A New Home Run King at K-State
Apr 04, 2022 | Baseball, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
Things happen fast. Things also instantly stop. That's what happened at 4:12 p.m. on Saturday when a mighty whack suddenly rang out across Tointon Family Stadium. For a few seconds, along the concourse near home plate, the man with a hot dog stopped eating, a mother with her small child stopped walking, girls in the second row stopped talking, and the Major League Baseball scouts with radar guns stopped tracking.
Dylan Phillips hit a shot that sailed over the PrimeLending sponsorship sign between the 390- and 375-feet markers in right-center field. The blast went 402 feet. It was the 38th home run of his career. No player to wear a Kansas State uniform has ever hit more.
The blast carried a velocity of 99 miles per hour and came in the bottom of the first inning. An Oklahoma State sophomore right-hander named Victor Mederos, who had previously thrown heat, switched to a changeup.
Whack.
Phillips, a 6-foot, 220-pound fourth-year junior and preseason third team All-America pick by Collegiate Baseball, had hit six home runs in 25 games this season. He belted 10 home runs in 2019, five in 2020 and 16 last season, which tied for the most homers at K-State in a single season.
Phillips hit home run No. 37 over the left-field wall against the Cowboys on Friday night.
He hit No. 38 on the second pitch he saw on Saturday.
And it was historic.
"It's just a culmination of four years of work that has gone into it — staying consistent with what I've done, not getting complacent or anything," Phillips said. "It's just a sign of how my performance has been for four straight years."
When Phillips connected with the ball, a 22-year-old junior from Omaha, Nebraska, knew it was gone. K-State head coach Pete Hughes knew it was gone. The sellout crowd of 2,344 knew it was gone. Even so, Phillips ran hard as he reached first base. Then he trotted to second base as the ball cleared the wall, then he rounded third base, and Hughes, standing inside the coach's box, stepped out and sent Phillips on his way with a soft pat, and then Hughes applauded. Phillips raised his right arm to the air, that famous sign of mid-run celebration, as he headed toward home plate. By then, his K-State teammates had already cleared the dugout and jumped up and down before high-fiving Phillips after he crossed home plate.
Phillips tipped his cap to the crowd, which gave him a standing ovation.
"It was just a lot of happiness, to do it in front of all the great fans out here and to know they're supporting us," he said. "I just couldn't be more thankful."
Phillips broke the previous record of 37 home runs set by Scott Poepard between 1994-97. Phillips entered the season as the Big 12 Conference's active leader with 31 home runs.
"You know," Hughes said prior to the season, "he's going to go down as one of the all-time great Kansas State baseball players."
Hughes echoed that sentiment on Saturday.
"He's as good as it gets," Hughes said.
Phillips had chased the record at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, and through a seven-game west coast trip, and through Omaha, and through Fort Worth, Texas. ("When everything is working, I mean, everything seems a little bit slower," Phillips said prior to the season.) Yes, Phillips had launched six over the outfield wall. He inched closer and closer. ("I don't know how to describe a home run. You're in your zone and get the pitch that you want," Phillips once said.) The only question was when he would make history.
He hit two homers in one game at CSU Bakersfield on February 27, one at Loyola Marymount on March 4, one against Morehead State on March 20, one against Northern Colorado last Tuesday, and one against Oklahoma State on Friday.
None quite like this.
It was a beautiful, sunny, 64-degree early evening in Manhattan and a near-shadowless field. It was one of the first days of spring when there were no clouds in the sky. It was National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day. K-State Athletics sold fried PB&J sandwiches. K-State wore its all-white uniforms with a purple "CATS" emblazoned across the front, a purple Powercat on the right sleeve and a purple Big 12 logo on the left. The Wildcats wore a purple helmet with a white "KS" printed above the bill.
Phillips wielded a 33-inch, 30-ounce black Easton bat with lavender grip. Funny thing is, some teammates prior to the season tried to convince him that "other bats had more juice," and he actually started the season swinging a different bat. It just didn't feel right. He switched back to the Easton. Then he hit his first home run of the season.
