Kansas State University Athletics
Friday, May 17
Lawrence, Kan.
6 p.m.
Kansas State University
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Kansas
K-State, KU Prepped for Sunflower Showdown
May 16, 2019 | Baseball
MANHATTAN, Kan. – K-State will take on in-state rival Kansas in its final regular-season series, as the Dillons Sunflower Showdown begins Friday at 6 p.m. at Hoglund Ballpark in Lawrence.
K-State (25-28, 8-13 Big 12) sits one game behind KU (28-24, 9-12 Big 12), who is tied with Oklahoma for sixth in the Big 12 standings. The Wildcats dropped two of three games to West Virginia over the weekend.
Monday, Terrence Spurlin was named Big 12 Player of the Week while Chris Ceballos was tabbed Newcomer of the Week. Both Spurlin and Ceballos hit a pair of home runs with six RBI last week. Spurlin produced his first two-homer game Saturday against the Mountaineers.
The Wildcats are 180-170-1 all-time against the Jayhawks after winning the final two games at Tointon Family Stadium a year ago.
The entire series will air on ESPN+ and the ESPN app. Radio coverage is available on the K-State Sports Radio Network and News Radio KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) with streaming audio at K-StateSports.com/watch.
GAME #54
K-STATE (25-28, 8-13 BIG 12) at KANSAS (28-24, 9-12 BIG 12)
Friday, May 17 // 6 p.m. // Hoglund Ballpark (2,500) // Lawrence, Kan.
Projected Starters: RHP Griffin Hassall (2-2, 3.49 EA) vs. RHP Ryan Zeferjahn (4-2, 3.70 ERA)
Watch: ESPN+ // ESPN app
Radio: K-State Sports Radio Network // Brian Smoller, Matt Walters
Listen Online: K-StateSports.com/watch // 1350kman.com
Watch | Listen Online | Live Stats
GAME #55
K-STATE (25-28, 8-13 BIG 12) at KANSAS (28-24, 9-12 BIG 12)
Saturday, May 18 // 2 p.m. // Hoglund Ballpark (2,500) // Lawrence, Kan.
Projected Starters: TBA vs. RHP Ryan Cyr (3-6, 4.88 ERA)
Watch: ESPN+ // ESPN app
Radio: K-State Sports Radio Network // Brian Smoller, Matt Walters
Listen Online: K-StateSports.com/watch // 1350kman.com
Watch | Listen Online | Live Stats
GAME #56
K-STATE (25-28, 8-13 BIG 12) at KANSAS (28-24, 9-12 BIG 12)
Sunday, May 19 // 2 p.m. // Hoglund Ballpark (2,500) // Lawrence, Kan.
Projected Starters: TBA vs. LHP Steve Washilewski (3-2, 3.69 ERA)
Watch: ESPN+ // ESPN app
Radio: News Radio KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) // Brian Smoller, Matt Walters
Listen Online: K-StateSports.com/watch // 1350kman.com
Watch | Listen Online | Live Stats
A LOOK AT K-STATE
K-State (25-28, 8-13 Big 12) takes on in-state rival Kansas in the final weekend of the regular season starting Friday ... The Wildcats go into the Dillons Sunflower Showdown in eighth in the Big 12 standings, one game behind Kansas and Oklahoma who are tied for sixth at 9-12 in league play ... K-State is a game and a half clear of ninth-place Texas (6-14) after dropping two of three games against No. 20 West Virginia at Tointon Family Stadium over the weekend ... The Cats responded from a 6-0 shutout loss Friday by scoring five runs in the first inning of Game 2 on Saturday, evening the series at a game apiece with an 8-6 win ... In the victory, Terrence Spurlin hit two home runs and drove in four while Chris Ceballos hit his team-leading ninth homer ... WVU scored four runs in the eighth inning to claim the series' rubber game, 7-4 ... K-State brought across three unanswered runs to take a 4-3 lead through seven innings before the Mountaineers rallied for the comeback win ... It was just the third loss K-State has suffered when leading after seven innings (21-3) ... For their efforts in the series, Spurlin was named Big 12 Player of the Week while Ceballos was tabbed Newcomer of the Week ... Each tallied two homers and drove in six during the week while Spurlin produced back-to-back three-hit games vs. WVU.
