Kansas State University Athletics
Friday, February 18
Arlington, Texas
3 p.m.
Kansas State University
vs
Arizona
K-State Begins 2022 Season at State Farm College Baseball Showdown
Feb 17, 2022 | Baseball
MANHATTAN, Kan. – K-State kicks off the 2022 baseball season Friday at the State Farm College Baseball Showdown in Arlington, Texas, as the Wildcats will take on Arizona, Michigan and Auburn over three days at Globe Life Field, home of the Texas Rangers.
Blake Adams, a right-handed transfer from Arkansas, will get the nod Friday against Arizona. McCullough is the lone returner from last season's weekend rotation and will head to the mound Saturday against U-M before Oklahoma transfer Christian Ruebeck starts the weekend finale against the Tigers.
Tickets for the State Farm College Baseball Showdown are now on sale and can be purchased at TexasRangers.com/collegebaseball.
All three games of the tournament will be broadcast on FloBaseball.TV (paid). Radio coverage will be available on News Radio KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) with live streaming audio at K-StateSports.com/watch and the K-State Sports app.
GAME #1
K-STATE (0-0) vs. #10 ARIZONA (0-0)
Friday, February 18 // 3 p.m. // Globe Life Field (40,300) // Arlington, Texas
Projected Starters: RHP Blake Adams (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. RHP T.J. Nichols (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
Watch: FloBaseball.TV ($)
Radio: KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) // Brian Smoller, Christopher Brown
Listen Online: K-StateSports.com/Watch // 1350KMAN.com
Tickets | Live Stats
GAME #2
K-STATE (0-0) vs. MICHIGAN (0-0)
Saturday, February 19 // 11 a.m. // Globe Life Field (40,300) // Arlington, Texas
Projected Starters: RHP Connor McCullough (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. LHP Jacob Denner (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
Watch: FloBaseball.TV ($)
Radio: KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) // Brian Smoller, Christopher Brown
Listen Online: K-StateSports.com/Watch // 1350KMAN.com
Tickets | Live Stats
GAME #3
K-STATE (0-0) vs. AUBURN (0-0)
Sunday, February 20 // 10:30 a.m. // Globe Life Field (40,300) // Arlington, Texas
Projected Starters: RHP Christian Ruebeck (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. RHP Trace Bright (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
Watch: FloBaseball.TV ($)
Radio: KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) // Brian Smoller, Christopher Brown
Listen Online: K-StateSports.com/Watch // 1350KMAN.com
Tickets | Live Stats
A LOOK AT K-STATE
K-State, who is receiving votes in the initial National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association poll, enters its 122nd season of baseball and year four of the Pete Hughes era Friday, as the Wildcats begin the 2022 season at the State Farm College Baseball Showdown in Arlington, Texas ... The season-opening tournament, which enters its second season and will be played at the Texas Rangers' Globe Life Field, will feature six teams from the Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC ... The Wildcats retain just 11 letterwinners from last year's squad that reached the semifinal round of the 2021 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship while welcoming in 24 newcomers ... Half of the team's newcomers come via the transfer market, with eight being Division I transfers with the other eight coming from the junior college ranks ... Returning starters include Nick Goodwin, Connor McCullough, Dylan Phillips and Terrence Spurlin ... McCullough, Phillips and Spurlin along with redshirt senior transfer catcher Justin Mitchell were all voted team captains for the 2022 season in a vote of their teammates ... Phillips led K-State in home runs and RBI while Goodwin was the team leader in stolen bases ... McCullough made 15 starts and logged 77 1/3 innings, going 5-4 with 69 strikeouts (second on team).
