SE: Back at 100% Capacity, K-State Baseball Ready to Make a Run
May 20, 2021 | Baseball, Sports Extra
By: Austin Siegel
"Play to our potential."
It's a requirement for K-State Baseball to have a shot at knocking off No. 5 TCU this weekend and it's how Pete Hughes opened his Wednesday morning press conference.
"We have to get hot right now," Hughes said. "Starting this weekend and heading to Oklahoma City, we need to make some adjustments, stay positive - which is a task in itself after how we played last weekend - and we're quite capable of making a run with the rest of our schedule."
The last 10 days have not gone how K-State would have hoped, with series losses to Baylor and Kansas making the upcoming Big 12 Championship all the more important.
Before the final weekend of the regular season, the Wildcats are seventh in the Big 12, a game ahead of Kansas and West Virginia. If the season ended today, K-State would escape the play-in round of the conference tournament between the eighth- and ninth-place teams.
Hughes said making sure the 'Cats do enough to get back on the right path starts with him.
"I'm responsible for the team being prepared and for the juice they bring every day," he said. "We're working on fixing that so we can play great this weekend at home and go into that Big 12 Tournament with momentum."
At least some of the energy against TCU will come from the stands, as Tointon Family Stadium opens at 100 percent capacity for the final three games of the 2021 season.
The Wildcats haven't lost a Big 12 series at home this season, and with the Horned Frogs in town, a capacity crowd is certainly an added boost.
"It's only a positive for us," Hughes said.
Even as his team returns to Tointon this weekend, Hughes is focused on improving the mental toughness that he said cost the Wildcats a pair of road series earlier this month.
"Our guys are tough," Hughes said. "But they have to do something different internally when those situations don't feel right to figure it out and make it happen. That's the challenge before us and our program."
Taking down the Horned Frogs this weekend would certainly help reverse that trend.
TCU is coming off a series loss to Louisiana Monroe, a performance that isn't indicative of how strong the team has been all season.
No Big 12 team has scored more runs this season and only one has a higher batting average. The Horned Frogs have already swept Oklahoma State, Baylor and West Virginia.
Hughes said TCU has "nine guys in the lineup who can beat you," but focused on the bullpen as the strength of the team.
If the Wildcats have a lead this weekend, look for them to keep their foot on the gas - runs late in the game could be in short supply.
Jordan Wicks, in his final start of the season in Manhattan, has a chance to solidify his spot on the All-Big 12 team when he toes the rubber on Thursday night.
But one player who has Hughes fired up is Zach Kokoska, a guy the K-State head coach said should be a Big 12 Player of the Year candidate at the end of the season.
Kokoska is hitting .369 coming into the TCU series, the fourth-highest average in the conference, and leads the Wildcats with 14 home runs this season.
Considering no Big 12 team has more homers than the Wildcats, that's no small feat.
"He's ahead of a lot of guys in this league," Hughes said. "The problem is that he's got Kansas State across his chest, and we don't have a lot of street cred when it comes to conference voting. But that's the nature of changing a program and changing the perception of a brand."
The 'Cats could take a big step towards that goal this weekend, as they look to bounce back in their fourth conference series of the year against a top-15 team.
"You can't finish the season that way," Hughes said. "I think our guys are motivated to kick start this thing and go on a great run."
"Play to our potential."
It's a requirement for K-State Baseball to have a shot at knocking off No. 5 TCU this weekend and it's how Pete Hughes opened his Wednesday morning press conference.
"We have to get hot right now," Hughes said. "Starting this weekend and heading to Oklahoma City, we need to make some adjustments, stay positive - which is a task in itself after how we played last weekend - and we're quite capable of making a run with the rest of our schedule."
The last 10 days have not gone how K-State would have hoped, with series losses to Baylor and Kansas making the upcoming Big 12 Championship all the more important.
Before the final weekend of the regular season, the Wildcats are seventh in the Big 12, a game ahead of Kansas and West Virginia. If the season ended today, K-State would escape the play-in round of the conference tournament between the eighth- and ninth-place teams.
Hughes said making sure the 'Cats do enough to get back on the right path starts with him.
"I'm responsible for the team being prepared and for the juice they bring every day," he said. "We're working on fixing that so we can play great this weekend at home and go into that Big 12 Tournament with momentum."
At least some of the energy against TCU will come from the stands, as Tointon Family Stadium opens at 100 percent capacity for the final three games of the 2021 season.
The Wildcats haven't lost a Big 12 series at home this season, and with the Horned Frogs in town, a capacity crowd is certainly an added boost.
"It's only a positive for us," Hughes said.
Even as his team returns to Tointon this weekend, Hughes is focused on improving the mental toughness that he said cost the Wildcats a pair of road series earlier this month.
"Our guys are tough," Hughes said. "But they have to do something different internally when those situations don't feel right to figure it out and make it happen. That's the challenge before us and our program."
Taking down the Horned Frogs this weekend would certainly help reverse that trend.
#KStateBSB hosts No. 5 TCU in the final regular-season series starting Thursday.
— K-State Baseball (@KStateBSB) May 19, 2021
Be there for Senior Day on Saturday ahead of the 4 p.m. finale.
Series preview ⤵️https://t.co/fzgJ76Z6hk
TCU is coming off a series loss to Louisiana Monroe, a performance that isn't indicative of how strong the team has been all season.
No Big 12 team has scored more runs this season and only one has a higher batting average. The Horned Frogs have already swept Oklahoma State, Baylor and West Virginia.
Hughes said TCU has "nine guys in the lineup who can beat you," but focused on the bullpen as the strength of the team.
If the Wildcats have a lead this weekend, look for them to keep their foot on the gas - runs late in the game could be in short supply.
Jordan Wicks, in his final start of the season in Manhattan, has a chance to solidify his spot on the All-Big 12 team when he toes the rubber on Thursday night.
But one player who has Hughes fired up is Zach Kokoska, a guy the K-State head coach said should be a Big 12 Player of the Year candidate at the end of the season.
Kokoska is hitting .369 coming into the TCU series, the fourth-highest average in the conference, and leads the Wildcats with 14 home runs this season.
Considering no Big 12 team has more homers than the Wildcats, that's no small feat.
"He's ahead of a lot of guys in this league," Hughes said. "The problem is that he's got Kansas State across his chest, and we don't have a lot of street cred when it comes to conference voting. But that's the nature of changing a program and changing the perception of a brand."
The 'Cats could take a big step towards that goal this weekend, as they look to bounce back in their fourth conference series of the year against a top-15 team.
"You can't finish the season that way," Hughes said. "I think our guys are motivated to kick start this thing and go on a great run."
Players Mentioned
OF
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