A LOOK AT KU
Kansas (28-24, 9-12 Big 12) comes into the weekend having won six of its last nine games overall after taking the series finale with TCU on Sunday ... The Jayhawks' 6-3 stretch includes a three-game home sweep of Texas ... The Jayhawks are paced by Jaxx Groshans, who leads the team in all three slash categories (.330/.460/.585) and all three Triple Crown categories with 11 home runs and 38 RBI ... Groshans ranks in the Big 12's top 10 in average, homers, RBI, total bases, on-base percentage and slugging ... As a team, KU ranks ninth in the league in batting average in both overall (.246) and conference games (.237) ... The Kansas pitching staff is led by Ryan Cyr and Ryan Zeferjahn, who both rank in the league's top 10 in innings pitched ... Cyr leads the Big 12 with four complete games (one shutout) while Zeferjahn is third with 93 strikeouts.
A LOOK AT THE SERIES
K-State leads the all-time series 180-170-1, dating back to 1897 ... In Big 12 play, K-State is 40-25 against the Jayhawks ... The Wildcats' 180 wins are the most against any single opponent ... The Cats have a 70-87 record all-time in Lawrence, last winning a road series in 2015 (2-1) ... K-State took the final two games of a three-game series in 2018 at Tointon Family Stadium, winning the finale in walk-off fashion, 7-6, in 11 innings ... K-State last swept a road series at KU in 2013 and was last swept in Lawrence back in 2001 (two-game series) ... KU last swept a three-game series in 2004 with the last three-game sweep in Lawrence coming in 1994 ... The teams have split the last 10 meetings overall and are 7-7 over the last 14 ... Since 2013, neither side has won more than two consecutive games ... K-State is 6-4 over the last 10 played at Hoglund Ballpark.
HONOR ROLL
The Big 12 Conference tabbed Terrence Spurlin as its Player of the Week while Chris Ceballos took home Newcomer of the Week honors on Monday ... Last week, each player tallied two home runs and six RBI ... Spurlin, a sophomore, had back-to-back three-hit games in the West Virginia series, including a two-homer performance in the Cats' 8-6 win Saturday ... Ceballos homered and drove in three in K-State's 11-5 win over Texas Southern and later hit a two-run home run Saturday vs. WVU ... Each earned the first weekly honors of their respective careers ... Seven Wildcats were honored Tuesday by the league office by being named Academic All-Big 12 ... Will Brennan, Caleb Littlejim and Mitch Zubradt were each selected to the first team while Brogan Heinen, Jordan Maxson, Terrence Spurlin and Cameron Thompson all earned second-team accolades ... Brennan, Heinen and Zubradt are all multiple honorees while Littlejim, Maxson, Spurlin and Thompson earned their first career honors.
RECORD BREAKER
With seven innings and seven strikeouts Sunday against West Virginia, K-State freshman Jordan Wicks set the program's all-time single-season record for innings pitched and strikeouts by a freshman ... Both records had stood since 1973 and were both set by Andy Replogle (78.2 IP, 78 K) ... Wicks is now at 80 2/3 innings and 81 strikeouts, 19 strikeouts away from matching the program record of 100 strikeouts in a season (A.J. Morris, 2009) ... With six home runs, freshman Dylan Phillips is one homer shy of matching Brian Culp's and Todd Fereday's freshman record of seven homers in a season, set back in 1990 and 1994, respectively.
