Kansas State University Athletics
Tuesday, April 13
Manhattan, KS
6 p.m.
Kansas State University
18-14
8
vs
2
Northern Colorado
7-21
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Northern Colorado
0
0
2
0
0
0
0
0
0
2
7
2
K-State
0
2
2
2
0
2
0
0
X
8
7
0
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
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
Cats Snag Opener from Bears, 8-2
Apr 13, 2021 | Baseball
MANHATTAN, Kan. – K-State freshman Nick Goodwin hit a go-ahead solo home run in the third inning and starter Caleb Littlejim struck out five over five innings in an 8-2 victory over Northern Colorado Tuesday night at Tointon Family Stadium.
K-State (18-14) scored six unanswered runs after Northern Colorado (7-21) tied the game, 2-2, in the top of the third. The Wildcat bullpen tossed four hitless frames, including a stretch of 11 straight UNC hitters retired.
"It was good to get back to our winning ways and get back home and play in Tointon," said head coach Pete Hughes. "Our guys love to do that. We are trying to take advantage of the segment in our schedule. We have 12 home games where we can start playing clean baseball, and hopefully these midweek games can translate into us playing quality high level baseball here at home on the next two weekends."
Goodwin homered on the first pitch he saw to lead off the third inning, as he greeted UNC reliever Ian Torpey with his seventh bomb of the season. Torpey, who entered the game after starter Iain Isdale went two innings, took the loss after allowing two earned runs on one hit with two walks.
Goodwin's homer broke a 2-2 tie after the Bears got a game-tying two-run home run from Shaydon Kubo. Northern Colorado picked up four of its seven hits in the third inning.
"Anytime you have a visiting team get a little momentum, the quicker you can get the momentum back in your dugout, the better it is for you to build a lead," Hughes said. "You really want to take over the momentum of the game, especially at home. Good, disciplined swing from Nick to get us back into it and feeling good."
K-State extended its lead with another run in the third, taking advantage of two walks and three wild pitches thrown by Torpey.
The Cats pushed across two runs in the fourth inning, as Cameron Thompson lifted a sacrifice fly and Zach Kokoska added an RBI double. Kokoska was 2-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored in extending his career-long on-base streak to 28 games.
Kokoska and Blake Burrows led K-State with two hits apiece. Burrows, getting his first start of the season, went 2-for-4 with a run scored and a stolen base.
Chris Ceballos ripped a single to right-center field that scored Dylan Phillips and Cameron Uselton followed with an RBI fielder's choice, bringing home Kokoska.
Littlejim picked up the win for K-State and improved his record to 2-2. The senior right-hander scattered seven and did not issue a walk.
"I thought he was efficient," Hughes said of Littlejim. "He left a couple balls up but other than that he got us on the right track. Five innings, five strikeouts and no walks is the thing I look at. We had one walk and it came in the ninth inning. When you don't give someone free opportunities and then create your own opportunities from an offensive standpoint, that was kind of the tale of the game. It was a much-needed start by Caleb."
After Littlejim exited the game, Nico Rodriguez, Elijah Dale and Tyler Eckberg each logged a perfect inning of relief. Eckberg struck out the side in order in the eighth and while Eric Torres struck out three in the ninth.
K-State held the Bears hitless with runners in scoring position (0-for-5) and 1-for-10 with two outs.
Offensively, K-State worked seven walks, one shy of its season high. Uselton's three walks matched a single-game high by any Wildcat.
"I was just happy with our plate discipline, and that's a place offensively that we are poor at," Hughes added. "Our on-base percentage is second to last in the league, and that's because we don't walk enough. It takes a little plate discipline to do that and create some traffic on the bases and good things happen."
Four different Wildcats stole a base in the game. It was K-State's highest steal total over its last 20 contests.
UNC was led by Garrett Fisher and Ben McKay, who each went 2-for-4.
The Wildcats and Bears conclude the two-game series Wednesday at 6 p.m. The game will be broadcast on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ and the ESPN app. Radio coverage will be available on the News Radio KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) and live, free audio at K-StateSports.com/watch.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
K-State (18-14) scored six unanswered runs after Northern Colorado (7-21) tied the game, 2-2, in the top of the third. The Wildcat bullpen tossed four hitless frames, including a stretch of 11 straight UNC hitters retired.
"It was good to get back to our winning ways and get back home and play in Tointon," said head coach Pete Hughes. "Our guys love to do that. We are trying to take advantage of the segment in our schedule. We have 12 home games where we can start playing clean baseball, and hopefully these midweek games can translate into us playing quality high level baseball here at home on the next two weekends."
Goodwin homered on the first pitch he saw to lead off the third inning, as he greeted UNC reliever Ian Torpey with his seventh bomb of the season. Torpey, who entered the game after starter Iain Isdale went two innings, took the loss after allowing two earned runs on one hit with two walks.
Goodwin's homer broke a 2-2 tie after the Bears got a game-tying two-run home run from Shaydon Kubo. Northern Colorado picked up four of its seven hits in the third inning.
"Anytime you have a visiting team get a little momentum, the quicker you can get the momentum back in your dugout, the better it is for you to build a lead," Hughes said. "You really want to take over the momentum of the game, especially at home. Good, disciplined swing from Nick to get us back into it and feeling good."
K-State extended its lead with another run in the third, taking advantage of two walks and three wild pitches thrown by Torpey.
The Cats pushed across two runs in the fourth inning, as Cameron Thompson lifted a sacrifice fly and Zach Kokoska added an RBI double. Kokoska was 2-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored in extending his career-long on-base streak to 28 games.
