SE: How K-State Baseball Took Down the No. 3 Team in the Country
Apr 05, 2021 | Baseball, Sports Extra
By: Austin Siegel
1. There was a rumor, floating around Tointon Family Stadium on Friday night, that Patrick Mahomes might show up to the ballpark to watch No. 3 Texas Tech take on K-State.
The one-time Texas Tech pitcher ended his college career with a 99.00 ERA before putting all of his focus on football. That's been going pretty well.
While the best quarterback in the NFL didn't make it to the ballpark this weekend, he would have recognized the look on the face of a few Texas Tech pitchers.
2. K-State teed off against the Red Raiders with seven home runs to support a pair of impressive starts from Carson Seymour and Connor McCullough, as the Wildcats grabbed their first home series win over a top-five opponent in school history.
After Texas Tech won 17-1 on Thursday night, the Wildcats took the last two games of the series in one of the most impressive bounce-back performances in college baseball this season.
"It's a defining weekend for our program," head coach Pete Hughes said. "I've been preaching all week, 'What better way to get back on track in this league than by winning a series against the No. 3 team in the country'…When you're trying to get back to the winning ways, when I'm talking about culture, you have to beat really good people."
3. Hughes called his shot earlier in the week when he spoke to the media.
Taking a series from Texas Tech, he said on Wednesday, would be the perfect way for the Wildcats to kickstart a season that had stalled out in conference play.
That was true, but it's easy enough to talk about blowing up the Death Star. K-State came into this series on a five-game losing streak. Texas Tech hadn't lost five games all year.
In fact, the Red Raiders had won 19 of 20 coming into a weekend series in Manhattan.
4. On Thursday, the Wildcats rolled out Jordan Wicks, the pitcher who will almost certainly become the first player in program history taken in the first round of the MLB Draft.
He struck out nine in five innings of work on Thursday and Texas Tech won 17-1 anyway.
"Master of the obvious here, just not a good night," Hughes said. "We couldn't damage control many situations, so we've got to think about it for a little while and try to get back in the series. We should have a fresh bullpen to do that. Got to get a good outing by Carson. On to the next game and try to get back in the series."
The 'Cats ended up doing a little more than that.
5. On Friday, Seymour matched up with Texas Tech starter Patrick Monteverde, the Big 12 wins leader and owner of the second-lowest ERA in the conference this season at 0.75.
The first sign that Friday night was going to be different came from a guy Hughes singled out earlier in the week for his steady play against Oklahoma State. All freshman Cameron Uselton did against Texas Tech was launch his first career home run to give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead.
"Cam Uselton, he lifts the pressure out of our dugout. We've been struggling for a little stretch here, and the freshman comes in and gets us feeling good right out of the gate," Hughes said. "He had a couple of walks and a sac bunt. That's a heck of a day for a freshman in what I think was his fourth career start."
6. Four more RBI in the game would come from Dylan Phillips, who along with Nick Goodwin and Zach Kokoska, make up the heart of the order on just about every K-State lineup card.
That trio ended the series with a combined batting average of .326 and have now smashed 22 of K-State's 40 homers this season. Every three innings, K-State has a chance to change a game.
Phillips hit a two-run homer into the batter's eye in the first inning on Friday and delivered a two-run RBI single in the fourth to make it 6-0 Wildcats.
7. The Red Raiders have already pulled off a few impressive comebacks this season. So, when Texas Tech began to chip away and make it 6-2 before loading the bases in the sixth, the biggest at bat of the game arrived.
Enter Tyler Eckberg. The junior threw his first pitch of the night with the bases loaded and two outs against the No. 3 team in the country. If there was ever a situation to bring your closer in during the sixth inning, this was the time for the Wildcats.
Eckberg punched out Dylan Neuse to get the 'Cats out of the bases-loaded jam. And then the Minnesota native went ahead and got himself a 10-out save, as he took the Wildcats all the way home with 3.1 scoreless innings to finish off the Red Raiders on Friday.
"Obviously, it feels great to give your team a win like that. I started a couple years ago so I've lengthened it out before but never at the end of the game like that," Eckberg said. "It feels great."
8. The most dramatic moment of Saturday's rubber match also arrived in the middle innings.
McCullough was sensational with nine strikeouts in seven innings of work, pitching from in front after Goodwin and Chris Ceballos smacked a pair of homers to give the 'Cats an early lead.