POWER SURGE
K-State hit a one home run in 17 of its last 19 games, including a stretch of 14 straight games before being snapped May 4 at Baylor ... The stretch of 14 consecutive games with a home run marked the Wildcats longest in the Big 12 era and was the longest by any team in the nation this season ... K-State hit three homers in its win over WVU Saturday, including two by Terrence Spurlin and one by Chris Ceballos ... Ceballos has three home runs over his last five games and leads the team with nine this season ... K-State has hit 24 homers in the last 20 games, led by Ceballos and Cameron Thompson with five over the stretch ... Prior to its three-homer game against Omaha on April 10, the K-State offense had just two home runs over its previous 11 games - including a stretch of five consecutive outings without a bomb ... 39 of K-State's 46 home runs this season have been hit by newcomers or by someone without a home run last season ... The Wildcats are 22-10 when hitting a home run and 8-1 when hitting multiple home runs.
YOUNG GUNS
K-State freshmen Griffin Hassall and Jordan Wicks claimed back-to-back Big 12 Newcomer of the Week honors, April 15 and 22, respectively ... 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 9-4 in games Wicks starts, who has a team-best eight quality outings in 13 starts.
LITTLEJIM, BIG BAT
In his first season playing the field and hitting, two-way player Caleb Littlejim leads K-State with a .450 average (18-for-40) with runners in scoring position and a .333 average (16-for-48) with two outs ... Littlejim, who was exclusively a pitcher the last two seasons, has a team-high 21 two-out RBI - seven more than second place ... Nine of his two-out RBI have come in Big 12 play (team high) ... He leads K-State with 12 multi-RBI games, with a team-best four coming in conference play.
WINNING TIME
In K-State's 25 wins this season, the Wildcats are hitting .375 with runners in scoring position and .323 with two outs ... Conversely, the Cats have a .198 average with runners in scoring position while hitting .176 with two outs over 28 losses ... K-State has produced 74 two-out RBI in victories with just 26 in 28 losses ... Overall, K-State hits .306 in victories against just .220 in defeats ... In 28 losses, K-State pitchers have combined for 133 walks (5.1 per game) while in victories the staff averages 3.8 walks per game (95 walks in 25 wins) ... K-State hit .412 with runners in scoring position against the West Virginia Mountaineers ... K-State hit just .194 with two outs with five two-out RBI.
K-State (25-28, 8-13 Big 12) sits one game behind KU (28-24, 9-12 Big 12), who is tied with Oklahoma for sixth in the Big 12 standings. The Wildcats dropped two of three games to West Virginia over the weekend.
Monday, Terrence Spurlin was named Big 12 Player of the Week while Chris Ceballos was tabbed Newcomer of the Week. Both Spurlin and Ceballos hit a pair of home runs with six RBI last week. Spurlin produced his first two-homer game Saturday against the Mountaineers.
The Wildcats are 180-170-1 all-time against the Jayhawks after winning the final two games at Tointon Family Stadium a year ago.
The entire series will air on ESPN+ and the ESPN app. Radio coverage is available on the K-State Sports Radio Network and News Radio KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) with streaming audio at K-StateSports.com/watch.
GAME #54
K-STATE (25-28, 8-13 BIG 12) at KANSAS (28-24, 9-12 BIG 12)
Friday, May 17 // 6 p.m. // Hoglund Ballpark (2,500) // Lawrence, Kan.
Projected Starters: RHP Griffin Hassall (2-2, 3.49 EA) vs. RHP Ryan Zeferjahn (4-2, 3.70 ERA)
Watch: ESPN+ // ESPN app
Radio: K-State Sports Radio Network // Brian Smoller, Matt Walters
Listen Online: K-StateSports.com/watch // 1350kman.com
Watch | Listen Online | Live Stats
GAME #55
K-STATE (25-28, 8-13 BIG 12) at KANSAS (28-24, 9-12 BIG 12)
Saturday, May 18 // 2 p.m. // Hoglund Ballpark (2,500) // Lawrence, Kan.
