Brennan’s Slam Helps Carry Cats by Shockers

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Will Brennan launched a go-ahead grand slam in the bottom of the seventh inning Wednesday night, as K-State scored seven unanswered runs in a 7-2 victory over Wichita State at Tointon Family Stadium.

Brennan's fourth career homer – and first grand slam – came with two outs to break a 2-2 tie. K-State (22-24) earned a season split in its season series with Wichita State (20-24), who dropped its fifth straight contest.

"With two outs, you get your guy to the plate and for him to deliver – that's what it looks like," head coach Pete Hughes said after the game. "It was something we really needed at that time. It gave everybody a chance to breathe deep."

After the Wildcats scraped across runs in the fifth and sixth innings to tie the game, Terrence Spurlin and Dylan Phillips sparked the seventh with back-to-back singles. Following a pinch-hit bunt single by Rainer Ausmus later in the frame, the bases were loaded for Brennan.

"I was looking for something soft," Brennan said. "He was going all curveballs to lefties, so I got a good pitch to hit and deposited it over the wall."

Wildcat reliever Jaxon Passino turned in 4 2/3 scoreless innings, as the sophomore yielded just one hit in his career-long outing. Passino (2-4) was credited with the win and matched his career high with five strikeouts.

"Jaxon Passino gave us an opportunity to have that big hit," added Hughes. "It was a good outing for him. We needed him to come through for us and he did a great job.

"They are a really good offensive team. They're free swingers, especially early in counts, and he went off speed early in the count and then attacked late with fastball. He did a really good job mixing and matching. He gave us a chance to get out of that little offensive funk that we got into and created some opportunities for ourselves."

Wichita State tallied three hits in the fourth inning off K-State starter Andrew Stratman, including back-to-back RBI singles by Paxton Wallace and Noah Croft. Croft's single put the score at 2-0 and ended Stratman's day after 3 1/3 innings.

Stratman had allowed just one hit to go with three strikeouts through the first three innings. The sophomore righty surrendered four hits with two earned runs and three walks in his first career start.

WSU starter Preston Snavely retired 12 straight Wildcats before issuing consecutive walks to begin the bottom of the fifth inning. K-State got a two-out RBI single from Caleb Littlejim that scored Chris Ceballos to cut the Shocker lead in half, 2-1. Snavely's third walk of the inning, to pinch hitter Jeffrey Boggess, ended his day.

Zach Kokoska tied the game in the bottom of the sixth with a single through the right side that brought in Brennan. Brennan sparked the inning with a leadoff single and the game headed to the seventh tied 2-2.

Littlejim added an RBI double in the eighth, capping the Wildcat scoring. Brennan and Littlejim each finished the night 2-for-4. Brennan matched his career high with four RBI.

Senior Mitch Zubradt threw a scoreless ninth inning with two strikeouts in his team-leading 19^th relief outing.

Alex Segal was tagged for the loss after allowing four earned runs on five hits in 1 2/3 innings.

Snavely went 4 2/3 innings with four strikeouts and two hits allowed in a no decision.

K-State hit .333 with runners in scoring position while limiting WSU to 2-for-10. K-State ended with five two-out RBI and the Shockers has none.

K-State heads to Waco, Texas, to take on the 15^th-ranked Baylor Bears in a three-game series starting Friday. The entire series will air on FOX Sports Southwest, Southwest Plus and stream on the FOX Sports app. Radio coverage will be available on News Radio KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) and live streaming audio at K-StateSports.com/watch.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

K-State scored seven runs on 10 hits with one error and left six on base.
Wichita State scored two runs on six hits without an error and stranded eight baserunners.
Brennan hit his first career grand slam in the seventh inning.
Brennan equaled his career high with four RBI.
Littlejim went 2-for-4 with a double and two runs batted in.
Passino worked a career-long 4 2/3 innings in earning the win.
Passino matched his career high with five strikeouts.
Stratman made his first career start, going a career-long 3 1/3 inning with three strikeouts.
K-State hit .333 with runners in scoring position while limiting WSU to 2-for-10.
K-State ended with five two-out RBI and the Shockers has none.

NOTES

Wichita State leads the all-time series 54-42.
The Wildcats are now 25-18 at home against the Shockers.
K-State has won the last seven matchups at Tointon Family Stadium.
The Wildcats have won 11 of the last 14 games in the series.
K-State has homered in 13 straight games, its longest streak in the Big 12 era.
Thompson is on a season-long 10-game hitting streak.

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Team Stats

Will Brennan

Caleb Littlejim

Cameron Thompson

Zach Kokoska

Players Mentioned

Rainer Ausmus

Jeff Boggess

Will Brennan

Chris Ceballos

Zach Kokoska

Caleb Littlejim

Jaxon Passino

Dylan Phillips

Terrence Spurlin

Andrew Stratman

Mitch Zubradt

Players Mentioned

Rainer Ausmus

Jeff Boggess

Will Brennan

Chris Ceballos

Zach Kokoska

Caleb Littlejim

Jaxon Passino

Dylan Phillips

Terrence Spurlin

Andrew Stratman

Mitch Zubradt

Kansas State University Athletics