Kansas State University Athletics
Wednesday, May 25
Arlington, Texas
4 p.m.
Kansas State University
vs
Texas Tech
K-State Prepped for Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship
May 24, 2022 | Baseball
MANHATTAN, Kan. – K-State heads into the 2022 Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship as the No. 7 seed, as the Wildcats will face second-seeded Texas Tech in the opening round Wednesday at 4 p.m. at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas.
K-State seeks to snap a four-game losing skid after dropping three games at West Virginia last weekend. Texas Tech, ranked as high as No. 8 in the national polls, claimed the regular-season series in Lubbock, 3-0.
No. 3 Oklahoma and No. 6 West Virginia are also in the Cats' half of the double-elimination tournament.
Earlier Tuesday, four Wildcats received all-conference accolades, as Dylan Phillips (second team), Kaelen Culpepper (all-freshman team), Nick Goodwin (honorable mention) and Dominic Johnson (honorable mention) were voted to the All-Big 12 Baseball Teams.
A season ago, K-State rattled off three straight wins in the conference tournament to earn a berth in the semifinal round – its longest tournament run since 2008. K-State's three tournament wins marked a program high in the Big 12 Championship.
Wednesday's contest can be seen on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ and the ESPN app. Radio coverage is available on the K-State Sports Radio Network and streaming live at K-StateSports.com/Watch. All-session tickets are now on sale at TexasRangers.com/Big12.
GAME #55
(7) K-STATE (27-27, 8-16 BIG 12) vs. (2) #8 TEXAS TECH (36-18, 15-9 BIG 12)
Wednesday, May 25 // 4 p.m. // Globe Life Field (40,300) // Arlington, Texas
Probable starters: RHP Connor McCullough (3-3, 5.32 ERA) vs. LHP Mason Molina (1-5, 4.04 ERA)
Watch: Big 12 Now on ESPN+ // ESPN app
Radio: K-State Sports Radio Network // Brian Smoller, Christopher Brown
Listen Online: K-StateSports.com/Watch // 1350KMAN.com
Live Stats
GAME #56
(7) K-STATE (27-27, 8-16 BIG 12) vs. (3) OKLAHOMA or (6) WEST VIRGINIA
Thursday, May 26 // 12:30 p.m. or 7:30 p.m. // Globe Life Field (40,300) // Arlington, Texas
Probable starters: TBA vs. TBA
Watch: Big 12 Now on ESPN+ // ESPN app
Radio: K-State Sports Radio Network // Brian Smoller, Christopher Brown
Listen Online: K-StateSports.com/Watch // 1350KMAN.com
A LOOK AT K-STATE
K-State heads into the 2022 Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship as the No. 7 seed for the second straight season ... The Wildcats will meet second-seeded Texas Tech in the opening round, as No. 3 seed Oklahoma and No. 6 seed West Virginia are also in the Cats' side of the double-elimination bracket ... K-State finished the regular season on a four-game losing skid after falling at No. 3 Virginia Tech, 8-2, and suffering a three-game sweep at West Virginia over the weekend ... Against the Hokies, the Cats allowed VT score seven runs in the first four innings behind three home runs ... Dominic Johnson hit a two-run home run for the Cats' only runs and extra-base hit ... The Mountaineers claimed 15-4 victories both Thursday and Friday before sealing the sweep with a 5-1 victory on Saturday ... Over the three games, WVU outscored K-State 21-1 over the first four innings, including an five-run third inning in the series' opener and an eight-run fourth in game two ... Kaelen Culpepper, Nick Goodwin and Cole Johnson each homered in the series to lead the Wildcat offense while Dominic Johnson went 5-for-12 with a pair of doubles ... The four-game losing streak is one shy of team's season-long stretch, as K-State began the season 0-5.
