Kansas State University Athletics
Thursday, April 1
Manhattan, KS
6 p.m.
Kansas State University
13-11, 0-4
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17
Texas Tech
20-4, 3-1
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9
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Texas Tech
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8
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17
16
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K-State
0
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1
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Photo by: Scott D. Weaver / K-State Athletics
Photo by: Scott D. Weaver / K-State Athletics
Photo by: Scott D. Weaver / K-State Athletics
Photo by: Scott D. Weaver / K-State Athletics
Photo by: Scott D. Weaver / K-State Athletics
Photo by: Scott D. Weaver / K-State Athletics
Photo by: Scott D. Weaver / K-State Athletics
Photo by: Scott D. Weaver / K-State Athletics
Photo by: Scott D. Weaver / K-State Athletics
Photo by: Scott D. Weaver / K-State Athletics
Photo by: Scott D. Weaver / K-State Athletics
Photo by: Scott D. Weaver / K-State Athletics
Photo by: Scott D. Weaver / K-State Athletics
Photo by: Scott D. Weaver / K-State Athletics
Photo by: Scott D. Weaver / K-State Athletics
Photo by: Scott D. Weaver / K-State Athletics
Photo by: Scott D. Weaver / K-State Athletics
Photo by: Scott D. Weaver / K-State Athletics
Photo by: Scott D. Weaver / K-State Athletics
Photo by: Scott D. Weaver / K-State Athletics
No. 3 Red Raiders Take Series Opener From K-State Thursday
Apr 01, 2021 | Baseball
MANHATTAN, Kan. – In Thursday night's series opener at Tointon Family Stadium, the third-ranked Texas Tech Red Raiders hit six home runs, including three by Jace Jung, on their way to a 17-1 victory over the K-State Wildcats.
Jung finished the day 3-for-6 with four runs batted in and homered twice in Texas Tech's eight-run seventh inning. With the score sitting at 5-1 through six innings, the Red Raiders (20-4, 3-1 Big 12) tallied four home runs in the seventh, an inning that began with three consecutive long balls by Jung, Kurt Wilson and Dylan Neuse.
"Master of the obvious here, just not a good night," said head coach Pete Hughes. "Anytime you make more errors than hits, I've never coached in a game where that's had a winning outcome. In a three-game series, at some point you have to cut your losses and start thinking about winning the series. I thought we had some really good at bats early on. Just disappointing how we pitched and played defense tonight."
K-State (13-11, 0-4 Big 12) got nine strikeouts over five innings from Jordan Wicks. The sophomore lefty allowed five earned runs on nine hits with two walks in suffering his second straight loss. Wicks struck out the side in both the first and second innings and piled up seven strikeouts through the first three frames.
"I thought he was unbelievable those first two innings," Hughes said of Wicks. "He put a lot of momentum in our dugout … The only thing I'm looking at offensively is quality at bats. When he strikes out the side in the first two innings, we had some loud and hard outs. If it goes six feet this way or six feet that way, maybe it's a different story. I think he left a couple of pitches up, and these guys are as good of an offensive team as you're going to find in college baseball."
Ten of TTU's 16 hits went for extra bases. Neuse doubled twice in a 2-for-4 night with three RBI.
K-State, who had two hits in its fifth straight loss, got a solo home run from Zach Kokoska to lead off the fifth inning. It marked his 10th home run of the season in extending his on-base streak to 20 games.
Chris Ceballos accounted for the other Wildcat hit – a two-out single in the fourth.
Tech starter Brandon Birdsell retired the first 11 K-State hitters he saw, as he allowed one run on two hits in five innings. Birdsell struck out four and walked one in earning his fourth win of the season.
TTU relievers Micah Dallas and Chase Webster teamed up to throw four hitless innings. The pair struck out three and walked one.
Baker and Jung connected on back-to-back solo home runs in the third to give the Red Raiders a 2-0 lead. TTU added three more in the next inning, highlighted by an RBI double from catcher Braxton Fulford.
The score sat at 5-1 before Texas Tech's eight-run seventh in which it brought 11 to the plate and registered five hits to go with a Wildcat error.
TTU added four unearned runs after two K-State errors extended the top of the ninth inning.
Five K-State pitchers combined to issue 10 walks to go with 11 strikeouts.
"These guys are resilient, a lot more resilient than I am," Hughes added. "Baseball is like no other game. You play them three or four days in a row and four out of six days. You've gotta be able to bounce back quick. Our guys are fine. We have good leadership in that clubhouse. They understand the big picture."
K-State and Texas Tech continue the series Friday at 6 p.m., with streaming coverage on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ and the ESPN app. Radio coverage will be available on the K-State Sports Network and live, free audio at K-StateSports.com/watch.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Jung finished the day 3-for-6 with four runs batted in and homered twice in Texas Tech's eight-run seventh inning. With the score sitting at 5-1 through six innings, the Red Raiders (20-4, 3-1 Big 12) tallied four home runs in the seventh, an inning that began with three consecutive long balls by Jung, Kurt Wilson and Dylan Neuse.
