Kansas State University Athletics
Tuesday, April 27
Manhattan, KS
6 p.m.
Kansas State University
vs
Missouri
Cats Take on Tigers in Final Midweek Tilt
Apr 26, 2021 | Baseball
MANHATTAN, Kan. – In its final midweek contest of the regular season, K-State will host former Big 12 rival Missouri Tuesday night at 6 p.m. at Tointon Family Stadium.
K-State (23-16, 6-9 Big 12) has won back-to-back conference series after claiming two of three games against West Virginia over the weekend. Redshirt freshman Connor McCullough was tabbed Big 12 Pitcher of the Week after yielding just one hit over seven innings in Saturday's 5-2 victory.
Missouri (12-25, 5-13 SEC) has lost eight of its last nine contests after dropping two of three games to Georgia last weekend.
The Wildcats and Tigers will meet for the third straight season, with the teams splitting the last two matchups. K-State defeated MU, 5-1, last season in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Tuesday's game will be broadcast on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ and the ESPN app. Radio coverage is available on News Radio KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) with free, streaming audio is available at K-StateSports.com/watch.
Single-game tickets are now on sale through the K-State Ticket Office at K-StateSports.com/tickets or by calling (800) 221-CATS. Capacity at Tointon Family Stadium has been increased to 50 percent, with all tickets being sold as general admission and no longer in reserved pods. The first 175 students will also be admitted for free with their K-State student ID with designated seating in the right field bleachers.
All fans in attendance will be required to wear a face covering and maintain social distance from other pods of fans. Due to health and safety guidelines, players will not be available for autographs before or after each game.
GAME #40
K-STATE (23-16, 6-9 BIG 12) vs. MISSOURI (12-25, 5-13 SEC)
Tuesday, April 27 // 6 p.m. // Tointon Family Stadium (2,344) // Manhattan, Kan.
LHP Dylan Phillips (0-0, 1.80 ERA) vs. LHP Trae Robertson (0-2, 12.67 ERA)
Watch: Big 12 Now on ESPN+ // Brian Smoller, Mike Clark
Radio: KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) // John Kurtz, Matt Walters
Listen Online: K-StateSports.com/watch // 1350KMAN.com
Buy Tickets | Live Stats
A LOOK AT K-STATE
K-State continues its season-long 12-game homestand with a midweek matchup with former Big 12 rival Missouri on Tuesday at Tointon Family Stadium ... The Wildcats are fresh off their second straight conference weekend series win after taking two of three games from West Virginia ... After dropping the series opener in 11 innings, the Cats responded with back-to-back wins to claim their third home Big 12 series victory ... Jordan Wicks struck out a career-high 11 hitters Friday, and K-State forced extra innings with a run in the bottom of the ninth ... Saturday, Connor McCullough allowed just one hit over seven innings - taking a no-hitter into the sixth inning - in helping the Wildcats even the series ... Terrence Spurlin lifted a three-run homer in the 5-2 win ... The K-State offense launched four homers in the rubber game Sunday while Kasey Ford logged 6 1/3 innings of relief without allowing an earned run ... Ford earned the win and scattered just three hits ... Dylan Caplinger and Kamron Willman each homered and drove in three runs in the series finale ... Willman drove in four over the weekend, all coming with two outs ... The K-State bullpen produced an ERA of 0.71 (12.2 IP, ER) while striking out nine ... Zach Kokoska extended his career-long on-base streak to 35 games.
SCOUTING MISSOURI
Missouri (12-25, 5-13 SEC) dropped two of three games at home to Georgia last weekend, as the Tigers have lost eight of their last nine contests overall ... Andrew Keefer leads MU with his .293 average and eight doubles ... Torin Montgomery has a team-best five home runs and 22 RBI ... As a team, Mizzou has 27 home runs hit by 11 different players ... On the mound, Missouri has a 7.28 ERA while opponents hit .272 against them ... Lefty Trae Robertson will be making his third start of the season and has an 0-2 record to go with a 12.67 ERA ... MU is 7-16 in games away from home.
