Kansas State University Athletics
Wednesday, May 26
Oklahoma City, OK
12:30 p.m.
Kansas State University
vs
TCU
Wildcats Set for Big 12 Championship, Take on TCU Wednesday
May 25, 2021 | Baseball
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. – K-State is prepped for the 2021 Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship, as the seventh-seeded Wildcats will meet No. 2-seed TCU Wednesday afternoon at 12:30 p.m. at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
K-State (31-21, 10-14 Big 12) and TCU (36-16, 17-7) will meet for the fourth straight game following the Wildcats' series victory at Tointon Family Stadium last weekend. The Cats scored seven runs in the ninth, capped by a walk-off home run by Chris Ceballos, to erase a four-run deficit to take the series finale from the then-fifth-ranked Horned Frogs Saturday, 11-8.
Jordan Wicks will get the start for the Cats to kick off the double-elimination tournament. Wicks was an All-Big 12 First Team selection and was tabbed Big 12 Pitcher of the Week on Monday. The sophomore lefty picked up the victory after 7 2/3 innings and seven strikeouts against the Frogs last Thursday.
TCU, ranked as high as No. 8 in the national polls, will start right-hander Jacob Meador. The Wildcats have won the last two series against the Horned Frogs with TCU leading the all-time series 21-11. The teams will meet for the first time in the Big 12 Championship.
Wednesday's game will be broadcast on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ and the ESPN app. Radio coverage is available on the K-State Sports Radio Network. Free, streaming audio is also available at K-StateSports.com/watch.
GAME #53
(7) K-STATE (31-21, 10-14 BIG 12) vs. (2) TCU (36-16, 17-7 BIG 12)
Wednesday, May 25 // 12:30 p.m. // Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark // Oklahoma City, Okla.
LHP Jordan Wicks (6-3, 3.32 ERA) vs. RHP Jacob Meador (1-1, 3.71 ERA)
Watch: Big 12 Now on ESPN+ // Keith Moreland, Greg Swindell
Radio: K-State Sports Radio Network // Brian Smoller, Matt Walters
Listen Online: K-StateSports.com/watch // 1350KMAN.com
Live Stats
A LOOK AT K-STATE
K-State heads into the 2021 Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, as the No. 7 seed ... The Wildcats enter the postseason tournament off a home series victory over fifth-ranked TCU - their second top-five series win of the season (No. 3 Texas Tech) ... The series win marked the first time the Cats have defeated two top-five opponents at home in the same season and the first time K-State defeated two different top-five teams in the same season since 2009 ... Jordan Wicks pitched K-State to a 4-2 win in the series opener, going a season-long 7 2/3 innings with two earned runs allowed on five hits ... Wicks struck out seven and was tabbed Big 12 Pitcher of the Week on Monday ... In the series' rubber game Saturday, the Cats erased two separate four-run deficits, including an 8-4 hole going to the bottom of the ninth ... K-State went on the score seven runs on seven hits, capped by a walk-off three-run home run by Chris Ceballos to claim the regular-season finale, 11-8 ... The Cats' seven-run ninth came against TCU's All-America closer Haylen Green, who registered a five-out save the day before ... Cameron Thompson hit two homers in the series, going 8-for-13, with two doubles and a triple on his way to being tabbed Big 12 Player of the Week ... Thompson moved into a first-place tie in career starts at K-State (236) while also moving into fourth in career hits (274).
SCOUTING TCU
TCU (37-16, 17-7 Big 12) claimed a share of the Big 12 regular-season title with its 8-6 victory over K-State on Friday and go into the tournament as the second seed ... TCU has dropped three straight weekend series after the Wildcats' series victory in Manhattan and is 4-6 in its last 10 games ... Brayden Taylor was named Big 12 Freshman of the Year Monday, as the Horned Frogs led all conference teams with 11 all-conference picks ... Phillip Sikes and Haylen Green earned first-team accolades ... Sikes ranked fourth in the Big 12 with 56 runs batted in and is the team leader with his .339 batting average ... Taylor and Sikes are tied for the team lead with 10 homers ... The TCU offense ranks third in the league with its .290 average and is tops with 102 stolen bases (eighth nationally) ... Russell Smith (83) and Austin Krob (79) rank seventh and ninth, respectively, in the conference in strikeouts ... Krob is tied for the league lead with seven wins.
