Cats Open Big 12 Action at No. 19 TCU

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Winning eight of its last nine non-conference games, K-States enters its first Big 12 series Friday against 19^th-ranked TCU at Lupton Stadium in Fort Worth, Texas.

Friday's game is set for a 6 p.m. start while Saturday's contest will begin at 2 p.m. Sunday, the series will wrap up at 1 p.m.

The Wildcats will again turn to Blake Adams (Friday) and Connor McCullough (Saturday) for the series' first two contests. Adams is second in the Big 12 in innings at 32 and third in strikeouts with 41 while McCullough logged season highs in both innings (7) and strikeouts (8) against Morehead State last Saturday.

Last season, the Cats and Horned Frogs met six times over the final two weeks of the regular season (3-3). K-State won two of three games at Tointon Family Stadium against then-fifth ranked TCU. The Frogs took two of three games during the 2021 Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship in Oklahoma City.

K-State has won each of the last two series with the TCU, both at home. The Cats make their first trip to Lupton Stadium since 2018.

The entire series will be carried on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ and the ESPN app with radio coverage available on News Radio KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM). Live streaming audio is also available at K-StateSports.com/watch and on the K-State Sports app.

GAME #20
K-STATE (11-8, 0-0 BIG 12) at #19 TCU (15-5, 2-1 BIG 12)
Friday, March 25 // 6 p.m. // Lupton Stadium (4,500) // Fort Worth, Texas
Projected Starters: RHP Blake Adams (2-1, 2.53 EA) vs. RHP Riley Cornelio (2-1, 3.45 ERA)
Watch: Big 12 Now on ESPN+
Radio: KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) // Brian Smoller, Christopher Brown
Listen Online: K-StateSports.com/Watch // 1350KMAN.com
Live Stats

GAME #21
K-STATE (11-8, 0-0 BIG 12) at #19 TCU (15-5, 2-1 BIG 12)
Saturday, March 26 // 2 p.m. // Lupton Stadium (4,500) // Fort Worth, Texas
Projected Starters: RHP Connor McCullough (3-1, 2.73 ERA) vs. RHP Cam Brown (2-2, 4.29 ERA)
Watch: Big 12 Now on ESPN+
Radio: KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) // Brian Smoller, Christopher Brown
Listen Online: K-StateSports.com/Watch // 1350KMAN.com
Live Stats

GAME #22
K-STATE (11-8, 0-0 BIG 12) at #19 TCU (15-5, 2-1 BIG 12)
Sunday, March 27 // 1 p.m. // Lupton Stadium (4,500) // Fort Worth, Texas
Projected Starters: TBA vs. RHP Brett Walker (2-0, 4.39 ERA)
Watch: Big 12 Now on ESPN+
Radio: KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) // Brian Smoller, Christopher Brown
Listen Online: K-StateSports.com/Watch // 1350KMAN.com
Live Stats

A LOOK AT K-STATE
K-State enters Big 12 play at No. 19 TCU after a five-game homestand, going 4-1 against Morehead State and Air Force at Tointon Family Stadium ... The Wildcats saw their eight-game winning streak come to an end Wednesday in a 4-3 setback against Air Force ... K-State has now won eight of their last games, and 10 of 12, after their first home loss against the Falcons ... In a three-game weekend series sweep against Morehead State, the Cats cruised in the series' first two games, winning 10-2 and 15-2, respectively, before needing a come-from-behind effort Sunday ... Seven different Wildcats homered during the weekend series, with three coming in Sunday's 9-6 victory ... Josh Nicoloff hit a go-ahead three-run home run in the bottom of the seventh, giving K-State its first lead at 7-5, before Dylan Phillips tacked on a two-run shot in the eighth ... Dominic Johnson paced the offense by hitting .692 in the series, including six doubles ... His three-double performance Saturday tied the program's single-game record, last happening in 2009 ... As a team, K-State hit .377 over the three games with the Eagles and pushed its season average to .308 - tops in the Big 12 and 30th in the nation ... Nicoloff earned Big 12 Newcomer of the Week honor after slashing .467/.556/1.067 with three doubles, two home runs and eight RBI over the week ... On the mound, the Cats got quality starts from both Blake Adams and Connor McCullough ... Adams, who carded his fourth straight quality outing, gave up just one earned run over 6 1/3 innings while striking out seven in earning his second win ... McCullough held MSU to just one hit over the first six innings of his start, as he finished with a season-high seven frames and eight strikeouts ... Griffin Hassall collected his third win in as many appearances after tossing the final three innings Sunday, striking out four ... Wednesday, K-State rallied to erase a three-run deficit before allowing the go-ahead run in the top of the seventh ... Kaelen Culpepper launched his first career home run, a solo shot in the third, becoming the 12th different Wildcat to homer this season.