"Master of the obvious here, just not a good night," said head coach Pete Hughes. "Anytime you make more errors than hits, I've never coached in a game where that's had a winning outcome. In a three-game series, at some point you have to cut your losses and start thinking about winning the series. I thought we had some really good at bats early on. Just disappointing how we pitched and played defense tonight."
K-State (13-11, 0-4 Big 12) got nine strikeouts over five innings from Jordan Wicks. The sophomore lefty allowed five earned runs on nine hits with two walks in suffering his second straight loss. Wicks struck out the side in both the first and second innings and piled up seven strikeouts through the first three frames.
"I thought he was unbelievable those first two innings," Hughes said of Wicks. "He put a lot of momentum in our dugout … The only thing I'm looking at offensively is quality at bats. When he strikes out the side in the first two innings, we had some loud and hard outs. If it goes six feet this way or six feet that way, maybe it's a different story. I think he left a couple of pitches up, and these guys are as good of an offensive team as you're going to find in college baseball."
Ten of TTU's 16 hits went for extra bases. Neuse doubled twice in a 2-for-4 night with three RBI.
K-State, who had two hits in its fifth straight loss, got a solo home run from Zach Kokoska to lead off the fifth inning. It marked his 10th home run of the season in extending his on-base streak to 20 games.
Chris Ceballos accounted for the other Wildcat hit – a two-out single in the fourth.
Tech starter Brandon Birdsell retired the first 11 K-State hitters he saw, as he allowed one run on two hits in five innings. Birdsell struck out four and walked one in earning his fourth win of the season.
TTU relievers Micah Dallas and Chase Webster teamed up to throw four hitless innings. The pair struck out three and walked one.
Baker and Jung connected on back-to-back solo home runs in the third to give the Red Raiders a 2-0 lead. TTU added three more in the next inning, highlighted by an RBI double from catcher Braxton Fulford.
The score sat at 5-1 before Texas Tech's eight-run seventh in which it brought 11 to the plate and registered five hits to go with a Wildcat error.
TTU added four unearned runs after two K-State errors extended the top of the ninth inning.
Five K-State pitchers combined to issue 10 walks to go with 11 strikeouts.
"These guys are resilient, a lot more resilient than I am," Hughes added. "Baseball is like no other game. You play them three or four days in a row and four out of six days. You've gotta be able to bounce back quick. Our guys are fine. We have good leadership in that clubhouse. They understand the big picture."
K-State and Texas Tech continue the series Friday at 6 p.m., with streaming coverage on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ and the ESPN app. Radio coverage will be available on the K-State Sports Network and live, free audio at K-StateSports.com/watch.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- K-State scored one run on two hits with three errors and six left on base.
- Texas Tech scored 17 runs on 16 hits with two errors and 12 left on base.
- Kokoska hit his team-leading 10th homer of the year.
- Kokoska's homer was the only extra-base hit of the night for K-State.
- Ceballos produced K-State's only other hit, a single in the fourth.
- K-State was 1-for-11 with two outs, 1-for-6 with runners on and 0-for-4 with runners in scoring position.
- Wicks (4-2) allowed five runs on nine hits with two walks and nine strikeouts in five innings of work.
- K-State allowed seven unearned runs on the night.
- Texas Tech hit six homers, including three by Jung.
- The Red Raiders had 10 extra-base hits.
- TTU has won 20 of its last 21 games.
- Texas Tech leads the all-time series, 46-28-1 (29-26-1 Big 12)
- The series is tied 17-17 in Manhattan.
- Texas Tech has won 10 of the last 11 meetings between the teams.
- Kokoska extended his on-base streak to 20 games.
- Thompson made his 208th consecutive start for the Wildcats (sixth all-time).
- K-State now has 33 homers on the year.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Brandon Birdsell (4-1)
L: Wicks, Jordan (4-2)
Batting:
2B: Dylan Neuse 2 ; Kurt Wilson 1 ; Braxton Fulford 1
HR: Dru Baker 1 ; Jace Jung 3 ; Kurt Wilson 1 ; Easton Murrell 1
RBI: Dylan Neuse 3 ; Cal Conley 2 ; Dru Baker 1 ; Jace Jung 4 ; Kurt Wilson 1 ; Easton Murrell 1 ; Braydon Runion 1 ; Braxton Fulford 1 ; Dillon Carter 1 ; Nate Rombach 1
SF: Dylan Neuse 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Dylan Neuse 1 ; Dru Baker 1 ; Parker Kelly 2 ; Jace Jung 3 ; Kurt Wilson 1 ; Max Marusak 1 ; Easton Murrell 2 ; Braydon Runion 1 ; Braxton Fulford 2 ; Cole Stilwell 1 ; Dillon Carter 1 ; Nate Rombach 1
SB: Dylan Neuse 2
Batting:
HR: Kokoska, Zach 1
RBI: Kokoska, Zach 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Kokoska, Zach 1
HBP: Goodwin, Nick 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
4
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
1
dh/3b
AB
3
R
0
H
0
RBI
0
AB
4
R
0
H
0
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
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