INSIDE THE SERIES
TCU leads the all-time series 21-11 (16-7 Big 12), dating back to 1966 ... K-State has taken each of the last two weekend series against the Frogs, winning four of the last six after Saturday's comeback victory ... Head coach Pete Hughes is 4-2 against TCU as the Wildcats head coach ... The teams have never met at the Big 12 Championship ... K-State rallied for a walk-off 11-8 victory in the series rubber game on Saturday, marking the second straight series in which the Cats walked off the Frogs in the series rubber game (2019) ... Prior to the 2019 series, the Frogs had won the previous nine meetings ... Five of the last six games have been decided by three runs or fewer, including each of the last four contests.
CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY
K-State will make its second appearance at the Big 12 Championship under head coach Pete Hughes, the program's second appearance in the conference tournament since 2016 ... The Wildcats have an all-time record of 14-20 in the Big 12 Championship after going 0-2 in the 2019 season ... K-State has never faced TCU in the tournament and are 4-3 against Baylor and 2-3 when facing Texas Tech (potential second game opponents) ... The Wildcats have lost their last six games at the Big 12 Championship, with their last victory in 2015 against Oklahoma ... The Cats last won multiple games in the conference tournament in 2013 (2-1 in pool play) ... K-State's No. 7 seed is its highest since being the sixth-seed in 2015 ... The last time the Wildcats were the seven-seed, K-State advanced to the tournament championship game against Texas in 2008.
HONOR ROLL
K-State staked claim to eight all-conference honors Monday, as the Big 12 revealed its annual All-Big 12 Baseball Awards ... Wicks earned a first-team nod while Kokoska and Phillips were each named to the second team ... Nick Goodwin earned a spot on the all-freshman team in addition to honorable mention ... Other honorable mentions included Chris Ceballos, Tyler Eckberg and Cameron Thompson ... Thompson and Wicks took home the final Big 12 weekly awards, as Thompson was tabbed Big 12 Player of the Week and Wicks was named Big 12 Pitcher of the week for the second time this season ... The Cats took home five weekly honors in 2021 (Ceballos, Connor McCullough).
AGAINST RANKED TEAMS
TCU, ranked as high as eighth in the polls, will mark the 13th game K-State will play against a ranked team the Wildcats will face - all Big 12 teams ranked within the nation's top 13 ... K-State claimed series victories over No. 3 Texas Tech and No. 5 TCU ... It marked the first time K-State won a series against a top-five team since 2015 and the first time in program history it defeated two different top-five foes ... The Wildcats last picked up wins over two different top-five opponents in 2009 (No. 2 Texas, No. 4 Arizona State) ... Pete Hughes is 11-17 against ranked opponents as the head coach at K-State.
GIMME A BREAK, SCHEDULEMAKERS
K-State began its Big 12 schedule with three straight top-13 opponents - marking the toughest three-week stretch to start the league schedule in Big 12 history for any team (past or present Big 12 members) ... It has happened only three times in which a team has faced three straight top-13 teams to begin league play - and neither faced two top-five teams as the Wildcats did against No. 3 Texas Tech and No. 3 Texas in consecutive weekends ... Additionally, two of the Cats' first three conference series were on the road ... TCU marks K-State's fourth league opponent to be ranked in the nation's top 15 ... The Cats are 4-8 against ranked teams this season.
BIG BAT CATS
After going without a home run in the season's opening weekend (four games), the Wildcats have erupted for 83 home runs over the last 48 games ... Junior Zach Kokoska and sophomore Dylan Phillips lead the way with 14 homers apiece ... Senior Cameron Thompson has 13 and senior Chris Ceballos has 11, as all four rank in the Big 12's top 10 with no other club having more than two ... Kokoska and Phillips are tied for third in the league in homers, which is also tied for third-most in a single season in K-State history ... As a team, K-State has homered in 26 of the last 30 contests and has launched multiple home runs 19 times ... 16 different Cats have homered this season, with eight multi-homer games ... The 16 different players with a homer are a program single-season high and is the most of any team in the country this season ... K-State's 83 home runs are a single-season record and rank sixth in the country.