SCOUTING THE FIELD
K-State will meet No. 2 seed Texas Tech (36-18, 15-9) in the opening round of the 2022 Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship ... Third-seeded Oklahoma (33-20, 15-9 Big 12) and sixth-seeded West Virginia (33-20, 14-10 Big 12) are also in the Wildcats' half of the double-elimination bracket ... K-State and Texas Tech are tied for second in the Big 12 with 82 home runs apiece ... TTU's offense is led by Jace Jung and his .350 average to go with 14 home runs ... Kurt Wilson is hitting ,329 and leads the Red Raiders in RBI with 61 ... In total, Texas Tech has six players with at least 47 runs batted in, with three over 55 RBI ... Brandon Birdsell is 8-3 with a team-best 2.75 ERA, striking out 96 over 72 innings ... Andrew Morris went 7-1 in 12 starts during the regular season, compiling 80 strikeouts against 22 walks ... Oklahoma was paced by Tanner Tredaway's .346 average and 51 runs batted in while Peyton Graham was the only Sooner to crack double-digit homers with 14 ... In 14 starts Jake Bennett went 6-3 and posted a 3.83 earned run average, striking out 91 with just 16 walks ... The Mountaineers led the Big 12 and rank second in the country with 154 stolen bases, led by 38 from Victor Scott II ... Leadoff hitter Austin Davis' .336 average led WVU while Grant Hussey registered a team-leading 19 home runs ... On the mound, Ben Hampton went 8-4 in 14 starts, posting a 4.50 ERA with 85 strikeouts.
INSIDE THE SERIES
The Wildcats posted a combined record of 1-8 during the regular season against their half of the bracket in Texas Tech, Oklahoma and West Virginia - playing all three series on the road ... The Red Raiders claimed all three games during the regular season in Lubbock (April 8-10), finishing the sweep with a two-run walk off home run by Jace Jung that gave Tech a 7-6 win in the finale ... K-State and Texas Tech will meet in the Phillip 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship for the third straight season, as the Wildcats knocked the Red Raiders out of the tournament a season ago with a 7-2 victory in an elimination game ... The Wildcats are 3-3 all-time against TTU in the conference tournament and 3-6 against Oklahoma in the postseason ... K-State and West Virginia have never met in the Big 12 tournament ... The Sooners took two of three games in Norman (April 29-May 1), with the Cats staging a comeback in the series' finale with an 8-7 victory ... K-State suffered a three-game sweep at West Virginia last weekend to close the regular season.
CATS AT THE BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP
For the second straight season, K-State enters the Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship as the No. 7 seed ... A season ago, the Wildcats reached the semifinal round of the Big 12 Championship - their longest tournament run since the 2008 campaign ... After falling to TCU in the tournament opener, the Cats ousted both Texas Tech and Baylor before defeating the Horned Frogs to force an elimination game, with the winner headed to the title game ... All-time in the Big 12 tournament, K-State is 17-22 (.436) while the Cats' three wins in last season's tournament were the most in any Big 12 Championship tournament ... Dylan Phillips is tied with Cameron Thompson for the most career runs batted in at the Big 12 Championship with 11 while his three career homers are the most by any Wildcat in the conference tournament.
AGAINST RANKED TEAMS
Texas Tech, ranked as high as No. 8 in the national polls, will be the seventh different opponent K-State will face ranked inside the top 25 ... So far this season, the Wildcats are 3-11 against ranked opponents, with all three victories coming against teams in the top 10 ... K-State won its weekend series with then-No. 7 Texas (April 14-16) at Tointon Family Stadium ... Away from home, the Cats are 0-8 against top-25 teams and last season picked up two top-10 wins during their Big 12 Championship run ... Under fourth-year head coach Pete Hughes, K-State has racked up 16 ranked victories, with 11 coming against the top 10 ... 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 ... Hughes is 16-29 against top-25 squads and 11-17 against the nation's top 10 over his four seasons in Manhattan.
BOMBS ARE BACK
K-State ranks second in the Big 12 and 29th nationally with 82 home runs this season, with 67 coming over its last 38 games ... K-State has homered in nine of its last 10 games and in 16 of the last 19 games, with multiple homers in 11 of those outings ... The Wildcat offense managed just one homer over the season's first five games and turned in seven over their first 10 games ... Twenty-five times the Cats have hit multiple home runs, including 17 of their last 29 contests ... K-State has 35 home runs over its last 19 games and 54 in its last 30 games ... In total, 14 different players have hit at least one home run this season ... A season ago, K-State launched a single-season program record 89 bombs while its 82 home runs this season are already second-most in any season in program history ... Twenty-seven of K-State's 82 home runs have been game-tying or go-ahead home runs, led by five go-ahead home runs by Nick Goodwin (four each from Dominic Johnson and Dylan Phillips) ... Home runs account for 130 of the 304 runs batted in on the season (43 percent), including 10 of 25 RBI over the season's finale seven games.