Projected Starters: TBA vs. RHP Ryan Cyr (3-6, 4.88 ERA)
Watch: ESPN+ // ESPN app
Radio: K-State Sports Radio Network // Brian Smoller, Matt Walters
Listen Online: K-StateSports.com/watch // 1350kman.com
Watch | Listen Online | Live Stats
GAME #56
K-STATE (25-28, 8-13 BIG 12) at KANSAS (28-24, 9-12 BIG 12)
Sunday, May 19 // 2 p.m. // Hoglund Ballpark (2,500) // Lawrence, Kan.
Projected Starters: TBA vs. LHP Steve Washilewski (3-2, 3.69 ERA)
Watch: ESPN+ // ESPN app
Radio: News Radio KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) // Brian Smoller, Matt Walters
Listen Online: K-StateSports.com/watch // 1350kman.com
Watch | Listen Online | Live Stats
A LOOK AT K-STATE
K-State (25-28, 8-13 Big 12) takes on in-state rival Kansas in the final weekend of the regular season starting Friday ... The Wildcats go into the Dillons Sunflower Showdown in eighth in the Big 12 standings, one game behind Kansas and Oklahoma who are tied for sixth at 9-12 in league play ... K-State is a game and a half clear of ninth-place Texas (6-14) after dropping two of three games against No. 20 West Virginia at Tointon Family Stadium over the weekend ... The Cats responded from a 6-0 shutout loss Friday by scoring five runs in the first inning of Game 2 on Saturday, evening the series at a game apiece with an 8-6 win ... In the victory, Terrence Spurlin hit two home runs and drove in four while Chris Ceballos hit his team-leading ninth homer ... WVU scored four runs in the eighth inning to claim the series' rubber game, 7-4 ... K-State brought across three unanswered runs to take a 4-3 lead through seven innings before the Mountaineers rallied for the comeback win ... It was just the third loss K-State has suffered when leading after seven innings (21-3) ... For their efforts in the series, Spurlin was named Big 12 Player of the Week while Ceballos was tabbed Newcomer of the Week ... Each tallied two homers and drove in six during the week while Spurlin produced back-to-back three-hit games vs. WVU.
A LOOK AT KU
Kansas (28-24, 9-12 Big 12) comes into the weekend having won six of its last nine games overall after taking the series finale with TCU on Sunday ... The Jayhawks' 6-3 stretch includes a three-game home sweep of Texas ... The Jayhawks are paced by Jaxx Groshans, who leads the team in all three slash categories (.330/.460/.585) and all three Triple Crown categories with 11 home runs and 38 RBI ... Groshans ranks in the Big 12's top 10 in average, homers, RBI, total bases, on-base percentage and slugging ... As a team, KU ranks ninth in the league in batting average in both overall (.246) and conference games (.237) ... The Kansas pitching staff is led by Ryan Cyr and Ryan Zeferjahn, who both rank in the league's top 10 in innings pitched ... Cyr leads the Big 12 with four complete games (one shutout) while Zeferjahn is third with 93 strikeouts.
A LOOK AT THE SERIES
K-State leads the all-time series 180-170-1, dating back to 1897 ... In Big 12 play, K-State is 40-25 against the Jayhawks ... The Wildcats' 180 wins are the most against any single opponent ... The Cats have a 70-87 record all-time in Lawrence, last winning a road series in 2015 (2-1) ... K-State took the final two games of a three-game series in 2018 at Tointon Family Stadium, winning the finale in walk-off fashion, 7-6, in 11 innings ... K-State last swept a road series at KU in 2013 and was last swept in Lawrence back in 2001 (two-game series) ... KU last swept a three-game series in 2004 with the last three-game sweep in Lawrence coming in 1994 ... The teams have split the last 10 meetings overall and are 7-7 over the last 14 ... Since 2013, neither side has won more than two consecutive games ... K-State is 6-4 over the last 10 played at Hoglund Ballpark.