SCOUTING ARIZONA
While at the 2022 State Farm College Baseball Showdown, K-State will face Arizona (Friday), Michigan (Saturday) and Auburn (Sunday) ... Arizona, ranked as high as No. 10 in the national college baseball polls, reached the 2021 College World Series after going 45-18 and winning the Pac-12 with a 21-9 record ... UA introduced Chip Hale as its new head coach in June, as the former Wildcat served as the third base coach for the Detroit Tigers last season ... Arizona returns 23 letterwinners, including catcher Daniel Susac and infielder Nik McClaughry, who each hit north of .315 in 2021 ... Arizona will throw T.J. Nichols against K-State, who made nine starts last year and posted a 4.77 ERA with 66 strikeouts in 60 1/3 innings ... K-State and Arizona have met just once before, with UA earning a 6-1 victory in 1993
SCOUTING MICHIGAN
Michigan ended the 2021 season with a 27-19 record and earned a third-place finish in the Big Ten with a 27-17 mark ... The Wolverines, who reached the national title game in 2019, bring back 15 letterwinners, including six starters and seven pitchers ... Among U-M's returners are infielder Ted Burton (.342, 7 HR, 28 RBI), outfielder Tito Flores (.325, 7 HR, 37 RBI) and the team's home run leader Jimmy Obertop ( 11 HR) ... Michigan will send left-hander Jacob Denner to the mound Saturday against the Wildcats .. Denner made nine starts (13 appearances) and went 4-4 with a 4.35 ERA (25 ER, 51.2 IP) to go with 51 strikeouts and 17 walks ... K-State and Michigan have faced each other just once, with the Wildcats claiming a 9-6 victory in 1997.
SCOUTING AUBURN
Auburn went 25-27 in 2021 with a 10-20 SEC record, finishing sixth in the West Division and 12th overall ... The Tigers retain 20 letterwinners while losing 12, bringing back five starters and nine pitchers ... Among the top returners are senior infielder Brody Moore (.292, 32 RBI), senior outfielder Kason Howell (.260, 8 HR, 30 RBI) and right-handed pitcher Trace Bright (4-4, 6.98 ERA) ... Bright, who made 19 appearances (11 starts) and struck out 43 batters, will get the nod in the weekend finale against the Cats ... The Wildcats and Tigers will meet for the first time Sunday.
AGAINST RANKED TEAMS
K-State will open the season against Arizona, who is ranked as high as No. 10 in the national polls after reaching the 2021 College World Series ... Last season, the Wildcats went 6-10 against ranked opponents - all of which were in the top 10 ... Four of the Cats' top-10 wins came over the season's final eight games ... Head coach Pete Hughes is 13-18 against top-25 squads and 8-9 against the nation's top 10 over his three seasons in Manhattan ... K-State last faced a ranked team on Opening Day back in 2018, when the Wildcats fell 12-5 to 17th-ranked South Alabama.
OPENING DAY
In three seasons under head coach Pete Hughes, K-State is 1-2 in season openers after defeating Oregon State 3-2 in Surprise, Arizona, to begin the 2021 season ... Friday's contest with UA will mark the second straight season in which K-State has begun the season against a team from the Pac-12 ... Last season's victory over the Beavers snapped a four-game skid on Opening Day (last winning in 2016) ... The Cats are 5-5 over their last 10 season openers and 14-8 going back to the year 2000.
NEW FACES, NEW PLACES
K-State's 2022 roster is comprised of 24 new faces, equally distributed between freshman and incoming transfers ... Eight of the Wildcats' 12 transfers come from Division I programs, with seven coming from Power 5 schools and four from Big 12 rivals (two Oklahoma, two Oklahoma State) ... Combined with a dozen freshman and four redshirts, 28 players on K-State's 40-man roster have never played a game in a Wildcat uniform ... Additionally, just five have more than one year of experience ... Senior Terrence Spurlin is the longest tenured Cat, entering his fifth season with the program ... Senior and Columbia transfer Josh Nicoloff, slated to be the opening day second baseman, has not appeared in a college baseball game since 2020 after the Ivy League cancelled their 2021 season.
WHAMMER HAMMER
Dylan Phillips tied the program's single-season home run record with 16 bombs, ranking second in the Big 12 ... His 16 homers were the most by a Wildcat since Scott Poepard and Heath Schesser both did it during the 1997 season ... Phillips' 31 career home runs rank fourth in K-State history while he is six behind Poepard's 37 for the career home run title ... Phillips was K-State's lone representative on the Preseason All-Big 12 Team while also earning Preseason Third Team All-America honors from Collegiate Baseball ... Phillips led the Cats with his 16 homers, 58 runs batted in and .352 average with two outs.
HOME COOKIN'
K-State collected 24 of its 34 victories at Tointon Family Stadium last season, boasting a 24-7 home record (.774) ... The 24 home wins were the most since 28 during the 2013 season and marked the third-most in program history ... Conversely, the Wildcats turned in just three true road wins (3-12), their fewest total since 2003 (2) ... At home, the Wildcat offense hit at a .321 clip and blasted 65 home runs ... The pitching staff turned in an earned run average of 3.53 with 322 strikeouts and 102 walks ... K-State homered in 28 of its last 31 games at home ... K-State averaged 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.
