Kansas State University Athletics
Friday, May 3
Waco, Texas
6:30 p.m.
Kansas State University
at
Baylor
K-State Meets No. 15 Baylor in Waco
May 02, 2019 | Baseball
MANHATTAN, Kan. – K-State travels to Waco, Texas, for a three-game conference series with the 15th-ranked Baylor Bears starting Friday at 6:30 p.m. from Baylor Ballpark.
K-State (22-24, 6-9 Big 12) has won seven of its last 10 games after a 7-2 victory over Wichita State Wednesday night and seeks its third conference series win over a top-25 team. Baylor (30-12, 12-5 Big 12) enters the weekend on a four-game winning streak, including a three-game sweep of TCU.
K-State will send Griffin Hassall to the hill for the series opener, marking his eighth straight series-opening start while junior Caleb Littlejim will take the hill on Saturday, with first pitch set for 3 p.m. Littlejim has won each of his last four starts, including a 5-2 win against Oklahoma in his first weekend start.
Freshman lefty Jordan Wicks, who ranks in the Big 12's top 10 in both ERA and strikeouts, is slated to work in the series finale Sunday at 12 p.m.
The series is set to air on FOX Sports Southwest, Southwest Plus and the FOX Sports app. Radio coverage is available on News Radio KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) with streaming audio at K-StateSports.com/watch.
GAME #47
K-STATE (22-24, 6-9 BIG 12) at #15 BAYLOR (30-12, 12-5 BIG 12)
Friday, May 3 // 6:30 p.m. // Baylor Ballpark (5,000) // Waco, Texas
Projected Starters: RHP Griffin Hassall (2-2, 2.81 ERA) vs. LHP Paul Dickens (4-1, 3.53 ERA)
Watch: FOX Sports Southwest Plus // FOX Sports app
Radio: News Radio KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) // Matt Walters, Christopher Brown
Listen Online: K-StateSports.com/watch // 1350kman.com
Watch | Listen Online | Live Stats
GAME #48
K-STATE (22-24, 6-9 BIG 12) at #15 BAYLOR (30-12, 12-5 BIG 12)
Saturday, May 4 // 3 p.m. // Baylor Ballpark (5,000) // Waco, Texas
Projected Starters: RHP Caleb Littlejim (5-1, 3.31 ERA) vs. RHP Jimmy Winston (4-1, 3.08 ERA)
Watch: FOX Sports Southwest // FOX Sports app
Radio: News Radio KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) // Matt Walters, Christopher Brown
Listen Online: K-StateSports.com/watch // 1350kman.com
Watch | Listen Online | Live Stats
GAME #49
K-STATE (22-24, 6-9 BIG 12) at #15 BAYLOR (30-12, 12-5 BIG 12)
Sunday, May 5 // 12 p.m. // Baylor Ballpark (5,000) // Waco, Texas
Projected Starters: LHP Jordan Wicks (5-1, 2.66 ERA) vs. TBD
Watch: FOX Sports Southwest Plus // FOX Sports app
Radio: News Radio KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) // Matt Walters, Christopher Brown
Listen Online: K-StateSports.com/watch // 1350kman.com
Watch | Listen Online | Live Stats
A LOOK AT K-STATE
K-State (22-24) enters the weekend after a 7-2 victory over in-state rival Wichita State Wednesday night at Tointon Family Stadium ... The teams split the season series after the Shockers claimed the season's first meeting, 8-5, at Eck Stadium in Wichita back on March 27 ... In the game, K-State scored seven unanswered runs to overcome a 2-0 deficit, capped by Will Brennan's grand slam in the bottom of the seventh inning ... Brennan's first career slam broke a 2-2 tie while Jaxon Passino tossed a career-long 4 2/3 scoreless innings of relief for the victory ... Over the weekend, the Cats dropped two of three games to the Oklahoma Sooners at home, as the Sooners took the series' rubber match on Sunday in extra innings, 6-3 ... K-State evened the series with a 5-2 win on Saturday ... Caleb Littlejim turned tossed a career-high 6 1/3 innings with just two hits allowed while Will Brennan collected an eight-out save ... Cameron Thompson turned in his first four-hit game of the season in Game 2 of the series, including his first of two game-tying home runs hit during the series ... Thompson led the Wildcats with a .500 average (7-for-14) with a double and two homers in the three-game set ... Zach Kokoska homered in the series opener, as the Wildcats have now recorded a home run in 13 straight games, their longest stretch in the Big 12 era ... Kokoska hit .400 during the series while Brennan went 4-for-13 ... K-State finished the month of April with a 9-8 record (5-4 Big 12) and are 7-3 over the last 10 games.