But after Texas Tech pulled within one run in the fifth inning, Cameron Thompson delivered the knockout punch.
9. The senior has been hitting further down in the order this season, but he stepped to the plate on Saturday with two outs and two men on. Then Thompson called game, with a three-run blast to cap off a five-run inning for K-State and help deliver a 10-4 win for the Wildcats.
"Before I went up there, that was their lefty matchup guy. We talked about it before the game that we were going to see soft when runners were in scoring position. I went up there sitting soft and got a good curveball that I could hit," he said. "It feels great. We're starting to get rolling pretty well. Hopefully we can keep that up week after week and just keep it going."
10. More than just a historic win, taking a series from the Red Raiders completely flips the narrative around this K-State team in less than 48 hours. On Friday morning, the Wildcats were a team on a five-game losing streak that just dropped their conference home opener 17-1.
The 'Cats woke up on Easter as the talk of college baseball, with a series win over No. 3 Texas Tech to add to their postseason resume. K-State already has an Opening Day win over Oregon State on the books, and the Beavers have been ranked as high as No. 13 in the country.
At the ballpark on College Avenue, it's full steam ahead for the Wildcats.
"It's definitely up there to beat a team like that," Thompson said. "It's definitely up there. The first couple years here, I don't think we could do that. We definitely have the people and the squad to do that now."
1. There was a rumor, floating around Tointon Family Stadium on Friday night, that Patrick Mahomes might show up to the ballpark to watch No. 3 Texas Tech take on K-State.
The one-time Texas Tech pitcher ended his college career with a 99.00 ERA before putting all of his focus on football. That's been going pretty well.
While the best quarterback in the NFL didn't make it to the ballpark this weekend, he would have recognized the look on the face of a few Texas Tech pitchers.
2. K-State teed off against the Red Raiders with seven home runs to support a pair of impressive starts from Carson Seymour and Connor McCullough, as the Wildcats grabbed their first home series win over a top-five opponent in school history.
After Texas Tech won 17-1 on Thursday night, the Wildcats took the last two games of the series in one of the most impressive bounce-back performances in college baseball this season.
"It's a defining weekend for our program," head coach Pete Hughes said. "I've been preaching all week, 'What better way to get back on track in this league than by winning a series against the No. 3 team in the country'…When you're trying to get back to the winning ways, when I'm talking about culture, you have to beat really good people."
The final out.
— K-State Baseball (@KStateBSB) April 3, 2021
'Cats grab their first home series win in school history over a Top 5 program. #KStateBSB x EMAW pic.twitter.com/5cn5DQPmGd
3. Hughes called his shot earlier in the week when he spoke to the media.
Taking a series from Texas Tech, he said on Wednesday, would be the perfect way for the Wildcats to kickstart a season that had stalled out in conference play.
That was true, but it's easy enough to talk about blowing up the Death Star. K-State came into this series on a five-game losing streak. Texas Tech hadn't lost five games all year.
In fact, the Red Raiders had won 19 of 20 coming into a weekend series in Manhattan.
4. On Thursday, the Wildcats rolled out Jordan Wicks, the pitcher who will almost certainly become the first player in program history taken in the first round of the MLB Draft.
He struck out nine in five innings of work on Thursday and Texas Tech won 17-1 anyway.
"Master of the obvious here, just not a good night," Hughes said. "We couldn't damage control many situations, so we've got to think about it for a little while and try to get back in the series. We should have a fresh bullpen to do that. Got to get a good outing by Carson. On to the next game and try to get back in the series."
The 'Cats ended up doing a little more than that.
5. On Friday, Seymour matched up with Texas Tech starter Patrick Monteverde, the Big 12 wins leader and owner of the second-lowest ERA in the conference this season at 0.75.
The first sign that Friday night was going to be different came from a guy Hughes singled out earlier in the week for his steady play against Oklahoma State. All freshman Cameron Uselton did against Texas Tech was launch his first career home run to give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead.