SCARY TERRY
Terrence Spurlin enters his fifth year with the program and is the longest tenured Wildcat on the roster ... Spurlin, who was voted one of four team captains for the 2022 season by his teammates, is the last Wildcat holdover from the previous coaching regime, starting his career in 2018 ... In 2021, Spurlin set career highs in all three slash categories (.339/.406/.496) despite missing 20 games due to a wrist injury ... The Cypress, Texas, product was second on the team in hitting a season ago while boasting a .993 fielding percentage at first base ... Spurlin led K-State last season in hitting with runners in scoring position, hitting .400 (14-for-35).
MAC ATTACK
K-State starting pitcher Connor McCullough is the Wildcats' only returning weekend starter ... McCullough, who was a freshman all-America pick in 2020 by Collegiate Baseball, tied for the team lead in starts (15) and ranked second in innings pitched (77.1) and strikeouts (69) ... The redshirt sophomore accounts for 15 of K-State's 18 returning starts, 77 1/3 of 104 retained innings and 69 of 95 strikeouts.
NUMBER NUGGETS
K-State had a season run differential of +41 ... K-State was 21-7 when scoring the game's first run and has outscored opponents by 25 runs in the game's first two innings (96-71) ... K-State went 20-1 when hitting multiple home runs but 14-22 when hitting one or no homers ... When scoring at least six runs, the Wildcats were 26-5 and 29-6 when limiting their opponent to five runs or fewer ... 94 of K-State's 114 two-out RBI came in victories ... The Cats hit .299 with two outs in 34 wins and just .178 in 23 losses ... 148 of the Cats' 372 runs last season came via the home run (40 percent).
K-State will meet Arizona on Opening Day at 3 p.m. UA is ranked as high as No. 10 in the national college baseball polls while K-State is receiving votes in the preseason NCBWA poll. The Wildcats will then face Michigan Saturday at 11 a.m. and close the weekend Sunday against Auburn at 10:30 a.m.
The Cats' 2022 roster features 24 newcomers, including 12 transfers and 12 freshmen. Returning starters include shortstop Nick Goodwin, starting pitcher Connor McCullough, left fielder Dylan Phillips and first baseman Terrence Spurlin.Blake Adams, a right-handed transfer from Arkansas, will get the nod Friday against Arizona. McCullough is the lone returner from last season's weekend rotation and will head to the mound Saturday against U-M before Oklahoma transfer Christian Ruebeck starts the weekend finale against the Tigers.
Tickets for the State Farm College Baseball Showdown are now on sale and can be purchased at TexasRangers.com/collegebaseball.
All three games of the tournament will be broadcast on FloBaseball.TV (paid). Radio coverage will be available on News Radio KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) with live streaming audio at K-StateSports.com/watch and the K-State Sports app.