A LOOK AT BAYLOR
Baylor (30-12, 12-5 Big 12) sits atop the Big 12 standings after its three-game sweep of TCU last weekend ... The Bears are ranked as high as No. 15 in the national polls and have won their last four games while picking up four Big 12 series wins... Baylor owns the league's top offense with a team average of .316 and .481 slugging percentage ... Davis Wendzel is the Big 12's top hitter with a .385 season average while Andy Thomas (.353) and Cole Haring (.340) each rank in the top 10 ... Wendzel also paces the Big 12 with 60 base hits and a .500 on-base percentage ... On the mound, BU possesses the third-lowest earned run average in the conference at 3.48 while ranking second in opposing batting average at .225 ... Jimmy Winston's 3.08 leads the Bears' staff and ranks seventh on the Big 12 leaderboard ... Paul Dickens has tallied a team-high 76 strikeouts while opponents are hitting .207 against him.
A LOOK AT THE SERIES
Baylor leads the all-time series 48-27 (44-22 Big 12), dating back to 1966 ... K-State is 8-27 on the road in the series and has won each of the last two series in Waco ... Four of K-State's eight wins in Waco have come in the Wildcats' last two trips to Baylor Ballpark ... In 2017, the Wildcats swept a doubleheader on the final day of the regular season ... Baylor claimed all three games in Manhattan last season by a combined score of 42-8 ... Prior to the Bears' three-game sweep in 2018, the Cats had won each of the previous four seasons ... The teams have split the last 10 meetings overall and the last 10 matchups in Waco ... The Wildcats last swept a three-game series in 2010 in Manhattan and have never swept the Bears on the road.
VS RANKED OPPONENTS
K-State is 5-4 against ranked teams this season after taking two of three games at No. 14 Texas and No. 19 TCU ... K-State has won five of its last seven games against top-25 teams and clinched a road series victory over a ranked team for just the second time in program history and first since 2009 (at Texas) ... K-State went 0-8 against ranked teams last season and the Cats' 5-4 win over No. 10 Texas Tech on March 31 snapped a string of 11 straight ranked losses.
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 8-3 in games Wicks starts.
CAM THE MAN
K-State junior Cameron Thompson is currently riding a career-long 10-game hitting streak ... During those 10 games, Thompson has hit five home runs, including homers in two straight games vs. Oklahoma ... The Pasadena, Texas, product is hitting .370 with 17 hits over the stretch and now shares the team lead with 55 hits on the season.
POWER SURGE
K-State hit at least one home run in 13 straight games, including one in all three games vs. Oklahoma over the weekend ... Brennan hit the Wildcats' first grand slam of the season on Wednesday against Wichita State ... K-State has hit 16 homers in the last 10 games, led by Cameron Thompson who has five over the last 10 games ... The streak of 13 consecutive games with a home run marks K-State's longest stretch in the Big 12 era ... 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 ... Zach Kokoska hit his seventh home run Friday night against Oklahoma - a team high ... Thirty-one of K-State's 38 home runs this season have been hit by newcomers or by someone without a home run last season ... The Wildcats are 19-9 when hitting a home run and 6-1 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, .406 on-base percentage and a .532 slugging percentage ... Kokoska's season-long 12-game hitting streak came to an end Saturday following an 0-for-4 effort ... It was the longest streak by any Wildcat this season ... The Latrobe, Pennsylvania, product is second on the team with 29 runs batted in and third with 14 multi-hit games ... Kokoska boasts a team-best .357 average in Big 12 games, with a team-high seven multi-hit games ... Kokoska, in his first season at K-State after transferring from Virginia Tech, has hit safely in 26 of his last 33 games (12 of last 13), raising his average from .262 to .331.
WINNING TIME
In K-State's 22 wins this season, the Wildcats are hitting .360 with runners in scoring position and .309 with two outs ... Conversely, the Cats have a .183 average with runners in scoring position while hitting .172 with two outs over 24 losses ... K-State has produced 57 two-out RBI in victories with just 18 in 24 losses ... Overall, K-State hits .301 in victories against just .225 in defeats ... In 24 losses, K-State pitchers have combined for 121 walks (5.1 per game) while in victories the staff averages 3.5 walks per game (77 walks in 22 wins) ... K-State hit .154 (4-for-26) with runners in scoring position and .133 (4-for-30) with two outs and just one two-out RBI in three games vs. Oklahoma.
NO K FOR YOU
Junior Will Brennan owns the title of toughest player to strike out in the nation, going 17.7 at-bats per strikeout this season (177 AB, 10 K) ... Brennan's strikeout on April 19 vs. TCU snapped a streak of 57 consecutive at-bats without a strikeout ... 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 ... Brennan owns a career at-bat-to-strikeout ratio of 18.3, (567 AB, 31 K) ... Brennan is two hits shy of 200 career hits.
