Kansas State University Athletics
Saturday, February 15
Edinburg, Texas
2 p.m.
Kansas State University
0-2
3
at
5
UTRGV
2-0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Kansas State
2
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
3
5
1
UT Rio Grande Valley
0
0
1
0
0
0
4
0
X
5
7
1
Vaqueros Rally Late to Steal Game 2 Saturday
Feb 15, 2020 | Baseball
EDINBURG, Texas – K-State senior Caleb Littlejim lifted a two-run home run in the first inning, but UT Rio Grande Valley used a four-run seventh to cap a 5-3 comeback win Saturday at UTRGV Baseball Stadium.
K-State (0-2) owned a 3-1 lead as the game hit the seventh-inning stretch before the first four UTRGV hitters reached base via two walks and two hit batters issued by reliever Eric Torres. Andy Atwood later delivered the go-ahead, two-run single to hand the Vaqueros (2-0) their second straight win to open the series.
"Squandered opportunities," said head coach Pete Hughes. "You get a good start and you need to win a game. We can talk about bad calls all we want, but we had two hits after the first inning. When you're on the road and have the opponent down, you've got to put them away and take away all the momentum for the rest of the day. We had an opportunity to do that and we didn't do it."
Torres came on in relief of starter Connor McCullough, who put in six innings of work in his Wildcat debut. McCullough, who retired eight straight hitters at one point, struck out six while allowing just one run on four hits. Torres suffered the loss after yielding four runs before recording an out.
Brett Lockwood lifted Torres and worked out of the bases-loaded jam in the seventh. Lockwood finished the game with no runs allowed on three hits.
After producing one hit as a team Friday night, the Cats strung together three consecutive hits to begin the ballgame. Cameron Thompson led off the game with a single on the first pitch he saw before Littlejim followed with his seventh-career home run. Zach Kokoska also singled in K-State's two-run first.
UTRGV cut the lead in half with an RBI single from Coleman Grubbs coming with two outs in the third.
Terrence Spurlin pushed the lead back to two runs after he walked and scored on an error in the top half of the fourth inning.
After three hits and two runs in the opening frame, K-State scraped together just two base hits off starter Kevin Palm: a single by second baseman Daniel Carinci in the second and a fourth-inning single from shortstop Kamron Willman.
In earning the win, Palm struck out three with two earned runs given up on five hits.
UTRGV relievers Deryk Serbantez and Max Balderrama, Jr. combined to keep K-State hitless over the game's final four innings while striking four. Balderrama earned his first save of the season.
Atwood ended 2 for 3 with a pair of RBI while Darian Luper produced a two-hit game for UTRGV, going 2 for 3 with two runs scored.
The third game of the four-game set will start at 2 p.m. Sunday and will be streamed lived on the WAC Digital Network. Radio coverage is also available on News Radio KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) with live, free audio at K-StateSports.com/watch.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
K-State (0-2) owned a 3-1 lead as the game hit the seventh-inning stretch before the first four UTRGV hitters reached base via two walks and two hit batters issued by reliever Eric Torres. Andy Atwood later delivered the go-ahead, two-run single to hand the Vaqueros (2-0) their second straight win to open the series.
"Squandered opportunities," said head coach Pete Hughes. "You get a good start and you need to win a game. We can talk about bad calls all we want, but we had two hits after the first inning. When you're on the road and have the opponent down, you've got to put them away and take away all the momentum for the rest of the day. We had an opportunity to do that and we didn't do it."
Torres came on in relief of starter Connor McCullough, who put in six innings of work in his Wildcat debut. McCullough, who retired eight straight hitters at one point, struck out six while allowing just one run on four hits. Torres suffered the loss after yielding four runs before recording an out.
Brett Lockwood lifted Torres and worked out of the bases-loaded jam in the seventh. Lockwood finished the game with no runs allowed on three hits.
After producing one hit as a team Friday night, the Cats strung together three consecutive hits to begin the ballgame. Cameron Thompson led off the game with a single on the first pitch he saw before Littlejim followed with his seventh-career home run. Zach Kokoska also singled in K-State's two-run first.
UTRGV cut the lead in half with an RBI single from Coleman Grubbs coming with two outs in the third.
Terrence Spurlin pushed the lead back to two runs after he walked and scored on an error in the top half of the fourth inning.
After three hits and two runs in the opening frame, K-State scraped together just two base hits off starter Kevin Palm: a single by second baseman Daniel Carinci in the second and a fourth-inning single from shortstop Kamron Willman.
In earning the win, Palm struck out three with two earned runs given up on five hits.
UTRGV relievers Deryk Serbantez and Max Balderrama, Jr. combined to keep K-State hitless over the game's final four innings while striking four. Balderrama earned his first save of the season.
Atwood ended 2 for 3 with a pair of RBI while Darian Luper produced a two-hit game for UTRGV, going 2 for 3 with two runs scored.
The third game of the four-game set will start at 2 p.m. Sunday and will be streamed lived on the WAC Digital Network. Radio coverage is also available on News Radio KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) with live, free audio at K-StateSports.com/watch.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- K-State scored three runs on five hit and committed one error and left six on base.
- UTRGV scored five runs on seven hits with one error and stranded seven baserunners.
- Littlejim hit a two-run homer in the first inning, the seventh of his career.
- K-State began the game with three straight hits after being one-hit Friday.
- McCullough struck out six in six innings of work in his Wildcat debut.
- McCullough allowed one run on four hits.
- The Cats were held hitless after the fourth inning.
- The Cats went 2 for 14 with runners on base and 2 for 11 with two outs.
- The all-time series is now tied 4-4.
- K-State is 1-2 on the road against UTRGV.
- UTRGV has won the last three meetings in the series.
- Thompson made his 169th consecutive start for the Wildcats.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Serbantez, Deryk (1-0)
L: Torres, Eric (0-1)
S: Balderrama Jr., Max (1)
Batting:
HR: Littlejim, Caleb 1
RBI: Littlejim, Caleb 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Thompson, Cameron 1 ; Littlejim, Caleb 1 ; Spurlin, Terrence 1
SB: Thompson, Cameron 1 ; Willman, Kamron 1
HBP: Willman, Kamron 2
Batting:
RBI: Grubbs, Coleman 1 ; Rojas Jr., Freddy 1 ; Atwood, Andy 2 ; Hirsh, Jacob 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Alexander, Elijah 1 ; Luper, Darian 2 ; Flores, Jacob 1 ; Hirsh, Jacob 1
SB: Luper, Darian 1
CS: Atwood, Andy 1 ; Alexander, Elijah 1
HBP: Atwood, Andy 1 ; Diaz, Conrado 2 ; Flores, Jacob 1 ; Hirsh, Jacob 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
2
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
2
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
INF
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OF/LHP
/ Baseball
RHP
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RHP
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RHP
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INF
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IF/OF
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LHP
/ BaseballINF
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