HOME COOKIN'
K-State finished its home schedule with a record of 21-7, marking the second straight season in which the Cats have reached the 20-win plateau at home ... It was the first time K-State has put together consecutive 20-win home seasons since three straight from 2009-11 ... Over the last two seasons, K-State is 45-14 (.763) - good for the third-best win total and home winning percentage in the Big 12 ... At home, the Wildcat offense hit .303 while slugging .566 with 60 home runs ... K-State averaged 6.9 runs a game on 10.2 hits at Tointon Family Stadium ... Conversely, the Cats are hitting .254 and slugging .402 in games away from home, averaging 5.1 runs per game and 8.7 hits a game ... The Wildcat bullpen boasted a 3.83 ERA at home, striking out 128 compared to 60 walks ... In road and neutral contest, K-State relievers have a combined ERA of 8.75 with 125 strikeouts and 94 walks ... K-State homered in 24 of 28 home games while 60 of its 82 home runs have come at Tointon Family Stadium ... The Cats outscored teams 193-131 in 28 home games with a +54 run differential (80-26) from the seventh inning on ... Additionally, K-State outscored its opponents 46-5 in the seventh and eighth innings over its last 14 home games ... Jeff Heinrich leads the Wildcats in hitting at home at .375 while Dominic Johnson is next at .349 ... Dylan Phillips posted a team-high 10 homers at home while Heinrich added nine.
DOUBLE-DOUBLE ANIMAL STYLE
Jeff Heinrich and Dominic Johnson joined the 10-homer club, as Johnson now sits at 11 home runs while Heinrich has 10 to go with Dylan Phillips' team-leading 13 bombs ... A season ago, five Wildcats recorded 10 or more homers, led by 16 from Phillips ... Phillips is just the second Wildcat to register three seasons with 10 or more home runs, joining Pat Maloney who did it in three straight seasons from 2001-03 ... Johnson is one of three players in the Big 12 to reach double digits in both home runs and stolen bases (12) ... Phillips needs just two more stolen bases to join the 10 homers-10 steals club... Additionally, Phillips and Oklahoma State's Nolan McLean are the only players in the conference to have 10+ home runs along with recording multiple saves on the mound.
NUMBER NUGGETS
K-State has a -27 run differential through 54 games this season after being outscored 35-9 over three games at West Virginia ... The Wildcats have outscored opponents 48-36 in the eighth inning alone and 118-87 from the seventh inning on ... The Cats are 23-15 when hitting a home run and 17-8 when hitting multiple homers ... K-State has won 11 of 14 games in which it has not committed an error while going 6-15 when committing multiple errors ... When holding opponents to five or fewer runs, the Wildcats are 22-7 ... Conversely, K-State has a record of 5-19 when scoring five or fewer runs in a game.
K-State seeks to snap a four-game losing skid after dropping three games at West Virginia last weekend. Texas Tech, ranked as high as No. 8 in the national polls, claimed the regular-season series in Lubbock, 3-0.
No. 3 Oklahoma and No. 6 West Virginia are also in the Cats' half of the double-elimination tournament.
Earlier Tuesday, four Wildcats received all-conference accolades, as Dylan Phillips (second team), Kaelen Culpepper (all-freshman team), Nick Goodwin (honorable mention) and Dominic Johnson (honorable mention) were voted to the All-Big 12 Baseball Teams.
A season ago, K-State rattled off three straight wins in the conference tournament to earn a berth in the semifinal round – its longest tournament run since 2008. K-State's three tournament wins marked a program high in the Big 12 Championship.
Wednesday's contest can be seen on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ and the ESPN app. Radio coverage is available on the K-State Sports Radio Network and streaming live at K-StateSports.com/Watch. All-session tickets are now on sale at TexasRangers.com/Big12.