K-State (22-24, 6-9 Big 12) has won seven of its last 10 games after a 7-2 victory over Wichita State Wednesday night and seeks its third conference series win over a top-25 team. Baylor (30-12, 12-5 Big 12) enters the weekend on a four-game winning streak, including a three-game sweep of TCU.
K-State will send Griffin Hassall to the hill for the series opener, marking his eighth straight series-opening start while junior Caleb Littlejim will take the hill on Saturday, with first pitch set for 3 p.m. Littlejim has won each of his last four starts, including a 5-2 win against Oklahoma in his first weekend start.
Freshman lefty Jordan Wicks, who ranks in the Big 12's top 10 in both ERA and strikeouts, is slated to work in the series finale Sunday at 12 p.m.
The series is set to air on FOX Sports Southwest, Southwest Plus and the FOX Sports app. Radio coverage is available on News Radio KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) with streaming audio at K-StateSports.com/watch.
GAME #47
K-STATE (22-24, 6-9 BIG 12) at #15 BAYLOR (30-12, 12-5 BIG 12)
Friday, May 3 // 6:30 p.m. // Baylor Ballpark (5,000) // Waco, Texas
Projected Starters: RHP Griffin Hassall (2-2, 2.81 ERA) vs. LHP Paul Dickens (4-1, 3.53 ERA)
Watch: FOX Sports Southwest Plus // FOX Sports app
Radio: News Radio KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) // Matt Walters, Christopher Brown
Listen Online: K-StateSports.com/watch // 1350kman.com
Watch | Listen Online | Live Stats
GAME #48
K-STATE (22-24, 6-9 BIG 12) at #15 BAYLOR (30-12, 12-5 BIG 12)
Saturday, May 4 // 3 p.m. // Baylor Ballpark (5,000) // Waco, Texas
Projected Starters: RHP Caleb Littlejim (5-1, 3.31 ERA) vs. RHP Jimmy Winston (4-1, 3.08 ERA)
Watch: FOX Sports Southwest // FOX Sports app
Radio: News Radio KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) // Matt Walters, Christopher Brown
Listen Online: K-StateSports.com/watch // 1350kman.com
Watch | Listen Online | Live Stats
GAME #49
K-STATE (22-24, 6-9 BIG 12) at #15 BAYLOR (30-12, 12-5 BIG 12)
Sunday, May 5 // 12 p.m. // Baylor Ballpark (5,000) // Waco, Texas
Projected Starters: LHP Jordan Wicks (5-1, 2.66 ERA) vs. TBD
Watch: FOX Sports Southwest Plus // FOX Sports app
Radio: News Radio KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) // Matt Walters, Christopher Brown
Listen Online: K-StateSports.com/watch // 1350kman.com
Watch | Listen Online | Live Stats
A LOOK AT K-STATE
K-State (22-24) enters the weekend after a 7-2 victory over in-state rival Wichita State Wednesday night at Tointon Family Stadium ... The teams split the season series after the Shockers claimed the season's first meeting, 8-5, at Eck Stadium in Wichita back on March 27 ... In the game, K-State scored seven unanswered runs to overcome a 2-0 deficit, capped by Will Brennan's grand slam in the bottom of the seventh inning ... Brennan's first career slam broke a 2-2 tie while Jaxon Passino tossed a career-long 4 2/3 scoreless innings of relief for the victory ... Over the weekend, the Cats dropped two of three games to the Oklahoma Sooners at home, as the Sooners took the series' rubber match on Sunday in extra innings, 6-3 ... K-State evened the series with a 5-2 win on Saturday ... Caleb Littlejim turned tossed a career-high 6 1/3 innings with just two hits allowed while Will Brennan collected an eight-out save ... Cameron Thompson turned in his first four-hit game of the season in Game 2 of the series, including his first of two game-tying home runs hit during the series ... Thompson led the Wildcats with a .500 average (7-for-14) with a double and two homers in the three-game set ... Zach Kokoska homered in the series opener, as the Wildcats have now recorded a home run in 13 straight games, their longest stretch in the Big 12 era ... Kokoska hit .400 during the series while Brennan went 4-for-13 ... K-State finished the month of April with a 9-8 record (5-4 Big 12) and are 7-3 over the last 10 games.