INSIDE THE SERIES
Dating back to 1907, Missouri lead the all-time series 169-102-1 ... The Wildcats are 54-85 against the Tigers at home in the series, lasting hosting Mizzou in 2011 when it was a member of the Big 12 ... After a six-year hiatus, Tuesday's meeting will be the third straight season in which the teams have met, with the teams splitting the last two matchups ... K-State claimed a 5-1 victory over Missouri last season in Corpus Christi, Texas ... The Cats' last home win vs. Missouri came in 2011 (8-5) ... K-State is 2-8 over the last 10 games in the series and look to win back-to-back games against its former conference rival for the first time since 2004.
MIDWEEK MADNESS
K-State faces its final midweek test of the season in Missouri ... The Wildcats are 6-1 this season in midweek tilts, including a perfect 6-0 at home during the week ... K-State is hitting .318 and averaging 9.7 runs per game on 10.9 hits ... The Cats have hit 15 homers as part of 33 extra-base hits in seven midweek contests ... Dylan Phillips is slashing .500/.548/1.231 with a team-high five homers and 11 RBI in midweek games ... The pitching staff has a combined 1.22 ERA with 91 strikeouts in 59 innings ... The bullpen has an ERA of 0.75 with 66 strikeouts against 15 walks.
BIG BAT CATS
After going without a home run in the season's opening weekend (four games), the Wildcats have erupted for 57 home runs over the last 35 games ... Junior Zach Kokoska leads the way with 12 homers while sophomore Dylan Phillips has 11 ... Senior Cameron Thompson and freshman Nick Goodwin each have eight ... All four rank in the Big 12's top 10, as no other club has more than two ... Kokoska ranks second in the league with his 12 homers, which is tied for seventh-most in a single season in K-State history ... As a team, K-State has homered in 16 of the last 17 contests, including a stretch of 11 straight games, and has launched multiple home runs 12 times ... 14 different Cats have homered this season, with five players turning in a multi-homer game ... The 14 different players with a homer equal the team's most ever in a season (1997) season and are tied for the most in the country this season ... K-State's 57 home runs are seventh-most in the country and fourth in a single season in program history.
WE'RE GOIN' STREAKING
Zach Kokoska extended his career-long on-base streak to 35 games against the Mountaineers ... With his in two of three games last weekend, he has hit safely in 23 of his last 25 games, including a stretch of 14 straight games that ended Friday ... Dylan Phillips put together a 32-game on base streak that went back to last season and ended on March 27 at Oklahoma State ... K-State's stretch of 11 straight games with a home run came to an end in the second game of a doubleheader vs. OU on April 17... It was tied for the longest streak in the country (Arkansas).
THE FRIENDLY CONFINES
K-State, in the midst of a season-long 12-game homestand, is 18-6 this year at Tointon Family Stadium ... The Cats have won their last 10 of their last 12 home games and 16 of their last 20 overall ... At home, the Wildcat offense is hitting .304 while launching 48 home runs ... K-State has homered in 22 of its last 24 games at home ... K-State averages 7.7 runs per game and 10.4 hit a game at Tointon Family Stadium as opposed to 3.4 runs a game (6.7 hits/game) in road and neutral contests ... In true road games, the Cats average three runs a game with an average of .203 ... The K-State pitching staff boasts an ERA of 3.08 at home while the bullpen is even lower at 1.88.
KOKO BE LOCO
Junior outfielder Zach Kokoska is riding a career-long 35-game ... Over the last 17 contests, Kokoska has a team-best .385 average to go with seven doubles, four homers and 11 RBI ... His on-base percentage of .444 is also a team high in that span ... The Latrobe, Pa, product has 11 multi-hit games over his last 22 outings ... His 12 homers rank second in the conference and are tied for seventh-most in a single season in K-State history (record 16 set in 1997).
WHAMMER HAMMER
Dylan Phillips' two-run homer against West Virginia Saturday was his 11th of the season, setting a new single-season high, and the 65th of his career .. His 26 homers rank eighth in program history ... Phillips has two multi-homer games this season and four in his career ... Phillips has recorded a base hit in 42 of his last 50 games, including 19 multi-hit efforts ... With 41 runs batted in this season, Phillips has driven in 52 runs over his last 46 games while recording an RBI in 28 of those games ... The two-way star saw a streak of 10 consecutive games with an RBI snapped March 14 at Rice.