WE'RE GOIN' STREAKING
In the series finale at Baylor, Zach Kokoska saw his career-long on-base streak end at 41 games ... The streak was K-State's second-longest in the Big 12 era (Nick Martini, 93) and was the conference's second-longest this season ... Kokoska also had his string of seven straight multi-hit games snapped Sunday ... Earlier, this season, 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 has had home run streaks of 12 and 11 games this season ... Its 12-game homer stretch ended in the opener at KU and was the second-longest in the country this season behind Mercer's 19-game stretch earlier this season ... Chris Ceballos homered in six straight games from April 27-May 8, the longest by a Wildcat in the Big 12 era.
THE FRIENDLY CONFINES
K-State is 24-7 this year at Tointon Family Stadium, its highest win total since 27 in 2013 ... The Cats have won 16 of their last 19 home games and 22 of 27 overall ... At home, the Wildcat offense is hitting .321 while launching 65 home runs ... K-State has homered in 28 of its last 31 games at home ... K-State averages 8.6 runs per game and 11.1 hits a game at Tointon Family Stadium as opposed to 3.4 runs a game (6.5 hits/game) in road and neutral contests ... In true road games, the Cats average 3.2 runs a game with an average of .202 ... The K-State pitching staff boasts an ERA of 4.18 at home while the bullpen is even lower at 2.80.
KOKO BE LOCO
Junior outfielder Zach Kokoska's .358 average is seventh-highest in the Big 12 ... Kokoska's career-high four-hit day on May 8 at Baylor capped seven straight games with multiple hits ... He has hit safely in 25 of his last 30 games, recording multiple hits 15 times in that stretch ... In the last 15 games he is 23-for-56 (.411) with nine extra-base hits ... His 14 homers are tied for third in the conference and are tied for third-most in a single season in K-State history (record 16 set in 1997).
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 109 strikeouts and has reached double-digit strikeouts four times after a career-best 11 vs. WVU ... His 109 strikeouts are the most in a single season in K-State history and he is just three away from becoming the program's all-time strikeout king ... Last Thursday's start marked his seventh quality outing in 14 starts this season ... In the last two seasons, Wicks is 9-3 with a 2.64 ERA (33 ER, 112.2 IP) with 135 strikeouts (18 starts).
FROM THE PEN
This season, the K-State bullpen owns an ERA of 5.22 while starters have a 4.51 earned run average ... In league play, starters have posted an ERA of 6.73 while the pen owns an 7.12 ERA ... At home, the K-State bullpen has a 2.80 ERA while posting an earned run average of 9.95 (73 ER, 66 IP) in road and neutral contests ... In the three-game series at Kansas, the bullpen did not allow a run over 5 2/3 innings ... The Cats' pen has a 13.14 earned run average in 12 road Big 12 contests ... Tyler Eckberg has allowed three earned runs over his last 18 1/3 innings with 16 strikeouts and one walk over in nine outings ... Eric Torres extended his scoreless streak to 19 2/3 innings before it ended Saturday against TCU ... Torres and has yielded just five earned runs in his last 17 appearances (28.2 IP) ... Torres owned a 15.75 ERA through his first five outings (7 ER, 4 IP) and has lowered that number to 3.31.
BY TH3 NUM8ER5
K-State has a season run differential of +39 ... K-State is 19-5 when scoring the game's first run and has outscored opponents by 27 runs in the game's first two innings (86-59) ... K-State is 18-1 when hitting multiple home runs but 13-20 when hitting one or no homers ... When scoring at least six runs, K-State is 24-3 and 26-6 when limiting their opponent to five runs or fewer ... 81 of K-State's 95 two-out RBI have come in victories ... The Cats are hitting .303 with two outs in 31 wins and just .167 in 21 losses ... K-State's strikeout rate of 9.89 per nine innings would be tops in program history, ahead of the current record of 8.6 K/9 set in 1969 ... This season's strikeout total of 492 is the new program record, needing just 49 games to shatter the previous mark of 453 ... 138 of the Cats' 338 runs have come via the home run this season (41 percent).
30 FOR 30
The Wildcats reached their first 30-win season away since 2013 - their Big 12 championship and Super Regional season ... In 2013, K-State set a program record with 45 wins, its second 40-win season (2009) ... K-State has reached the 30-win plateau just nine times since the inception of the Big 12 in 1997 and only 16 times in the program's 121 seasons ... Each of the last four times the Cats have won at least 30 games, the team has qualified for the postseason.
IRON MAN, CAM
Cameron Thompson has started every game during his Wildcat career and is tied for the all-time program record with 236 career starts (Craig Wilson) ... Thompson is now alone in fourth place in K-State history with 274 base hits ... Thompson, a five-year senior and team captain, has started games in center field, third base, second base and shortstop ... Thompson is 11 hits shy of becoming K-State's all-time hits leader.