HONOR ROLL
The Big 12 Conference tabbed Terrence Spurlin as its Player of the Week while Chris Ceballos took home Newcomer of the Week honors on Monday ... Last week, each player tallied two home runs and six RBI ... Spurlin, a sophomore, had back-to-back three-hit games in the West Virginia series, including a two-homer performance in the Cats' 8-6 win Saturday ... Ceballos homered and drove in three in K-State's 11-5 win over Texas Southern and later hit a two-run home run Saturday vs. WVU ... Each earned the first weekly honors of their respective careers ... Seven Wildcats were honored Tuesday by the league office by being named Academic All-Big 12 ... Will Brennan, Caleb Littlejim and Mitch Zubradt were each selected to the first team while Brogan Heinen, Jordan Maxson, Terrence Spurlin and Cameron Thompson all earned second-team accolades ... Brennan, Heinen and Zubradt are all multiple honorees while Littlejim, Maxson, Spurlin and Thompson earned their first career honors.
RECORD BREAKER
With seven innings and seven strikeouts Sunday against West Virginia, K-State freshman Jordan Wicks set the program's all-time single-season record for innings pitched and strikeouts by a freshman ... Both records had stood since 1973 and were both set by Andy Replogle (78.2 IP, 78 K) ... Wicks is now at 80 2/3 innings and 81 strikeouts, 19 strikeouts away from matching the program record of 100 strikeouts in a season (A.J. Morris, 2009) ... With six home runs, freshman Dylan Phillips is one homer shy of matching Brian Culp's and Todd Fereday's freshman record of seven homers in a season, set back in 1990 and 1994, respectively.
POWER SURGE
K-State hit a one home run in 17 of its last 19 games, including a stretch of 14 straight games before being snapped May 4 at Baylor ... The stretch of 14 consecutive games with a home run marked the Wildcats longest in the Big 12 era and was the longest by any team in the nation this season ... K-State hit three homers in its win over WVU Saturday, including two by Terrence Spurlin and one by Chris Ceballos ... Ceballos has three home runs over his last five games and leads the team with nine this season ... K-State has hit 24 homers in the last 20 games, led by Ceballos and Cameron Thompson with five over the stretch ... Prior to its three-homer game against Omaha on April 10, the K-State offense had just two home runs over its previous 11 games - including a stretch of five consecutive outings without a bomb ... 39 of K-State's 46 home runs this season have been hit by newcomers or by someone without a home run last season ... The Wildcats are 22-10 when hitting a home run and 8-1 when hitting multiple home runs.
YOUNG GUNS
K-State freshmen Griffin Hassall and Jordan Wicks claimed back-to-back Big 12 Newcomer of the Week honors, April 15 and 22, respectively ... 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 9-4 in games Wicks starts, who has a team-best eight quality outings in 13 starts.
LITTLEJIM, BIG BAT
In his first season playing the field and hitting, two-way player Caleb Littlejim leads K-State with a .450 average (18-for-40) with runners in scoring position and a .333 average (16-for-48) with two outs ... Littlejim, who was exclusively a pitcher the last two seasons, has a team-high 21 two-out RBI - seven more than second place ... Nine of his two-out RBI have come in Big 12 play (team high) ... He leads K-State with 12 multi-RBI games, with a team-best four coming in conference play.
WINNING TIME
In K-State's 25 wins this season, the Wildcats are hitting .375 with runners in scoring position and .323 with two outs ... Conversely, the Cats have a .198 average with runners in scoring position while hitting .176 with two outs over 28 losses ... K-State has produced 74 two-out RBI in victories with just 26 in 28 losses ... Overall, K-State hits .306 in victories against just .220 in defeats ... In 28 losses, K-State pitchers have combined for 133 walks (5.1 per game) while in victories the staff averages 3.8 walks per game (95 walks in 25 wins) ... K-State hit .412 with runners in scoring position against the West Virginia Mountaineers ... K-State hit just .194 with two outs with five two-out RBI.
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