WICKY WICKY YEAH
K-State lefty Jordan Wicks racked up the preseason honors, including being named the 2021 Big 12 Co-Preseason Pitcher of the Year ... Wicks was tabbed a preseason all-American by D1Baseball, Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball and NCBWA ... The Conway, Ark., product is K-State's first preseason all-America nod since 2014 and the first Big 12 preseason of-the-year award winner ... Wicks was also one of 55 named to USA Baseball's Golden Spikes Award Watch List, which recognizes the nation's premier amateur player ... Following his 10-strikeout, seven scoreless innings against Oregon State on Opening Day, Wicks was named Big 12 Pitcher of the Week and National Pitcher of the Week by the NCBWA ... Wicks leads the Big 12 with his 84 strikeouts and has reached double-digit strikeouts four times after a career-best 11 in his last start vs WVU ... Six of his 10 starts this season have been quality efforts after Friday... Dating back to last season, Wicks has a 2.56 ERA (25 ER, 88 IP) with 110 strikeouts.
FROM THE PEN
The K-State bullpen owns an ERA of 4.07 while starters have a near-identical 4.06 earned run average ... Over the last eight games, the pen has an ERA of 0.50 (2 ER, 36.1 IP) with 42 strikeouts and 10 walks ... The eight-game stretch followed a weekend in which relievers combined for a 17.10 ERA in three games at Texas (April 9-11) ... Tyler Eckberg has allowed one earned run over 10 1/3 innings (five appearances) with 10 strikeouts and one walk ... At home, the K-State bullpen has a 1.88 ERA (21 ER, 100.2 IP) while posting an earned run average of 8.69 (46 ER, 47.2 IP) in road and neutral contests ... In the season's first 10 games, the bullpen yielded a 7.22 ERA (27 ER, 33.2 IP) with 21 strikeouts and 20 walks.
BY TH3 NUM8ER5
K-State has a run differential of +31 after outscoring West Virginia by a combined seven runs ... K-State is 16-5 when scoring the game's first run and has outscored opponents by 20 runs in the game's first two innings (51-31) ... K-State is 11-1 when hitting multiple home runs but 12-15 when hitting one or no homers ... The Cats are 5-4 in one-run contests this season, including 2-1 in extra-inning games ... When scoring at least six runs, K-State is 17-2 ... The Wildcats are 21-5 when limiting their opponent to five runs or fewer.
K-State (23-16, 6-9 Big 12) has won back-to-back conference series after claiming two of three games against West Virginia over the weekend. Redshirt freshman Connor McCullough was tabbed Big 12 Pitcher of the Week after yielding just one hit over seven innings in Saturday's 5-2 victory.
Missouri (12-25, 5-13 SEC) has lost eight of its last nine contests after dropping two of three games to Georgia last weekend.
The Wildcats and Tigers will meet for the third straight season, with the teams splitting the last two matchups. K-State defeated MU, 5-1, last season in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Tuesday's game will be broadcast on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ and the ESPN app. Radio coverage is available on News Radio KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) with free, streaming audio is available at K-StateSports.com/watch.
Single-game tickets are now on sale through the K-State Ticket Office at K-StateSports.com/tickets or by calling (800) 221-CATS. Capacity at Tointon Family Stadium has been increased to 50 percent, with all tickets being sold as general admission and no longer in reserved pods. The first 175 students will also be admitted for free with their K-State student ID with designated seating in the right field bleachers.
All fans in attendance will be required to wear a face covering and maintain social distance from other pods of fans. Due to health and safety guidelines, players will not be available for autographs before or after each game.
GAME #40
K-STATE (23-16, 6-9 BIG 12) vs. MISSOURI (12-25, 5-13 SEC)
Tuesday, April 27 // 6 p.m. // Tointon Family Stadium (2,344) // Manhattan, Kan.