K-State (31-21, 10-14 Big 12) and TCU (36-16, 17-7) will meet for the fourth straight game following the Wildcats' series victory at Tointon Family Stadium last weekend. The Cats scored seven runs in the ninth, capped by a walk-off home run by Chris Ceballos, to erase a four-run deficit to take the series finale from the then-fifth-ranked Horned Frogs Saturday, 11-8.
Jordan Wicks will get the start for the Cats to kick off the double-elimination tournament. Wicks was an All-Big 12 First Team selection and was tabbed Big 12 Pitcher of the Week on Monday. The sophomore lefty picked up the victory after 7 2/3 innings and seven strikeouts against the Frogs last Thursday.
TCU, ranked as high as No. 8 in the national polls, will start right-hander Jacob Meador. The Wildcats have won the last two series against the Horned Frogs with TCU leading the all-time series 21-11. The teams will meet for the first time in the Big 12 Championship.
Wednesday's game will be broadcast on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ and the ESPN app. Radio coverage is available on the K-State Sports Radio Network. Free, streaming audio is also available at K-StateSports.com/watch.
GAME #53
(7) K-STATE (31-21, 10-14 BIG 12) vs. (2) TCU (36-16, 17-7 BIG 12)
Wednesday, May 25 // 12:30 p.m. // Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark // Oklahoma City, Okla.
LHP Jordan Wicks (6-3, 3.32 ERA) vs. RHP Jacob Meador (1-1, 3.71 ERA)
Watch: Big 12 Now on ESPN+ // Keith Moreland, Greg Swindell
Radio: K-State Sports Radio Network // Brian Smoller, Matt Walters
Listen Online: K-StateSports.com/watch // 1350KMAN.com
Live Stats
A LOOK AT K-STATE
K-State heads into the 2021 Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship at Chickasaw Bricktown Ballpark in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, as the No. 7 seed ... The Wildcats enter the postseason tournament off a home series victory over fifth-ranked TCU - their second top-five series win of the season (No. 3 Texas Tech) ... The series win marked the first time the Cats have defeated two top-five opponents at home in the same season and the first time K-State defeated two different top-five teams in the same season since 2009 ... Jordan Wicks pitched K-State to a 4-2 win in the series opener, going a season-long 7 2/3 innings with two earned runs allowed on five hits ... Wicks struck out seven and was tabbed Big 12 Pitcher of the Week on Monday ... In the series' rubber game Saturday, the Cats erased two separate four-run deficits, including an 8-4 hole going to the bottom of the ninth ... K-State went on the score seven runs on seven hits, capped by a walk-off three-run home run by Chris Ceballos to claim the regular-season finale, 11-8 ... The Cats' seven-run ninth came against TCU's All-America closer Haylen Green, who registered a five-out save the day before ... Cameron Thompson hit two homers in the series, going 8-for-13, with two doubles and a triple on his way to being tabbed Big 12 Player of the Week ... Thompson moved into a first-place tie in career starts at K-State (236) while also moving into fourth in career hits (274).
SCOUTING TCU
TCU (37-16, 17-7 Big 12) claimed a share of the Big 12 regular-season title with its 8-6 victory over K-State on Friday and go into the tournament as the second seed ... TCU has dropped three straight weekend series after the Wildcats' series victory in Manhattan and is 4-6 in its last 10 games ... Brayden Taylor was named Big 12 Freshman of the Year Monday, as the Horned Frogs led all conference teams with 11 all-conference picks ... Phillip Sikes and Haylen Green earned first-team accolades ... Sikes ranked fourth in the Big 12 with 56 runs batted in and is the team leader with his .339 batting average ... Taylor and Sikes are tied for the team lead with 10 homers ... The TCU offense ranks third in the league with its .290 average and is tops with 102 stolen bases (eighth nationally) ... Russell Smith (83) and Austin Krob (79) rank seventh and ninth, respectively, in the conference in strikeouts ... Krob is tied for the league lead with seven wins.