GAME #1
K-STATE (0-0) vs. #10 ARIZONA (0-0)
Friday, February 18 // 3 p.m. // Globe Life Field (40,300) // Arlington, Texas
Projected Starters: RHP Blake Adams (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. RHP T.J. Nichols (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
Watch: FloBaseball.TV ($)
Radio: KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) // Brian Smoller, Christopher Brown
Listen Online: K-StateSports.com/Watch // 1350KMAN.com
Tickets | Live Stats
GAME #2
K-STATE (0-0) vs. MICHIGAN (0-0)
Saturday, February 19 // 11 a.m. // Globe Life Field (40,300) // Arlington, Texas
Projected Starters: RHP Connor McCullough (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. LHP Jacob Denner (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
Watch: FloBaseball.TV ($)
Radio: KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) // Brian Smoller, Christopher Brown
Listen Online: K-StateSports.com/Watch // 1350KMAN.com
Tickets | Live Stats
GAME #3
K-STATE (0-0) vs. AUBURN (0-0)
Sunday, February 20 // 10:30 a.m. // Globe Life Field (40,300) // Arlington, Texas
Projected Starters: RHP Christian Ruebeck (0-0, 0.00 ERA) vs. RHP Trace Bright (0-0, 0.00 ERA)
Watch: FloBaseball.TV ($)
Radio: KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) // Brian Smoller, Christopher Brown
Listen Online: K-StateSports.com/Watch // 1350KMAN.com
Tickets | Live Stats
A LOOK AT K-STATE
K-State, who is receiving votes in the initial National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association poll, enters its 122nd season of baseball and year four of the Pete Hughes era Friday, as the Wildcats begin the 2022 season at the State Farm College Baseball Showdown in Arlington, Texas ... The season-opening tournament, which enters its second season and will be played at the Texas Rangers' Globe Life Field, will feature six teams from the Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC ... The Wildcats retain just 11 letterwinners from last year's squad that reached the semifinal round of the 2021 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship while welcoming in 24 newcomers ... Half of the team's newcomers come via the transfer market, with eight being Division I transfers with the other eight coming from the junior college ranks ... Returning starters include Nick Goodwin, Connor McCullough, Dylan Phillips and Terrence Spurlin ... McCullough, Phillips and Spurlin along with redshirt senior transfer catcher Justin Mitchell were all voted team captains for the 2022 season in a vote of their teammates ... Phillips led K-State in home runs and RBI while Goodwin was the team leader in stolen bases ... McCullough made 15 starts and logged 77 1/3 innings, going 5-4 with 69 strikeouts (second on team).
SCOUTING ARIZONA
While at the 2022 State Farm College Baseball Showdown, K-State will face Arizona (Friday), Michigan (Saturday) and Auburn (Sunday) ... Arizona, ranked as high as No. 10 in the national college baseball polls, reached the 2021 College World Series after going 45-18 and winning the Pac-12 with a 21-9 record ... UA introduced Chip Hale as its new head coach in June, as the former Wildcat served as the third base coach for the Detroit Tigers last season ... Arizona returns 23 letterwinners, including catcher Daniel Susac and infielder Nik McClaughry, who each hit north of .315 in 2021 ... Arizona will throw T.J. Nichols against K-State, who made nine starts last year and posted a 4.77 ERA with 66 strikeouts in 60 1/3 innings ... K-State and Arizona have met just once before, with UA earning a 6-1 victory in 1993
SCOUTING MICHIGAN
Michigan ended the 2021 season with a 27-19 record and earned a third-place finish in the Big Ten with a 27-17 mark ... The Wolverines, who reached the national title game in 2019, bring back 15 letterwinners, including six starters and seven pitchers ... Among U-M's returners are infielder Ted Burton (.342, 7 HR, 28 RBI), outfielder Tito Flores (.325, 7 HR, 37 RBI) and the team's home run leader Jimmy Obertop ( 11 HR) ... Michigan will send left-hander Jacob Denner to the mound Saturday against the Wildcats .. Denner made nine starts (13 appearances) and went 4-4 with a 4.35 ERA (25 ER, 51.2 IP) to go with 51 strikeouts and 17 walks ... K-State and Michigan have faced each other just once, with the Wildcats claiming a 9-6 victory in 1997.
SCOUTING AUBURN
Auburn went 25-27 in 2021 with a 10-20 SEC record, finishing sixth in the West Division and 12th overall ... The Tigers retain 20 letterwinners while losing 12, bringing back five starters and nine pitchers ... Among the top returners are senior infielder Brody Moore (.292, 32 RBI), senior outfielder Kason Howell (.260, 8 HR, 30 RBI) and right-handed pitcher Trace Bright (4-4, 6.98 ERA) ... Bright, who made 19 appearances (11 starts) and struck out 43 batters, will get the nod in the weekend finale against the Cats ... The Wildcats and Tigers will meet for the first time Sunday.
AGAINST RANKED TEAMS
K-State will open the season against Arizona, who is ranked as high as No. 10 in the national polls after reaching the 2021 College World Series ... Last season, the Wildcats went 6-10 against ranked opponents - all of which were in the top 10 ... Four of the Cats' top-10 wins came over the season's final eight games ... Head coach Pete Hughes is 13-18 against top-25 squads and 8-9 against the nation's top 10 over his three seasons in Manhattan ... K-State last faced a ranked team on Opening Day back in 2018, when the Wildcats fell 12-5 to 17th-ranked South Alabama.
