UNO ... K-State won 6-5 in 11 innings last season at Werner Park ... In the season's first meeting, Zach Kokoska had two hits and an RBI to lead the Wildcats, who scored five of their seven runs in the first two innings of the game ... Caleb Littlejim, who will get the start Tuesday, tossed his first career quality start as he went six innings with one earned run on three hits ... Littlejim also hit a two-run home run in the game.
PAIR OF ACES
K-State freshmen Griffin Hassall and Jordan Wicks have claimed back-to-back Big 12 Newcomer of the Week honors ... Thursday against No. 19 TCU, Hassall went a career-long 7 2/3 innings pitched as he allowed one run on three hits to pick up his second straight win over a top-25 team ... Hassall struck out five with one walk issued ... In the series rubber match at No. 14 Texas, Wicks tossed a five-hit shutout of the Longhorns to clinch K-State's second-ever road series victory over a ranked team ... Wicks retired 14 of the last 15 batters he faced, including a stretch of 11 straight at one point ... K-State is 8-2 in games Wicks starts.
POWER SURGE
K-State hit at least one home run in eight straight games, including one in all three games vs. TCU over the weekend ... K-State has hit 10 homers in the last eight games, led by Cameron Thompson who has three over the last five games ... Prior to its three-homer game against Omaha on April 10, the K-State offense had just two home runs over its last 11 games - including a stretch of five consecutive outings without a bomb ... Chris Ceballos hit his sixth home run of the year on Saturday, tying him for the team lead with Caleb Littlejim ... Littlejim did not have an at-bat his previous two seasons ... Zach Kokoska each have five homers on the season, with two of Ceballos' long balls coming in Big 12 play ... Twenty-seven of K-State's 32 home runs this season have been hit by newcomers or by someone without a home run last season ... The Wildcats are 16-7 when hitting a home run and 5-1 when hitting multiple home runs.
KOKO GOIN' LOCO
K-State sophomore Zach Kokoska has catapulted himself to the top of K-State's leaderboard in all three slash categories with a .331 average, .403 on-base percentage and a .515 slugging percentage ... Kokoska is currently riding a season-long 10-game hitting streak, the longest streak by any Wildcat this season ... Over the last 10 games, Kokoska is hitting .351 with two homers, seven RBI and three doubles ... The Latrobe, Pennsylvania, product hit in the cleanup spot for the first time in the Texas series ... He is second on the team with 24 runs batted in and third with 12 multi-hit games ... Kokoska boasts a team-best .348 average in Big 12 games ... Kokoska, in his first season at K-State after transferring from Virginia Tech, has hit safely in 22 of his last 28 games, raising his average from .262 to .331.
WINNING TIME
In K-State's 19 wins this season, the Wildcats are hitting .363 (69-for-190) with runners in scoring position and .315 (68-for-216) with two outs ... Conversely, the Cats have a .188 average (35-for-186) with runners in scoring position while hitting .175 (40-for-229) with two outs over 22 losses ... K-State has produced 45 two-out RBI in victories with just 18 in 22 losses ... Overall, K-State hits .301 in victories against just .222 in defeats ... In 22 losses, K-State pitchers have combined for 111 walks (5.1 per game) while in victories the staff averages 3.4 walks per game (64 walks in 19 wins) ... K-State hit .542 (13-for-24) with runners in scoring position in its three-game series vs. TCU with six two-out RBI.
NO K FOR YOU
Junior Will Brennan owns the title of toughest player to strike out in the nation, going 22.1 at-bats per strikeout this season (155 AB, 7 K) ... Brennan's struck out Friday vs. TCU, snapping a streak of 57 consecutive at-bats without a strikeout ... His 22.1 rate is nearly two at-bats better than second place in the nation (20.3) ... Brennan has had just four multi-strikeouts games in his career and has never struck out more than twice in a game ... The Stilwell native has finished each of the last two seasons as the toughest hitter in the conference to punch out.
K-State (19-22, 5-7 Big 12) has won four of its last five games following a home series victory over No. 19 TCU over the weekend. The series win marked the Wildcats' second straight conference series over a top-25 opponent.
The Cats will send junior Caleb Littlejim to the mound, as they look for the season sweep of Omaha (24-10-1, 16-2 Summit League). Littlejim has won his last two starts, including his first career quality outing in a 7-2 win over the Mavericks back on April 10.
Omaha enters Tuesday on a three-game winning streak after a road sweep of Purdue Fort Wayne.
Coverage of the game is available on News Radio KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) with streaming audio at K-StateSports.com/watch.
GAME #42
K-STATE (19-22, 5-7 BIG 12) at OMAHA (24-10-1, 16-2 SUMMIT LEAGUE)
Tuesday, April 23 // 6:30 p.m. // Werner Park (9,023) // Papillion, Neb.
Projected Starters: RHP Caleb Littlejim (3-1, 4.24 ERA) vs. RHP Jacob Alcorn (0-0, 17.18 ERA)
Watch: N/A
Radio: KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) // John Kurtz, Christopher Brown
Listen Online: K-StateSports.com/watch // 1350kman.com
Listen Online | Live Stats
A LOOK AT K-STATE
K-State (19-22, 5-7 Big 12) makes a return trip to Omaha to take on the Omaha Mavericks for a Tuesday night matchup at Werner Park ... The Wildcats took the season's first meeting 7-2 on April 10 at Tointon Family Stadium ... K-State is coming off its second consecutive Big 12 series win over a ranked team after taking two of three games against No. 19 TCU over the weekend ... Behind Griffin Hassall's career-high 7 2/3 innings, the Cats claimed the series opener 7-4 ... Hassall scattered three hits and allowed one earned run with five strikeouts, earning him Big 12 Newcomer of the Week ... In the series' rubber match, K-State erased a five-run deficit as it scored nine unanswered runs over the seventh and eighth frames ... After TCU used a four-run ninth to tie the game at 10, Rainer Ausmus dropped a squeeze bunt to complete the walk-off victory for the Cats ... K-State homered in all three games over the weekend, extending its home run streak to eight games ... In the series, Will Brennan, Zach Kokoska and Cameron Thompson each had four hits while Thompson homered for the third time in his last five games ... Chris Ceballos and Terrence Spurlin also homered in the series, as Spurlin drove in a career-high four runs in the series opener ... K-State has now won four of its last five games and six of its last eight following a 1-9 stretch.
