K-State Hosts WVU in Final Home Series

MANHATTAN, Kan. – K-State is set to host 20^th-ranked West Virginia in its final home series of the season, starting Friday at 6 p.m. at Tointon Family Stadium.

Saturday marks Senior Day, as K-State (24-26, 7-11 Big 12) will honor its four-member senior class on prior to its 4 p.m. game with the Mountaineers (29-17, 11-10 Big 12). Sunday's series finale is scheduled for an 11 a.m. first pitch.

The Cats are coming off back-to-back wins after an 11-5 home win over Texas Southern on Tuesday. In the two victories, catcher Chris Ceballos homered twice while Dylan Phillips launched two home runs against the Tigers.

Friday offers a $10 T-shirt ticket package as well as dollar hot dogs while supplies last. Select players will be available to sign autographs following Saturday's game while Sunday offers a Family 4-Pack.

The entire series will air on ESPN3 and the ESPN app. Radio coverage is available on News Radio KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) with streaming audio at K-StateSports.com/watch.

GAME #51
K-STATE (24-26, 7-11 BIG 12) vs. #20 WEST VIRGINIA (29-17, 11-10 BIG 12)
Friday, May 10 // 6 p.m. // Tointon Family Stadium (2,334) // Manhattan, Kan.
Projected Starters: RHP Caleb Littlejim (5-2, 4.95 ERA) vs. RHP Alek Manoah (6-3, 2.07 ERA)
Watch: ESPN3 // ESPN app // Brian Smoller, Mike Clark, Anna Christianson
Radio: News Radio KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) // Matt Walters, John Kurtz
Listen Online: K-StateSports.com/watch // 1350kman.com
Promotion: Dollar Dog Friday // $10 T-Shirt Package | Buy Tickets
Watch | Listen Online | Live Stats

GAME #52
K-STATE (24-26, 7-11 BIG 12) vs. #20 WEST VIRGINIA (29-17, 11-10 BIG 12)
Saturday, May 11 // 4 p.m. // Tointon Family Stadium (2,334) // Manhattan, Kan.
Projected Starters: RHP Griffin Hassall (2-2, 3.13 ERA) vs. LHP Jackson Wolf (2-3, 4.07 ERA)
Watch: ESPN3 // ESPN app // Brian Smoller, Mike Clark, Anna Christianson
Radio: News Radio KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) // Matt Walters, John Kurtz
Listen Online: K-StateSports.com/watch // 1350kman.com
Promotion: Senior Day // Postgame Autographs | Buy Tickets
Watch | Listen Online | Live Stats

GAME #53
K-STATE (24-26, 7-11 BIG 12) vs. #20 WEST VIRGINIA (29-17, 11-10 BIG 12)
Sunday, May 12 // 11 a.m. // Tointon Family Stadium (2,334) // Manhattan, Kan.
Projected Starters: LHP Jordan Wicks (6-1, 2.69 ERA) vs. RHP Kade Strowd (4-5, 4.71 ERA)
Watch: ESPN3 // ESPN app // Brian Smoller, Mike Clark, Anna Christianson
Radio: News Radio KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) // Matt Walters, John Kurtz
Listen Online: K-StateSports.com/watch // 1350kman.com
Promotion: Sunday Family 4-Pack | Buy Tickets
Watch | Listen Online | Live Stats

A LOOK AT K-STATE
K-State (24-26, 7-11 Big 12) hosts No. 20 West Virginia in its final home series of the season ... Tuesday, K-State jumped out to a 9-0 lead over Texas Southern on its way to a 11-5 victory against the Tigers ... Freshman Dylan Phillips launched a pair of home runs and produced a career-high four RBI in the win ... Chris Ceballos claimed the team lead in home runs and RBI after a three-run homer in the first inning ... Ceballos had three hits to lead four Wildcats with multi-hit games ... Over the weekend, K-State won one of three games at No. 15 Baylor ... After dropping the first two games of the series, the Wildcats jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the finale courtesy of a five-run third ... In the inning, K-State scored all five runs with two outs and finished the game with eight of its 10 runs coming with two gone ... Ceballos homered as one of his four hits in the finale ... Cameron Thompson drove in three while Blake Burrows, Caleb Littlejim and Jaxon Passino each had two RBI ... Burrows' runs batted in marked the first in his K-State career ... Jordan Wicks turned in his team-best seventh quality start of the season as he allowed two earned runs over six innings ... In the series, Ceballos led the Cats with five hits, going 5-for-10 with a homer ... Littlejim drove in five runs to take over the team lead in the category with 32 ... Terrence Spurlin lifted a three-run home run Friday night to put K-State ahead 3-0 in the first inning of the series opener ... Game 1 of the series would later be suspended due to inclement weather and was resumed Saturday with the score 3-3 and two Baylor runners on base in the sixth inning ... When play resumed, the Bears drew a bases-loaded walk which would turn out to be the game-winning run ... K-State's win on Sunday improved its record to 6-6 against ranked teams, as it currently sits one game out of fifth place in the Big 12 standings with a 7-11 record.