Kokoska and Blake Burrows led K-State with two hits apiece. Burrows, getting his first start of the season, went 2-for-4 with a run scored and a stolen base.
Chris Ceballos ripped a single to right-center field that scored Dylan Phillips and Cameron Uselton followed with an RBI fielder's choice, bringing home Kokoska.
Littlejim picked up the win for K-State and improved his record to 2-2. The senior right-hander scattered seven and did not issue a walk.
"I thought he was efficient," Hughes said of Littlejim. "He left a couple balls up but other than that he got us on the right track. Five innings, five strikeouts and no walks is the thing I look at. We had one walk and it came in the ninth inning. When you don't give someone free opportunities and then create your own opportunities from an offensive standpoint, that was kind of the tale of the game. It was a much-needed start by Caleb."
After Littlejim exited the game, Nico Rodriguez, Elijah Dale and Tyler Eckberg each logged a perfect inning of relief. Eckberg struck out the side in order in the eighth and while Eric Torres struck out three in the ninth.
K-State held the Bears hitless with runners in scoring position (0-for-5) and 1-for-10 with two outs.
Offensively, K-State worked seven walks, one shy of its season high. Uselton's three walks matched a single-game high by any Wildcat.
"I was just happy with our plate discipline, and that's a place offensively that we are poor at," Hughes added. "Our on-base percentage is second to last in the league, and that's because we don't walk enough. It takes a little plate discipline to do that and create some traffic on the bases and good things happen."
Four different Wildcats stole a base in the game. It was K-State's highest steal total over its last 20 contests.
UNC was led by Garrett Fisher and Ben McKay, who each went 2-for-4.
The Wildcats and Bears conclude the two-game series Wednesday at 6 p.m. The game will be broadcast on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ and the ESPN app. Radio coverage will be available on the News Radio KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) and live, free audio at K-StateSports.com/watch.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- K-State scored eight runs on seven hits with no errors and 11 left on base.
- Northern Colorado scored two runs on seven hits with two errors and five left on base.
- Goodwin hit his seventh homer of the season.
- The Cats had four stolen bases, one shy of their season high.
- Burrows and Kokoska had multi-hit performances for the Cats.
- K-State had three extra-base hits on the night.
- Northern Colorado pitchers walked seven and hit three batters.
- Ceballos, Goodwin, Kokoska, Uselton and Thompson all drove in runs.
- Littlejim (2-2) picked up the win, allowing two runs on seven hits with no walks and five strikeouts in five innings of work.
- Rodriguez, Dale, Eckberg and Torres allowed no runs and no hits with eight strikeouts in four innings of relief.
- K-State was 1-for-10 with two outs, 4-for-21 with runners on and 2-for-18 with runners in scoring position.
- K-State is now 17-1 in the all-time series against Northern Colorado.
- The Cats have won four in a row in the series.
- Thompson made his 216th consecutive start and is currently second in career starts in K-State history.
- K-State has homered in 10 straight games.
- K-State is second in the Big 12 with 48 homers on the year.
- Kokoska continued his career-best on-base streak, which sits at 28 games.
Cats Win 😼#KStateBSB pic.twitter.com/v0bBcVkN7I
— K-State Baseball (@KStateBSB) April 14, 2021
'Cats add two more in the 4th #KStateBSB 6 - Northern Colorado 2 | Top 5 pic.twitter.com/lkukoVDaGn
— K-State Baseball (@KStateBSB) April 14, 2021
#KStateBSB 4 - Northern Colorado 2 | Top 4 pic.twitter.com/9J2y6uTy7M
— K-State Baseball (@KStateBSB) April 14, 2021
Nick Goodwin adding to the 'Cats big 💣 season
— K-State Baseball (@KStateBSB) April 14, 2021
✅ K-State homered in 10 straight games
✅ 48th home run of the season
✅ 13 different players with at least one home run #KStateBSB x @NCAACWS pic.twitter.com/wXxYE8qlAg
A Northern Colorado error leads to two runs for the 'Cats #KStateBSB 2 - Northern Colorado 0 | Top 3 pic.twitter.com/6dtqnJ5eEW
— K-State Baseball (@KStateBSB) April 13, 2021
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Littlejim, Caleb (2-2)
L: Ian TORPEY (0-1)
Batting:
2B: Garrett FISHER 1
HR: Shaydon KUBO 1
RBI: Shaydon KUBO 2
SH: Lincoln TURNER 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Aiden LEAHY 1 ; Shaydon KUBO 1
CS: Hayden HEINZE 1
Batting:
2B: Phillips, Dylan 1 ; Kokoska, Zach 1
HR: Goodwin, Nick 1
RBI: Thompson, Cameron 1 ; Goodwin, Nick 1 ; Kokoska, Zach 1 ; Ceballos, Chris 1 ; Uselton, Cameron 1
SF: Thompson, Cameron 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Burrows, Blake 1 ; Goodwin, Nick 1 ; Phillips, Dylan 1 ; Kokoska, Zach 2 ; Ceballos, Chris 1 ; Uselton, Cameron 1 ; Fowler, Kaden 1
SB: Burrows, Blake 1 ; Goodwin, Nick 1 ; Phillips, Dylan 1 ; Uselton, Cameron 1
HBP: Goodwin, Nick 1 ; Phillips, Dylan 1 ; Ceballos, Chris 1
Game Leaders
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
2
H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
1
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
OF
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/ Baseball
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OF
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