Kansas State University Athletics
Friday, February 14
Edinburg, Texas
7 p.m.
Kansas State University
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UTRGV
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K-State
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UT Rio Grande Valley
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Wildcats’ Offense Sputters in Season Opener
Feb 14, 2020 | Baseball
EDINBURG, Texas – K-State senior Caleb Littlejim broke up UT Rio Grande Valley's no-hit bid in the ninth inning, as the Vaqueros went on to register a 5-0 victory Friday night in the season opener at UTRGV Baseball Stadium.
Littlejim's single, which came with one out in the ninth, accounted for K-State's (0-1) lone base hit. Behind five shutout innings from starter Kevin Stevens and by four clean frames from John Henry Gonzalez, UTRGV (1-0) struck out 14 Wildcat batters.
"I think we tried to do too much, and this is a game where you can't try to do too much," said head coach Pete Hughes. "Give those guys a lot of credit, they pitched great and threw a lot of strikes. I just think we tried to do a little bit too much. We are certainly not a team that should strike out 14 times, we are better than that and we'll get back to work tomorrow."
Stevens fanned a career-high nine hitters while Gonzalez punched out five in earning the save. The pair combined for just one walk and allowed three Cats to reach base in the game (error, hit by pitch).
The Vaqueros grabbed an early 2-0 lead with a pair of runs on three hits off K-State starter Carson Seymour in the first inning. Conrado Diaz's ground-rule double scored Coleman Grubbs, who led off the game with a single. Christian Sepulveda also lifted a sacrifice fly in the frame.
Making his Wildcat debut, Seymour punched out five over 4 1/3 innings with four earned runs on six hits. The redshirt sophomore surrendered just one base hit from the second to fourth innings.
UTRGV doubled its lead with two runs in the fifth behind an RBI ground-rule double from Elijah Alexander. Andy Atwood brought in Freddy Rojas, Jr. via a sacrifice fly, finishing the night 2 for 4 with two runs scored.
Diaz went 2 for 2 with an RBI. Eight of the Vaqueros' nine base hits came from the top six hitters in the order.
Sophomore lefty Eric Torres retired both hitters he faced in relief of Seymour, working out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth.
Jaxon Passino threw the game's final three innings, striking out two while allowing one run on three hits.
Game two of the four-game set will start at 2 p.m. Saturday and will be streamed lived on the WAC Digital Network. Fans can also catch live, free audio at K-StateSports.com/watch.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Littlejim's single, which came with one out in the ninth, accounted for K-State's (0-1) lone base hit. Behind five shutout innings from starter Kevin Stevens and by four clean frames from John Henry Gonzalez, UTRGV (1-0) struck out 14 Wildcat batters.
"I think we tried to do too much, and this is a game where you can't try to do too much," said head coach Pete Hughes. "Give those guys a lot of credit, they pitched great and threw a lot of strikes. I just think we tried to do a little bit too much. We are certainly not a team that should strike out 14 times, we are better than that and we'll get back to work tomorrow."
Stevens fanned a career-high nine hitters while Gonzalez punched out five in earning the save. The pair combined for just one walk and allowed three Cats to reach base in the game (error, hit by pitch).
The Vaqueros grabbed an early 2-0 lead with a pair of runs on three hits off K-State starter Carson Seymour in the first inning. Conrado Diaz's ground-rule double scored Coleman Grubbs, who led off the game with a single. Christian Sepulveda also lifted a sacrifice fly in the frame.
Making his Wildcat debut, Seymour punched out five over 4 1/3 innings with four earned runs on six hits. The redshirt sophomore surrendered just one base hit from the second to fourth innings.
UTRGV doubled its lead with two runs in the fifth behind an RBI ground-rule double from Elijah Alexander. Andy Atwood brought in Freddy Rojas, Jr. via a sacrifice fly, finishing the night 2 for 4 with two runs scored.
Diaz went 2 for 2 with an RBI. Eight of the Vaqueros' nine base hits came from the top six hitters in the order.
Sophomore lefty Eric Torres retired both hitters he faced in relief of Seymour, working out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth.
Jaxon Passino threw the game's final three innings, striking out two while allowing one run on three hits.
Game two of the four-game set will start at 2 p.m. Saturday and will be streamed lived on the WAC Digital Network. Fans can also catch live, free audio at K-StateSports.com/watch.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- K-State scored no runs on one hit and committed no errors and left three on base.
- UTRGV scored five runs on nine hits with one error and stranded eight baserunners.
- Littlejim tallied the Wildcats' only base hit, a single with one out in the ninth.
- Stevens and Gonzalez combined to strike out 14 K-State batters.
- Seymour struck out five in 4 1/3 innings in his Wildcat debut.
- Atwood and Diaz each doubled for the game's only extra-base hits.
- The Cats went 1 for 7 with runners on base and 0 for 8 with two outs.
- K-State leads the all-time series 4-3.
- K-State is 1-1 on the road against UTRGV.
- The Cats have lost their last four season openers.
- Thompson made his 168th consecutive start for the Wildcats.
- The Wildcats were shut out in their season opener for the first time since 2014 (Cal Poly, 3-0).
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Stevens, K (1-0)
L: Seymour, Carson (0-1)
S: Gonzalez, Jo (1)
Base Running:
HBP: Thompson, Cameron 1
Batting:
2B: Atwood, A 1 ; Diaz, C 1
RBI: Atwood, A 1 ; Diaz, C 1 ; Sepulveda, C 1 ; Alexander, E 1 ; Hirsh, J 1
SH: Luper, D 1
SF: Sepulveda, C 1 ; Alexander, E 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Grubbs, C 1 ; Rojas Jr., F 1 ; Atwood, A 2 ; Alexander, E 1
SB: Hirsh, J 1
CS: Grubbs, C 1
HBP: Diaz, C 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
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H
1
RBI
0
AB
3
R
0
H
0
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
0
RBI
0
AB
3
R
0
H
0
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
RHP
/ Baseball
INF/RHP
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
LHP
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