A LOOK AT OMAHA
Omaha (24-10-1, 16-2 Summit League) is fresh off a three-game road sweep of Purdue Fort Wayne over the weekend ... Omaha's three-game winning streak followed a 1-4 stretch that began with a 7-2 loss to K-State at Tointon Family Stadium back on April 10 ... The Mavericks sit atop The Summit League standings with a 16-2 record, five games better than second-place South Dakota State at 11-7 ... Parker Smejkal leads the Mavs' offense with a slash line of .398/.557/.675 to go with a team-high five home runs ... Smejkal homered in the season's first matchup ... Thomas Debonville leads UNO with 29 runs driven in to go with four triples ... Jacob Alcorn will get the ball for the Mavs Tuesday .. Alcorn has allowed seven earned runs over 3 2/3 innings (17.18 ERA) in four appearances ... Tuesday will be Alcorn's first start in a Mavericks uniform.
A LOOK AT THE SERIES
After a 7-2 victory on April 10 at Tointon Family Stadium, K-State leads the all-time series 13-2 ... The Wildcats have won the four meetings in the series and are 2-1 on the road against UNO ... K-State won 6-5 in 11 innings last season at Werner Park ... In the season's first meeting, Zach Kokoska had two hits and an RBI to lead the Wildcats, who scored five of their seven runs in the first two innings of the game ... Caleb Littlejim, who will get the start Tuesday, tossed his first career quality start as he went six innings with one earned run on three hits ... Littlejim also hit a two-run home run in the game.
PAIR OF ACES
K-State freshmen Griffin Hassall and Jordan Wicks have claimed back-to-back Big 12 Newcomer of the Week honors ... Thursday against No. 19 TCU, Hassall went a career-long 7 2/3 innings pitched as he allowed one run on three hits to pick up his second straight win over a top-25 team ... Hassall struck out five with one walk issued ... In the series rubber match at No. 14 Texas, Wicks tossed a five-hit shutout of the Longhorns to clinch K-State's second-ever road series victory over a ranked team ... Wicks retired 14 of the last 15 batters he faced, including a stretch of 11 straight at one point ... K-State is 8-2 in games Wicks starts.
POWER SURGE
K-State hit at least one home run in eight straight games, including one in all three games vs. TCU over the weekend ... K-State has hit 10 homers in the last eight games, led by Cameron Thompson who has three over the last five games ... Prior to its three-homer game against Omaha on April 10, the K-State offense had just two home runs over its last 11 games - including a stretch of five consecutive outings without a bomb ... Chris Ceballos hit his sixth home run of the year on Saturday, tying him for the team lead with Caleb Littlejim ... Littlejim did not have an at-bat his previous two seasons ... Zach Kokoska each have five homers on the season, with two of Ceballos' long balls coming in Big 12 play ... Twenty-seven of K-State's 32 home runs this season have been hit by newcomers or by someone without a home run last season ... The Wildcats are 16-7 when hitting a home run and 5-1 when hitting multiple home runs.
KOKO GOIN' LOCO
K-State sophomore Zach Kokoska has catapulted himself to the top of K-State's leaderboard in all three slash categories with a .331 average, .403 on-base percentage and a .515 slugging percentage ... Kokoska is currently riding a season-long 10-game hitting streak, the longest streak by any Wildcat this season ... Over the last 10 games, Kokoska is hitting .351 with two homers, seven RBI and three doubles ... The Latrobe, Pennsylvania, product hit in the cleanup spot for the first time in the Texas series ... He is second on the team with 24 runs batted in and third with 12 multi-hit games ... Kokoska boasts a team-best .348 average in Big 12 games ... Kokoska, in his first season at K-State after transferring from Virginia Tech, has hit safely in 22 of his last 28 games, raising his average from .262 to .331.
WINNING TIME
In K-State's 19 wins this season, the Wildcats are hitting .363 (69-for-190) with runners in scoring position and .315 (68-for-216) with two outs ... Conversely, the Cats have a .188 average (35-for-186) with runners in scoring position while hitting .175 (40-for-229) with two outs over 22 losses ... K-State has produced 45 two-out RBI in victories with just 18 in 22 losses ... Overall, K-State hits .301 in victories against just .222 in defeats ... In 22 losses, K-State pitchers have combined for 111 walks (5.1 per game) while in victories the staff averages 3.4 walks per game (64 walks in 19 wins) ... K-State hit .542 (13-for-24) with runners in scoring position in its three-game series vs. TCU with six two-out RBI.
NO K FOR YOU
Junior Will Brennan owns the title of toughest player to strike out in the nation, going 22.1 at-bats per strikeout this season (155 AB, 7 K) ... Brennan's struck out Friday vs. TCU, snapping a streak of 57 consecutive at-bats without a strikeout ... His 22.1 rate is nearly two at-bats better than second place in the nation (20.3) ... Brennan has had just four multi-strikeouts games in his career and has never struck out more than twice in a game ... The Stilwell native has finished each of the last two seasons as the toughest hitter in the conference to punch out.
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