INSIDE THE SERIES
TCU leads the all-time series 21-11 (16-7 Big 12), dating back to 1966 ... K-State has taken each of the last two weekend series against the Frogs, winning four of the last six after Saturday's comeback victory ... Head coach Pete Hughes is 4-2 against TCU as the Wildcats head coach ... The teams have never met at the Big 12 Championship ... K-State rallied for a walk-off 11-8 victory in the series rubber game on Saturday, marking the second straight series in which the Cats walked off the Frogs in the series rubber game (2019) ... Prior to the 2019 series, the Frogs had won the previous nine meetings ... Five of the last six games have been decided by three runs or fewer, including each of the last four contests.
CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY
K-State will make its second appearance at the Big 12 Championship under head coach Pete Hughes, the program's second appearance in the conference tournament since 2016 ... The Wildcats have an all-time record of 14-20 in the Big 12 Championship after going 0-2 in the 2019 season ... K-State has never faced TCU in the tournament and are 4-3 against Baylor and 2-3 when facing Texas Tech (potential second game opponents) ... The Wildcats have lost their last six games at the Big 12 Championship, with their last victory in 2015 against Oklahoma ... The Cats last won multiple games in the conference tournament in 2013 (2-1 in pool play) ... K-State's No. 7 seed is its highest since being the sixth-seed in 2015 ... The last time the Wildcats were the seven-seed, K-State advanced to the tournament championship game against Texas in 2008.
HONOR ROLL
K-State staked claim to eight all-conference honors Monday, as the Big 12 revealed its annual All-Big 12 Baseball Awards ... Wicks earned a first-team nod while Kokoska and Phillips were each named to the second team ... Nick Goodwin earned a spot on the all-freshman team in addition to honorable mention ... Other honorable mentions included Chris Ceballos, Tyler Eckberg and Cameron Thompson ... Thompson and Wicks took home the final Big 12 weekly awards, as Thompson was tabbed Big 12 Player of the Week and Wicks was named Big 12 Pitcher of the week for the second time this season ... The Cats took home five weekly honors in 2021 (Ceballos, Connor McCullough).
AGAINST RANKED TEAMS
TCU, ranked as high as eighth in the polls, will mark the 13th game K-State will play against a ranked team the Wildcats will face - all Big 12 teams ranked within the nation's top 13 ... K-State claimed series victories over No. 3 Texas Tech and No. 5 TCU ... It marked the first time K-State won a series against a top-five team since 2015 and the first time in program history it defeated two different top-five foes ... The Wildcats last picked up wins over two different top-five opponents in 2009 (No. 2 Texas, No. 4 Arizona State) ... Pete Hughes is 11-17 against ranked opponents as the head coach at K-State.
GIMME A BREAK, SCHEDULEMAKERS
K-State began its Big 12 schedule with three straight top-13 opponents - marking the toughest three-week stretch to start the league schedule in Big 12 history for any team (past or present Big 12 members) ... It has happened only three times in which a team has faced three straight top-13 teams to begin league play - and neither faced two top-five teams as the Wildcats did against No. 3 Texas Tech and No. 3 Texas in consecutive weekends ... Additionally, two of the Cats' first three conference series were on the road ... TCU marks K-State's fourth league opponent to be ranked in the nation's top 15 ... The Cats are 4-8 against ranked teams this season.
BIG BAT CATS
After going without a home run in the season's opening weekend (four games), the Wildcats have erupted for 83 home runs over the last 48 games ... Junior Zach Kokoska and sophomore Dylan Phillips lead the way with 14 homers apiece ... Senior Cameron Thompson has 13 and senior Chris Ceballos has 11, as all four rank in the Big 12's top 10 with no other club having more than two ... Kokoska and Phillips are tied for third in the league in homers, which is also tied for third-most in a single season in K-State history ... As a team, K-State has homered in 26 of the last 30 contests and has launched multiple home runs 19 times ... 16 different Cats have homered this season, with eight multi-homer games ... The 16 different players with a homer are a program single-season high and is the most of any team in the country this season ... K-State's 83 home runs are a single-season record and rank sixth in the country.
WE'RE GOIN' STREAKING
In the series finale at Baylor, Zach Kokoska saw his career-long on-base streak end at 41 games ... The streak was K-State's second-longest in the Big 12 era (Nick Martini, 93) and was the conference's second-longest this season ... Kokoska also had his string of seven straight multi-hit games snapped Sunday ... Earlier, this season, 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 has had home run streaks of 12 and 11 games this season ... Its 12-game homer stretch ended in the opener at KU and was the second-longest in the country this season behind Mercer's 19-game stretch earlier this season ... Chris Ceballos homered in six straight games from April 27-May 8, the longest by a Wildcat in the Big 12 era.