OPENING DAY
In three seasons under head coach Pete Hughes, K-State is 1-2 in season openers after defeating Oregon State 3-2 in Surprise, Arizona, to begin the 2021 season ... Friday's contest with UA will mark the second straight season in which K-State has begun the season against a team from the Pac-12 ... Last season's victory over the Beavers snapped a four-game skid on Opening Day (last winning in 2016) ... The Cats are 5-5 over their last 10 season openers and 14-8 going back to the year 2000.
NEW FACES, NEW PLACES
K-State's 2022 roster is comprised of 24 new faces, equally distributed between freshman and incoming transfers ... Eight of the Wildcats' 12 transfers come from Division I programs, with seven coming from Power 5 schools and four from Big 12 rivals (two Oklahoma, two Oklahoma State) ... Combined with a dozen freshman and four redshirts, 28 players on K-State's 40-man roster have never played a game in a Wildcat uniform ... Additionally, just five have more than one year of experience ... Senior Terrence Spurlin is the longest tenured Cat, entering his fifth season with the program ... Senior and Columbia transfer Josh Nicoloff, slated to be the opening day second baseman, has not appeared in a college baseball game since 2020 after the Ivy League cancelled their 2021 season.
WHAMMER HAMMER
Dylan Phillips tied the program's single-season home run record with 16 bombs, ranking second in the Big 12 ... His 16 homers were the most by a Wildcat since Scott Poepard and Heath Schesser both did it during the 1997 season ... Phillips' 31 career home runs rank fourth in K-State history while he is six behind Poepard's 37 for the career home run title ... Phillips was K-State's lone representative on the Preseason All-Big 12 Team while also earning Preseason Third Team All-America honors from Collegiate Baseball ... Phillips led the Cats with his 16 homers, 58 runs batted in and .352 average with two outs.
HOME COOKIN'
K-State collected 24 of its 34 victories at Tointon Family Stadium last season, boasting a 24-7 home record (.774) ... The 24 home wins were the most since 28 during the 2013 season and marked the third-most in program history ... Conversely, the Wildcats turned in just three true road wins (3-12), their fewest total since 2003 (2) ... At home, the Wildcat offense hit at a .321 clip and blasted 65 home runs ... The pitching staff turned in an earned run average of 3.53 with 322 strikeouts and 102 walks ... K-State homered in 28 of its last 31 games at home ... K-State averaged 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.
SCARY TERRY
Terrence Spurlin enters his fifth year with the program and is the longest tenured Wildcat on the roster ... Spurlin, who was voted one of four team captains for the 2022 season by his teammates, is the last Wildcat holdover from the previous coaching regime, starting his career in 2018 ... In 2021, Spurlin set career highs in all three slash categories (.339/.406/.496) despite missing 20 games due to a wrist injury ... The Cypress, Texas, product was second on the team in hitting a season ago while boasting a .993 fielding percentage at first base ... Spurlin led K-State last season in hitting with runners in scoring position, hitting .400 (14-for-35).
MAC ATTACK
K-State starting pitcher Connor McCullough is the Wildcats' only returning weekend starter ... McCullough, who was a freshman all-America pick in 2020 by Collegiate Baseball, tied for the team lead in starts (15) and ranked second in innings pitched (77.1) and strikeouts (69) ... The redshirt sophomore accounts for 15 of K-State's 18 returning starts, 77 1/3 of 104 retained innings and 69 of 95 strikeouts.
NUMBER NUGGETS
K-State had a season run differential of +41 ... K-State was 21-7 when scoring the game's first run and has outscored opponents by 25 runs in the game's first two innings (96-71) ... K-State went 20-1 when hitting multiple home runs but 14-22 when hitting one or no homers ... When scoring at least six runs, the Wildcats were 26-5 and 29-6 when limiting their opponent to five runs or fewer ... 94 of K-State's 114 two-out RBI came in victories ... The Cats hit .299 with two outs in 34 wins and just .178 in 23 losses ... 148 of the Cats' 372 runs last season came via the home run (40 percent).
Ladies and Gentlemen, The Weeknd (rotation) #KStateBSB x EMAW pic.twitter.com/C1ywsIvXAe
— K-State Baseball (@KStateBSB) February 16, 2022
Start. Me. Up. 🔥
— K-State Baseball (@KStateBSB) February 14, 2022
It's Game Week#KStateBSB pic.twitter.com/eLSXbhaXoQ
Players Mentioned
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