SCOUTING TCU
Under first-year head coach Kirk Sarloos, TCU (15-5, 2-1 Big 12) enters its second Big 12 series, as the Horned Frogs opened league play by taking two of three games at Baylor last weekend ... TCU, ranked as high as 19th in the national polls, has won eight of its last 10 games after a 14-3 win (seven innings) at Abilene Christian on Tuesday ... Sunday's 7-3 setback to the Bears snapped the Frogs' six-game winning streak ... TCU is led by Tommy Sacco's .370 average and 10 doubles while Brayden Taylor is hitting .357 with three homers and 19 RBI ... David Bishop is the team leader with four home runs and 30 driven in ... Riley Cornelio was tabbed Big 12 Pitcher of the Week after logging eight innings of two-hit ball last Friday night against Baylor ... He equaled his career high with seven strikeouts and faced the minimum in six of eight innings ... On the year, Cornelio is 2-1 with a 3.45 ERA and 30 strikeouts against eight walks ... The Horned Frogs' pitching staff has a 4.49 ERA with a strikeout rate of 10.2 per nine innings.

INSIDE THE SERIES
K-State is 12-23 against TCU in its history with a 8-16 record during Big 12 games ... The Wildcats and Horned Frogs met six times over the final two weeks of the 2021 regular season, with each side winning three times ... K-State took two of three games at Tointon Family Stadium before the teams met three times during the 2021 Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship in Oklahoma City ... The Cats walked off then-No. 5 TCU in the Sunday finale on a three-run Chris Ceballos home run, preventing the Frogs from claiming the Big 12 regular-season title ... In the conference tournament, TCU won two of three games, as the Horned Frogs eliminated K-State in the semifinal round ... K-State is winless in Fort Worth during Big 12 play (0-9) and 3-14 all-time in Fort Worth, last winning in 1987 (7-6) ... The teams have split the last 10 meetings overall in the series, as the Wildcats have won the last two series between the teams (both in Manhattan).

AGAINST RANKED TEAMS
TCU, ranked as high as No. 19 in the national polls, will mark the second top-25 opponent K-State has met this season ... The Wildcats opened the season against No. 10 Arizona at the State Farm College Baseball Showdown, dropping a 8-6 decision ... 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 ... Five of the 13 ranked victories under Hughes have come against TCU.

THE IDES OF MARCH
After a 1-5 February, K-State has won 10 of 13 games in the month of March and has won eight of its last nine games ... The Wildcat offense is hitting at a .341 clip in the month and averaging 7.7 runs a game with 12.2 hits a game ... In February, the Cats hit just .223 as a team with 3.5 runs per game on 7.5 hits a contest ... Additionally, K-State is hitting .301 with two outs in March after just .233 in February ... Seven Cats are hitting north of .320 in the month of March, with four hitting .375 or better ... Dominic Johnson has a team-leading .509 batting average while Cole Johnson is hitting .392 ... Justin Mitchell and Josh Nicoloff at .375 while Nicoloff has homered four times this month ... K-State has 20 homers in that stretch compared to three last month.