THE FRIENDLY CONFINES
K-State is 24-7 this year at Tointon Family Stadium, its highest win total since 27 in 2013 ... The Cats have won 16 of their last 19 home games and 22 of 27 overall ... At home, the Wildcat offense is hitting .321 while launching 65 home runs ... K-State has homered in 28 of its last 31 games at home ... K-State averages 8.6 runs per game and 11.1 hits a game at Tointon Family Stadium as opposed to 3.4 runs a game (6.5 hits/game) in road and neutral contests ... In true road games, the Cats average 3.2 runs a game with an average of .202 ... The K-State pitching staff boasts an ERA of 4.18 at home while the bullpen is even lower at 2.80.
KOKO BE LOCO
Junior outfielder Zach Kokoska's .358 average is seventh-highest in the Big 12 ... Kokoska's career-high four-hit day on May 8 at Baylor capped seven straight games with multiple hits ... He has hit safely in 25 of his last 30 games, recording multiple hits 15 times in that stretch ... In the last 15 games he is 23-for-56 (.411) with nine extra-base hits ... His 14 homers are tied for third in the conference and are tied for third-most in a single season in K-State history (record 16 set in 1997).
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 109 strikeouts and has reached double-digit strikeouts four times after a career-best 11 vs. WVU ... His 109 strikeouts are the most in a single season in K-State history and he is just three away from becoming the program's all-time strikeout king ... Last Thursday's start marked his seventh quality outing in 14 starts this season ... In the last two seasons, Wicks is 9-3 with a 2.64 ERA (33 ER, 112.2 IP) with 135 strikeouts (18 starts).
FROM THE PEN
This season, the K-State bullpen owns an ERA of 5.22 while starters have a 4.51 earned run average ... In league play, starters have posted an ERA of 6.73 while the pen owns an 7.12 ERA ... At home, the K-State bullpen has a 2.80 ERA while posting an earned run average of 9.95 (73 ER, 66 IP) in road and neutral contests ... In the three-game series at Kansas, the bullpen did not allow a run over 5 2/3 innings ... The Cats' pen has a 13.14 earned run average in 12 road Big 12 contests ... Tyler Eckberg has allowed three earned runs over his last 18 1/3 innings with 16 strikeouts and one walk over in nine outings ... Eric Torres extended his scoreless streak to 19 2/3 innings before it ended Saturday against TCU ... Torres and has yielded just five earned runs in his last 17 appearances (28.2 IP) ... Torres owned a 15.75 ERA through his first five outings (7 ER, 4 IP) and has lowered that number to 3.31.
BY TH3 NUM8ER5
K-State has a season run differential of +39 ... K-State is 19-5 when scoring the game's first run and has outscored opponents by 27 runs in the game's first two innings (86-59) ... K-State is 18-1 when hitting multiple home runs but 13-20 when hitting one or no homers ... When scoring at least six runs, K-State is 24-3 and 26-6 when limiting their opponent to five runs or fewer ... 81 of K-State's 95 two-out RBI have come in victories ... The Cats are hitting .303 with two outs in 31 wins and just .167 in 21 losses ... K-State's strikeout rate of 9.89 per nine innings would be tops in program history, ahead of the current record of 8.6 K/9 set in 1969 ... This season's strikeout total of 492 is the new program record, needing just 49 games to shatter the previous mark of 453 ... 138 of the Cats' 338 runs have come via the home run this season (41 percent).
30 FOR 30
The Wildcats reached their first 30-win season away since 2013 - their Big 12 championship and Super Regional season ... In 2013, K-State set a program record with 45 wins, its second 40-win season (2009) ... K-State has reached the 30-win plateau just nine times since the inception of the Big 12 in 1997 and only 16 times in the program's 121 seasons ... Each of the last four times the Cats have won at least 30 games, the team has qualified for the postseason.
IRON MAN, CAM
Cameron Thompson has started every game during his Wildcat career and is tied for the all-time program record with 236 career starts (Craig Wilson) ... Thompson is now alone in fourth place in K-State history with 274 base hits ... Thompson, a five-year senior and team captain, has started games in center field, third base, second base and shortstop ... Thompson is 11 hits shy of becoming K-State's all-time hits leader.
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