A LOOK AT WEST VIRGINIA
West Virginia (29-17, 11-10 Big 12) saw its streak of five straight Big 12 series wins broken after dropping two of three games to TCU at home last weekend ... The Mountaineers, who travel to Manhattan ranked as high as No. 20, sit in fourth place in the conference standings and enter their final Big 12 series ... WVU possesses the top two arms in the league in terms of ERA in Nick Snyder (2.05) and Alek Manoah (2.07) ... As a team, the Mountaineers rank third with a team ERA of 3.61 while Manoah leads the Big 12 with 108 strikeouts and 82 2/3 innings pitched ... Three West Virginia pitchers rank in the league's top 10 in opposing batting average, led by Snyder at .163 ... Offensively, WVU ranks last with a .245 team batting average ... Darius Hill leads his team with a .288 average while Paul McIntosh and Marques Inman each have a team-high eight home runs ... Inman leads his squad with 31 runs batted in ... Five Mountaineers are hitting .282 or higher.

A LOOK AT THE SERIES
West Virginia leads the all-time series 10-8 going back to 2012 when WVU joined the Big 12 ... K-State is 5-4 at home all-time vs. West Virginia ... A season ago, the Mountaineers claimed two of three games in Morgantown, with K-State winning the finale 7-4 ... The Wildcats took the series against a 21st-ranked WVU squad in 2017 in Manhattan (2-1) ... The teams have split the last 10 meetings overall ... There has only been one three-game sweep in the series' history back in 2014 when WVU won all three games in Morgantown.

VS RANKED OPPONENTS
K-State is 6-6 against ranked teams this season after taking the series finale at No. 15 Baylor last Sunday ... K-State took two of three games at No. 14 Texas and No. 19 TCU ... The Cats' series against West Virginia will mark the fourth series in the last five weekends against a ranked team ... K-State has won six of its last nine 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.

FROM THE PEN
K-State's bullpen has thrown 210 innings this season, with exactly half coming at home ... In 105 innings at Tointon Family Stadium, Wildcat relievers have a 4.54 ERA with 101 strikeouts and 49 walks while away from home, K-State has a 5.66 earned run average with 66 walks and 106 strikeouts in the same number of innings ... Sophomore Andrew Stratman has a 1.62 ERA in 16 2/3 innings at home out of the pen, with 17 strikeouts and just three walks ... Brett Lockwood has yet to allow a run over 6 2/3 innings at home, with opponents hitting just .130 against him ... At home, K-State relievers have a 6-3 record with four saves while going 3-5 and four saves in road and neutral games.

POWER SURGE
K-State hit a one home run in 16 of its last 17 games, including a stretch of 14 straight games before being snapped Saturday at Baylor ... The stretch of 14 consecutive games with a home run marked the Wildcats longest in the Big 12 era and is the longest by any team in the nation this season ... K-State hit three homers in its win over TSU Tuesday, including two by Dylan Phillips and one by Chris Ceballos ... Ceballos has homered in back-to-back games ... K-State has hit 20 homers in the last 17 games, led by Cameron Thompson who has 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 ... Chris Ceballos leads the way with eight home runs, as K-State has tallied 43 on the season ... Thirty-six of K-State's 43 home runs this season have been hit by newcomers or by someone without a home run last season ... The Wildcats are 21-10 when hitting a home run and 7-1 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 9-3 in games Wicks starts, who has a team-best seven quality outings in 12 starts.

LITTLEJIM, BIG BAT
With five RBI in the three-game series at Baylor, K-State junior Caleb Littlejim is second on the team lead with 32 runs batted in ... Littlejim drove in three in Game 2 of the Baylor series and two more in the series finale ... Littlejim, who was exclusively a pitcher the last two seasons, has driven in multiple runs in three of his last five games ... He leads K-State with 12 multi-RBI games ... Littlejim has a team-best 13 RBI in conference games and leads the team with a .447 average with runners in scoring position with a team-high 21 two-out RBI.

WINNING TIME
In K-State's 24 wins this season, the Wildcats are hitting .369 with runners in scoring position and .326 with two outs ... Conversely, the Cats have a .194 average with runners in scoring position while hitting .176 with two outs over 26 losses ... K-State has produced 72 two-out RBI in victories with just 23 in 26 losses ... Overall, K-State hits .306 in victories against just .224 in defeats ... In 26 losses, K-State pitchers have combined for 127 walks (5.1 per game) while in victories the staff averages 3.7 walks per game (89 walks in 24 wins) ... K-State had 13 two-out RBI against the Baylor Bears, including eight in its 10-3 win on Sunday ... K-State hit .364 with runners in scoring position at Baylor.

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Players Mentioned

Blake Burrows

Chris Ceballos

Griffin Hassall

Caleb Littlejim

Brett Lockwood

Jaxon Passino

Dylan Phillips

Terrence Spurlin

Andrew Stratman

Cameron Thompson

Jordan Wicks

Kansas State University Athletics