JOHNSON & JOHNSON
K-State's dynamic outfield duo of Dominic Johnson and Cole Johnson have helped spearhead the Wildcat offense during its recent hot streak ... In winning eight of the last 10 games, Dominic Johnson leads the way with his .558 average during the streak while Cole Johnson is at .359 ... Cole Johnson turned in K-State's first four-hit effort of the season on March 13 against Central Connecticut State, including a go-ahead solo homer, and finished the weekend series with three extra-base hits ... Dominic Johnson is riding a 14-game hitting streak, a stretch that includes multiple hits in nine consecutive outings (March 6-20) ... Cole Johnson has recorded a hit in 10 of his last 12 games, with five multi-hit games in that span, and has reached safely in his last 12 contests.

THE DOMINATOR
Dominic Johnson, who has hit leadoff and started in left field every game this season for the Wildcats, leads the team in average, on-base percentage, slugging, doubles, extra-base hits and stolen bases ... The Oklahoma State transfer registered multiple hits in each of his last nine of his last 10 games and is the team leader with 13 multi-hit games and five multi-RBI efforts ... Over his 14-game hitting streak, the sophomore is hitting .500 (31-for-62) with 11 doubles, two home runs, 12 RBI and 16 runs scored ... He has been held hitless in just one game this season (0-for-4 at CSU Bakersfield on February 26) ... Johnson also leads the team in hitting with runners in scoring position at .611 (11-for-18) and seven two-out RBI ... Currently, he is the Big 12's leader in hitting (.457) and doubles (13) while ranking second in total hits (37) ... Johnson's 13 doubles ranks second in the country while his average is fifth.

STREAKS FOR WEEKS
Four Wildcats are currently riding on-base streaks of at least eight games, including Dominic Johnson (14), Josh Nicoloff (14) and Justin Mitchell (8) ... Nicoloff is also on a 13-game hitting streak ... As a team, K-State has homered in 11 of its last 12 games, with a stretch of eight straight games from March 4-14 ... The Cats did not hit a home run in the season's first three games at the State Farm College Baseball Showdown in Arlington, Texas ... K-State's eight-game winning streak was the longest such streak under Hughes and is the program's longest winning stretch since winning 12 in a row in 2014 ... The eight-game streak is tied for the sixth-longest since 1910 and is the two away from becoming just the sixth double-digit win streak in program history.

NICOL-OFF AND RUNNING
Senior infielder Josh Nicoloff, a graduate transfer from Columbia, is hitting .375 over his last 13 games, including six doubles, four home runs and 14 runs batted in ... Nicoloff did not play in 2021 and appeared in just eight games after the Ivy League cancelled the last two seasons due to concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic ... The Ladera Ranch, California, native began the season going 1-for-21 over the season's first six games, but has hit safely in each of his last 13 contests, including a season-high three hits and four RBI at Omaha on March 15 ... Nicoloff has four home runs over his last 10 games and is tied for the team lead in the category ... Nicoloff was tabbed Big 12 Newcomer of the Week on Monday after slashing .467/.556/1.067 with three doubles, two homers and eight RBI last week.

BOSS HOGS
K-State features a pair of Arkansas transfers and natives in its weekend rotation in Blake Adams and Connor McCullough ... In 10 total starts, the duo has a combined ERA of 2.63 (18 ER, 61.2 IP) and 71 strikeouts with 15 walks ... Adams and McCullough have carded six quality starts between them, as Adams has turned in a quality outing in each of his last four starts after going 6 1/3 innings with one earned Friday ... Each logged quality starts against Morehead State, as McCullough matched his career long in innings at seven and set a season high in strikeouts with eight ... Adams is third in the conference with 41 strikeouts and second with 32 innings pitched.

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Players Mentioned

Blake Adams

Chris Ceballos

Kaelen Culpepper

Griffin Hassall

Cole Johnson

Dominic Johnson

Connor McCullough

Justin Mitchell

Josh Nicoloff

Dylan Phillips

Kansas State University Athletics