LHP Dylan Phillips (0-0, 1.80 ERA) vs. LHP Trae Robertson (0-2, 12.67 ERA)
Watch: Big 12 Now on ESPN+ // Brian Smoller, Mike Clark
Radio: KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) // John Kurtz, Matt Walters
Listen Online: K-StateSports.com/watch // 1350KMAN.com
Buy Tickets | Live Stats
A LOOK AT K-STATE
K-State continues its season-long 12-game homestand with a midweek matchup with former Big 12 rival Missouri on Tuesday at Tointon Family Stadium ... The Wildcats are fresh off their second straight conference weekend series win after taking two of three games from West Virginia ... After dropping the series opener in 11 innings, the Cats responded with back-to-back wins to claim their third home Big 12 series victory ... Jordan Wicks struck out a career-high 11 hitters Friday, and K-State forced extra innings with a run in the bottom of the ninth ... Saturday, Connor McCullough allowed just one hit over seven innings - taking a no-hitter into the sixth inning - in helping the Wildcats even the series ... Terrence Spurlin lifted a three-run homer in the 5-2 win ... The K-State offense launched four homers in the rubber game Sunday while Kasey Ford logged 6 1/3 innings of relief without allowing an earned run ... Ford earned the win and scattered just three hits ... Dylan Caplinger and Kamron Willman each homered and drove in three runs in the series finale ... Willman drove in four over the weekend, all coming with two outs ... The K-State bullpen produced an ERA of 0.71 (12.2 IP, ER) while striking out nine ... Zach Kokoska extended his career-long on-base streak to 35 games.
SCOUTING MISSOURI
Missouri (12-25, 5-13 SEC) dropped two of three games at home to Georgia last weekend, as the Tigers have lost eight of their last nine contests overall ... Andrew Keefer leads MU with his .293 average and eight doubles ... Torin Montgomery has a team-best five home runs and 22 RBI ... As a team, Mizzou has 27 home runs hit by 11 different players ... On the mound, Missouri has a 7.28 ERA while opponents hit .272 against them ... Lefty Trae Robertson will be making his third start of the season and has an 0-2 record to go with a 12.67 ERA ... MU is 7-16 in games away from home.
INSIDE THE SERIES
Dating back to 1907, Missouri lead the all-time series 169-102-1 ... The Wildcats are 54-85 against the Tigers at home in the series, lasting hosting Mizzou in 2011 when it was a member of the Big 12 ... After a six-year hiatus, Tuesday's meeting will be the third straight season in which the teams have met, with the teams splitting the last two matchups ... K-State claimed a 5-1 victory over Missouri last season in Corpus Christi, Texas ... The Cats' last home win vs. Missouri came in 2011 (8-5) ... K-State is 2-8 over the last 10 games in the series and look to win back-to-back games against its former conference rival for the first time since 2004.
MIDWEEK MADNESS
K-State faces its final midweek test of the season in Missouri ... The Wildcats are 6-1 this season in midweek tilts, including a perfect 6-0 at home during the week ... K-State is hitting .318 and averaging 9.7 runs per game on 10.9 hits ... The Cats have hit 15 homers as part of 33 extra-base hits in seven midweek contests ... Dylan Phillips is slashing .500/.548/1.231 with a team-high five homers and 11 RBI in midweek games ... The pitching staff has a combined 1.22 ERA with 91 strikeouts in 59 innings ... The bullpen has an ERA of 0.75 with 66 strikeouts against 15 walks.
BIG BAT CATS
After going without a home run in the season's opening weekend (four games), the Wildcats have erupted for 57 home runs over the last 35 games ... Junior Zach Kokoska leads the way with 12 homers while sophomore Dylan Phillips has 11 ... Senior Cameron Thompson and freshman Nick Goodwin each have eight ... All four rank in the Big 12's top 10, as no other club has more than two ... Kokoska ranks second in the league with his 12 homers, which is tied for seventh-most in a single season in K-State history ... As a team, K-State has homered in 16 of the last 17 contests, including a stretch of 11 straight games, and has launched multiple home runs 12 times ... 14 different Cats have homered this season, with five players turning in a multi-homer game ... The 14 different players with a homer equal the team's most ever in a season (1997) season and are tied for the most in the country this season ... K-State's 57 home runs are seventh-most in the country and fourth in a single season in program history.
WE'RE GOIN' STREAKING
Zach Kokoska extended his career-long on-base streak to 35 games against the Mountaineers ... With his in two of three games last weekend, he has hit safely in 23 of his last 25 games, including a stretch of 14 straight games that ended Friday ... Dylan Phillips put together a 32-game on base streak that went back to last season and ended on March 27 at Oklahoma State ... K-State's stretch of 11 straight games with a home run came to an end in the second game of a doubleheader vs. OU on April 17... It was tied for the longest streak in the country (Arkansas).