"It kind of took off from there," he said.
This was the kind of stuff Phillips dreamed about. Son of Dave Phillips and Molly Luedtke-Phillips, he grew up smelling the popcorn at historic Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium, then site of the NCAA Men's College World Series. He began playing Tee-ball at age 5 and played sports year-round. Starting at age 9, he attended at least one CWS game every June. It was the "big thing." When he was young, he sat with his family. It progressed to hanging out with high school friends behind the outfield wall. But all along, the dream was firmly embedded inside Phillips, who became the 2018 Nebraska Gatorade Player of the Year.
Dave and Molly were in attendance to see their son make history.
"We're going to go get some dinner later," Phillips said.
Nobody outside of Phillips, his parents, and Hughes likely knows what Major League Baseball teams put on the table after the 2021 MLB Draft. But it clearly wasn't a high-enough dollar figure to convince Phillips to leave K-State last July.
And now? He's a K-State record setter.
"He's like family to me," Hughes said.
Inside fastball? He'll clobber it. Changeup? Whack. Breaking ball? Gone. He spends hours studying film of different pitchers. He sees every type of pitch in their arsenal. Sometimes, he can tell before he walks to the plate if he'll get his pitch. If he'll hit this guy, or that guy. He just knows. It's an uncanny science, really, but that's why, you know, he's the home run king — and he'll have the historic baseball to prove it forever and ever.
Just when everybody thought Phillips was done for the day on Saturday, he did it again. This time at 5:52 p.m. In the bottom of the sixth inning — whack — time stood still again. Phillips sent a ball over the 2013 Big 12 Championship banner in right field. It was his second multi-homer game of the season and the seventh of his career. The crowd rose to its feet and cheered and danced and clapped in unison as high-energy music filled the clear, blue sky.
It was the 39th home run of Phillips' amazing career.
And he rounded the bases again.
Things happen fast. Things also instantly stop. That's what happened at 4:12 p.m. on Saturday when a mighty whack suddenly rang out across Tointon Family Stadium. For a few seconds, along the concourse near home plate, the man with a hot dog stopped eating, a mother with her small child stopped walking, girls in the second row stopped talking, and the Major League Baseball scouts with radar guns stopped tracking.
Dylan Phillips hit a shot that sailed over the PrimeLending sponsorship sign between the 390- and 375-feet markers in right-center field. The blast went 402 feet. It was the 38th home run of his career. No player to wear a Kansas State uniform has ever hit more.
The blast carried a velocity of 99 miles per hour and came in the bottom of the first inning. An Oklahoma State sophomore right-hander named Victor Mederos, who had previously thrown heat, switched to a changeup.
Whack.
Phillips, a 6-foot, 220-pound fourth-year junior and preseason third team All-America pick by Collegiate Baseball, had hit six home runs in 25 games this season. He belted 10 home runs in 2019, five in 2020 and 16 last season, which tied for the most homers at K-State in a single season.
Phillips hit home run No. 37 over the left-field wall against the Cowboys on Friday night.
He hit No. 38 on the second pitch he saw on Saturday.
And it was historic.
"It's just a culmination of four years of work that has gone into it — staying consistent with what I've done, not getting complacent or anything," Phillips said. "It's just a sign of how my performance has been for four straight years."
When Phillips connected with the ball, a 22-year-old junior from Omaha, Nebraska, knew it was gone. K-State head coach Pete Hughes knew it was gone. The sellout crowd of 2,344 knew it was gone. Even so, Phillips ran hard as he reached first base. Then he trotted to second base as the ball cleared the wall, then he rounded third base, and Hughes, standing inside the coach's box, stepped out and sent Phillips on his way with a soft pat, and then Hughes applauded. Phillips raised his right arm to the air, that famous sign of mid-run celebration, as he headed toward home plate. By then, his K-State teammates had already cleared the dugout and jumped up and down before high-fiving Phillips after he crossed home plate.