A LOOK AT BAYLOR
Baylor (30-12, 12-5 Big 12) sits atop the Big 12 standings after its three-game sweep of TCU last weekend ... The Bears are ranked as high as No. 15 in the national polls and have won their last four games while picking up four Big 12 series wins... Baylor owns the league's top offense with a team average of .316 and .481 slugging percentage ... Davis Wendzel is the Big 12's top hitter with a .385 season average while Andy Thomas (.353) and Cole Haring (.340) each rank in the top 10 ... Wendzel also paces the Big 12 with 60 base hits and a .500 on-base percentage ... On the mound, BU possesses the third-lowest earned run average in the conference at 3.48 while ranking second in opposing batting average at .225 ... Jimmy Winston's 3.08 leads the Bears' staff and ranks seventh on the Big 12 leaderboard ... Paul Dickens has tallied a team-high 76 strikeouts while opponents are hitting .207 against him.
A LOOK AT THE SERIES
Baylor leads the all-time series 48-27 (44-22 Big 12), dating back to 1966 ... K-State is 8-27 on the road in the series and has won each of the last two series in Waco ... Four of K-State's eight wins in Waco have come in the Wildcats' last two trips to Baylor Ballpark ... In 2017, the Wildcats swept a doubleheader on the final day of the regular season ... Baylor claimed all three games in Manhattan last season by a combined score of 42-8 ... Prior to the Bears' three-game sweep in 2018, the Cats had won each of the previous four seasons ... The teams have split the last 10 meetings overall and the last 10 matchups in Waco ... The Wildcats last swept a three-game series in 2010 in Manhattan and have never swept the Bears on the road.
VS RANKED OPPONENTS
K-State is 5-4 against ranked teams this season after taking two of three games at No. 14 Texas and No. 19 TCU ... K-State has won five of its last seven games against top-25 teams and clinched a road series victory over a ranked team for just the second time in program history and first since 2009 (at Texas) ... K-State went 0-8 against ranked teams last season and the Cats' 5-4 win over No. 10 Texas Tech on March 31 snapped a string of 11 straight ranked losses.
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 8-3 in games Wicks starts.
CAM THE MAN
K-State junior Cameron Thompson is currently riding a career-long 10-game hitting streak ... During those 10 games, Thompson has hit five home runs, including homers in two straight games vs. Oklahoma ... The Pasadena, Texas, product is hitting .370 with 17 hits over the stretch and now shares the team lead with 55 hits on the season.
POWER SURGE
K-State hit at least one home run in 13 straight games, including one in all three games vs. Oklahoma over the weekend ... Brennan hit the Wildcats' first grand slam of the season on Wednesday against Wichita State ... K-State has hit 16 homers in the last 10 games, led by Cameron Thompson who has five over the last 10 games ... The streak of 13 consecutive games with a home run marks K-State's longest stretch in the Big 12 era ... 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 ... Zach Kokoska hit his seventh home run Friday night against Oklahoma - a team high ... Thirty-one of K-State's 38 home runs this season have been hit by newcomers or by someone without a home run last season ... The Wildcats are 19-9 when hitting a home run and 6-1 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, .406 on-base percentage and a .532 slugging percentage ... Kokoska's season-long 12-game hitting streak came to an end Saturday following an 0-for-4 effort ... It was the longest streak by any Wildcat this season ... The Latrobe, Pennsylvania, product is second on the team with 29 runs batted in and third with 14 multi-hit games ... Kokoska boasts a team-best .357 average in Big 12 games, with a team-high seven multi-hit games ... Kokoska, in his first season at K-State after transferring from Virginia Tech, has hit safely in 26 of his last 33 games (12 of last 13), raising his average from .262 to .331.
WINNING TIME
In K-State's 22 wins this season, the Wildcats are hitting .360 with runners in scoring position and .309 with two outs ... Conversely, the Cats have a .183 average with runners in scoring position while hitting .172 with two outs over 24 losses ... K-State has produced 57 two-out RBI in victories with just 18 in 24 losses ... Overall, K-State hits .301 in victories against just .225 in defeats ... In 24 losses, K-State pitchers have combined for 121 walks (5.1 per game) while in victories the staff averages 3.5 walks per game (77 walks in 22 wins) ... K-State hit .154 (4-for-26) with runners in scoring position and .133 (4-for-30) with two outs and just one two-out RBI in three games vs. Oklahoma.
NO K FOR YOU
Junior Will Brennan owns the title of toughest player to strike out in the nation, going 17.7 at-bats per strikeout this season (177 AB, 10 K) ... Brennan's strikeout on April 19 vs. TCU snapped a streak of 57 consecutive at-bats without a strikeout ... 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 ... Brennan owns a career at-bat-to-strikeout ratio of 18.3, (567 AB, 31 K) ... Brennan is two hits shy of 200 career hits.
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