First career home run for Cam is a big one #KStateBSB x @camuselton pic.twitter.com/CgTL4FH48F
— K-State Baseball (@KStateBSB) April 2, 2021
"Cam Uselton, he lifts the pressure out of our dugout. We've been struggling for a little stretch here, and the freshman comes in and gets us feeling good right out of the gate," Hughes said. "He had a couple of walks and a sac bunt. That's a heck of a day for a freshman in what I think was his fourth career start."
6. Four more RBI in the game would come from Dylan Phillips, who along with Nick Goodwin and Zach Kokoska, make up the heart of the order on just about every K-State lineup card.
That trio ended the series with a combined batting average of .326 and have now smashed 22 of K-State's 40 homers this season. Every three innings, K-State has a chance to change a game.
Phillips hit a two-run homer into the batter's eye in the first inning on Friday and delivered a two-run RBI single in the fourth to make it 6-0 Wildcats.
Whammer delivers, again.
— K-State Baseball (@KStateBSB) April 3, 2021
2-2, HR, 4 RBI on the night#KStateBSB 6 - Texas Tech 0 | Bot 4 pic.twitter.com/1VEaDdHr9k
7. The Red Raiders have already pulled off a few impressive comebacks this season. So, when Texas Tech began to chip away and make it 6-2 before loading the bases in the sixth, the biggest at bat of the game arrived.
Enter Tyler Eckberg. The junior threw his first pitch of the night with the bases loaded and two outs against the No. 3 team in the country. If there was ever a situation to bring your closer in during the sixth inning, this was the time for the Wildcats.
Eckberg punched out Dylan Neuse to get the 'Cats out of the bases-loaded jam. And then the Minnesota native went ahead and got himself a 10-out save, as he took the Wildcats all the way home with 3.1 scoreless innings to finish off the Red Raiders on Friday.
Exckberg closes the 🚪 on the Red Raiders
— K-State Baseball (@KStateBSB) April 3, 2021
Texas Tech leaves the bases loaded in the 6th #KStateBSB 6 - Texas Tech | Bot 6 pic.twitter.com/JvE8GiCfqb
"Obviously, it feels great to give your team a win like that. I started a couple years ago so I've lengthened it out before but never at the end of the game like that," Eckberg said. "It feels great."
8. The most dramatic moment of Saturday's rubber match also arrived in the middle innings.
McCullough was sensational with nine strikeouts in seven innings of work, pitching from in front after Goodwin and Chris Ceballos smacked a pair of homers to give the 'Cats an early lead.
But after Texas Tech pulled within one run in the fifth inning, Cameron Thompson delivered the knockout punch.
9. The senior has been hitting further down in the order this season, but he stepped to the plate on Saturday with two outs and two men on. Then Thompson called game, with a three-run blast to cap off a five-run inning for K-State and help deliver a 10-4 win for the Wildcats.
Left it in the happy zone 🚀 #KStateBSB x @T10Cambo pic.twitter.com/2EqT7Bkq34
— K-State Baseball (@KStateBSB) April 3, 2021
"Before I went up there, that was their lefty matchup guy. We talked about it before the game that we were going to see soft when runners were in scoring position. I went up there sitting soft and got a good curveball that I could hit," he said. "It feels great. We're starting to get rolling pretty well. Hopefully we can keep that up week after week and just keep it going."
10. More than just a historic win, taking a series from the Red Raiders completely flips the narrative around this K-State team in less than 48 hours. On Friday morning, the Wildcats were a team on a five-game losing streak that just dropped their conference home opener 17-1.
The 'Cats woke up on Easter as the talk of college baseball, with a series win over No. 3 Texas Tech to add to their postseason resume. K-State already has an Opening Day win over Oregon State on the books, and the Beavers have been ranked as high as No. 13 in the country.
Saturday's Upset of the Day: @KStateBSB over No. 4 Texas Tech
— D1Baseball (@d1baseball) April 4, 2021
Kansas State notched a series win over a top-5 team for the 1st time in school history with a 10-4 win over TTU. K-State finished the series by scoring 17 runs in the final 2 games.
Digest: https://t.co/Vp7HokUec8 pic.twitter.com/2Jt1lgRJ7m
At the ballpark on College Avenue, it's full steam ahead for the Wildcats.
"It's definitely up there to beat a team like that," Thompson said. "It's definitely up there. The first couple years here, I don't think we could do that. We definitely have the people and the squad to do that now."
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