Phillips tipped his cap to the crowd, which gave him a standing ovation.
"It was just a lot of happiness, to do it in front of all the great fans out here and to know they're supporting us," he said. "I just couldn't be more thankful."
Phillips broke the previous record of 37 home runs set by Scott Poepard between 1994-97. Phillips entered the season as the Big 12 Conference's active leader with 31 home runs.
"You know," Hughes said prior to the season, "he's going to go down as one of the all-time great Kansas State baseball players."
Hughes echoed that sentiment on Saturday.
"He's as good as it gets," Hughes said.
Phillips had chased the record at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, and through a seven-game west coast trip, and through Omaha, and through Fort Worth, Texas. ("When everything is working, I mean, everything seems a little bit slower," Phillips said prior to the season.) Yes, Phillips had launched six over the outfield wall. He inched closer and closer. ("I don't know how to describe a home run. You're in your zone and get the pitch that you want," Phillips once said.) The only question was when he would make history.
He hit two homers in one game at CSU Bakersfield on February 27, one at Loyola Marymount on March 4, one against Morehead State on March 20, one against Northern Colorado last Tuesday, and one against Oklahoma State on Friday.
📸👑#KStateBSB x @DylanP_16 pic.twitter.com/ceEtXg0Zfd
— K-State Baseball (@KStateBSB) April 2, 2022
None quite like this.
It was a beautiful, sunny, 64-degree early evening in Manhattan and a near-shadowless field. It was one of the first days of spring when there were no clouds in the sky. It was National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day. K-State Athletics sold fried PB&J sandwiches. K-State wore its all-white uniforms with a purple "CATS" emblazoned across the front, a purple Powercat on the right sleeve and a purple Big 12 logo on the left. The Wildcats wore a purple helmet with a white "KS" printed above the bill.
Phillips wielded a 33-inch, 30-ounce black Easton bat with lavender grip. Funny thing is, some teammates prior to the season tried to convince him that "other bats had more juice," and he actually started the season swinging a different bat. It just didn't feel right. He switched back to the Easton. Then he hit his first home run of the season.
"It kind of took off from there," he said.
This was the kind of stuff Phillips dreamed about. Son of Dave Phillips and Molly Luedtke-Phillips, he grew up smelling the popcorn at historic Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium, then site of the NCAA Men's College World Series. He began playing Tee-ball at age 5 and played sports year-round. Starting at age 9, he attended at least one CWS game every June. It was the "big thing." When he was young, he sat with his family. It progressed to hanging out with high school friends behind the outfield wall. But all along, the dream was firmly embedded inside Phillips, who became the 2018 Nebraska Gatorade Player of the Year.
Dave and Molly were in attendance to see their son make history.
"We're going to go get some dinner later," Phillips said.
Nobody outside of Phillips, his parents, and Hughes likely knows what Major League Baseball teams put on the table after the 2021 MLB Draft. But it clearly wasn't a high-enough dollar figure to convince Phillips to leave K-State last July.
And now? He's a K-State record setter.
"He's like family to me," Hughes said.
Inside fastball? He'll clobber it. Changeup? Whack. Breaking ball? Gone. He spends hours studying film of different pitchers. He sees every type of pitch in their arsenal. Sometimes, he can tell before he walks to the plate if he'll get his pitch. If he'll hit this guy, or that guy. He just knows. It's an uncanny science, really, but that's why, you know, he's the home run king — and he'll have the historic baseball to prove it forever and ever.
Just when everybody thought Phillips was done for the day on Saturday, he did it again. This time at 5:52 p.m. In the bottom of the sixth inning — whack — time stood still again. Phillips sent a ball over the 2013 Big 12 Championship banner in right field. It was his second multi-homer game of the season and the seventh of his career. The crowd rose to its feet and cheered and danced and clapped in unison as high-energy music filled the clear, blue sky.
It was the 39th home run of Phillips' amazing career.
And he rounded the bases again.
Players Mentioned
OF/LHP
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