THE FRIENDLY CONFINES
K-State, in the midst of a season-long 12-game homestand, is 18-6 this year at Tointon Family Stadium ... The Cats have won their last 10 of their last 12 home games and 16 of their last 20 overall ... At home, the Wildcat offense is hitting .304 while launching 48 home runs ... K-State has homered in 22 of its last 24 games at home ... K-State averages 7.7 runs per game and 10.4 hit a game at Tointon Family Stadium as opposed to 3.4 runs a game (6.7 hits/game) in road and neutral contests ... In true road games, the Cats average three runs a game with an average of .203 ... The K-State pitching staff boasts an ERA of 3.08 at home while the bullpen is even lower at 1.88.
KOKO BE LOCO
Junior outfielder Zach Kokoska is riding a career-long 35-game ... Over the last 17 contests, Kokoska has a team-best .385 average to go with seven doubles, four homers and 11 RBI ... His on-base percentage of .444 is also a team high in that span ... The Latrobe, Pa, product has 11 multi-hit games over his last 22 outings ... His 12 homers rank second in the conference and are tied for seventh-most in a single season in K-State history (record 16 set in 1997).
WHAMMER HAMMER
Dylan Phillips' two-run homer against West Virginia Saturday was his 11th of the season, setting a new single-season high, and the 65th of his career .. His 26 homers rank eighth in program history ... Phillips has two multi-homer games this season and four in his career ... Phillips has recorded a base hit in 42 of his last 50 games, including 19 multi-hit efforts ... With 41 runs batted in this season, Phillips has driven in 52 runs over his last 46 games while recording an RBI in 28 of those games ... The two-way star saw a streak of 10 consecutive games with an RBI snapped March 14 at Rice.
WICKY WICKY YEAH
K-State lefty Jordan Wicks racked up the preseason honors, including being named the 2021 Big 12 Co-Preseason Pitcher of the Year ... Wicks was tabbed a preseason all-American by D1Baseball, Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball and NCBWA ... The Conway, Ark., product is K-State's first preseason all-America nod since 2014 and the first Big 12 preseason of-the-year award winner ... Wicks was also one of 55 named to USA Baseball's Golden Spikes Award Watch List, which recognizes the nation's premier amateur player ... Following his 10-strikeout, seven scoreless innings against Oregon State on Opening Day, Wicks was named Big 12 Pitcher of the Week and National Pitcher of the Week by the NCBWA ... Wicks leads the Big 12 with his 84 strikeouts and has reached double-digit strikeouts four times after a career-best 11 in his last start vs WVU ... Six of his 10 starts this season have been quality efforts after Friday... Dating back to last season, Wicks has a 2.56 ERA (25 ER, 88 IP) with 110 strikeouts.
FROM THE PEN
The K-State bullpen owns an ERA of 4.07 while starters have a near-identical 4.06 earned run average ... Over the last eight games, the pen has an ERA of 0.50 (2 ER, 36.1 IP) with 42 strikeouts and 10 walks ... The eight-game stretch followed a weekend in which relievers combined for a 17.10 ERA in three games at Texas (April 9-11) ... Tyler Eckberg has allowed one earned run over 10 1/3 innings (five appearances) with 10 strikeouts and one walk ... At home, the K-State bullpen has a 1.88 ERA (21 ER, 100.2 IP) while posting an earned run average of 8.69 (46 ER, 47.2 IP) in road and neutral contests ... In the season's first 10 games, the bullpen yielded a 7.22 ERA (27 ER, 33.2 IP) with 21 strikeouts and 20 walks.
BY TH3 NUM8ER5
K-State has a run differential of +31 after outscoring West Virginia by a combined seven runs ... K-State is 16-5 when scoring the game's first run and has outscored opponents by 20 runs in the game's first two innings (51-31) ... K-State is 11-1 when hitting multiple home runs but 12-15 when hitting one or no homers ... The Cats are 5-4 in one-run contests this season, including 2-1 in extra-inning games ... When scoring at least six runs, K-State is 17-2 ... The Wildcats are 21-5 when limiting their opponent to five runs or fewer.
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