GAME #55
(7) K-STATE (27-27, 8-16 BIG 12) vs. (2) #8 TEXAS TECH (36-18, 15-9 BIG 12)
Wednesday, May 25 // 4 p.m. // Globe Life Field (40,300) // Arlington, Texas
Probable starters: RHP Connor McCullough (3-3, 5.32 ERA) vs. LHP Mason Molina (1-5, 4.04 ERA)
Watch: Big 12 Now on ESPN+ // ESPN app
Radio: K-State Sports Radio Network // Brian Smoller, Christopher Brown
Listen Online: K-StateSports.com/Watch // 1350KMAN.com
Live Stats
GAME #56
(7) K-STATE (27-27, 8-16 BIG 12) vs. (3) OKLAHOMA or (6) WEST VIRGINIA
Thursday, May 26 // 12:30 p.m. or 7:30 p.m. // Globe Life Field (40,300) // Arlington, Texas
Probable starters: TBA vs. TBA
Watch: Big 12 Now on ESPN+ // ESPN app
Radio: K-State Sports Radio Network // Brian Smoller, Christopher Brown
Listen Online: K-StateSports.com/Watch // 1350KMAN.com
A LOOK AT K-STATE
K-State heads into the 2022 Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship as the No. 7 seed for the second straight season ... The Wildcats will meet second-seeded Texas Tech in the opening round, as No. 3 seed Oklahoma and No. 6 seed West Virginia are also in the Cats' side of the double-elimination bracket ... K-State finished the regular season on a four-game losing skid after falling at No. 3 Virginia Tech, 8-2, and suffering a three-game sweep at West Virginia over the weekend ... Against the Hokies, the Cats allowed VT score seven runs in the first four innings behind three home runs ... Dominic Johnson hit a two-run home run for the Cats' only runs and extra-base hit ... The Mountaineers claimed 15-4 victories both Thursday and Friday before sealing the sweep with a 5-1 victory on Saturday ... Over the three games, WVU outscored K-State 21-1 over the first four innings, including an five-run third inning in the series' opener and an eight-run fourth in game two ... Kaelen Culpepper, Nick Goodwin and Cole Johnson each homered in the series to lead the Wildcat offense while Dominic Johnson went 5-for-12 with a pair of doubles ... The four-game losing streak is one shy of team's season-long stretch, as K-State began the season 0-5.
SCOUTING THE FIELD
K-State will meet No. 2 seed Texas Tech (36-18, 15-9) in the opening round of the 2022 Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship ... Third-seeded Oklahoma (33-20, 15-9 Big 12) and sixth-seeded West Virginia (33-20, 14-10 Big 12) are also in the Wildcats' half of the double-elimination bracket ... K-State and Texas Tech are tied for second in the Big 12 with 82 home runs apiece ... TTU's offense is led by Jace Jung and his .350 average to go with 14 home runs ... Kurt Wilson is hitting ,329 and leads the Red Raiders in RBI with 61 ... In total, Texas Tech has six players with at least 47 runs batted in, with three over 55 RBI ... Brandon Birdsell is 8-3 with a team-best 2.75 ERA, striking out 96 over 72 innings ... Andrew Morris went 7-1 in 12 starts during the regular season, compiling 80 strikeouts against 22 walks ... Oklahoma was paced by Tanner Tredaway's .346 average and 51 runs batted in while Peyton Graham was the only Sooner to crack double-digit homers with 14 ... In 14 starts Jake Bennett went 6-3 and posted a 3.83 earned run average, striking out 91 with just 16 walks ... The Mountaineers led the Big 12 and rank second in the country with 154 stolen bases, led by 38 from Victor Scott II ... Leadoff hitter Austin Davis' .336 average led WVU while Grant Hussey registered a team-leading 19 home runs ... On the mound, Ben Hampton went 8-4 in 14 starts, posting a 4.50 ERA with 85 strikeouts.
INSIDE THE SERIES
The Wildcats posted a combined record of 1-8 during the regular season against their half of the bracket in Texas Tech, Oklahoma and West Virginia - playing all three series on the road ... The Red Raiders claimed all three games during the regular season in Lubbock (April 8-10), finishing the sweep with a two-run walk off home run by Jace Jung that gave Tech a 7-6 win in the finale ... K-State and Texas Tech will meet in the Phillip 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship for the third straight season, as the Wildcats knocked the Red Raiders out of the tournament a season ago with a 7-2 victory in an elimination game ... The Wildcats are 3-3 all-time against TTU in the conference tournament and 3-6 against Oklahoma in the postseason ... K-State and West Virginia have never met in the Big 12 tournament ... The Sooners took two of three games in Norman (April 29-May 1), with the Cats staging a comeback in the series' finale with an 8-7 victory ... K-State suffered a three-game sweep at West Virginia last weekend to close the regular season.
CATS AT THE BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP
For the second straight season, K-State enters the Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship as the No. 7 seed ... A season ago, the Wildcats reached the semifinal round of the Big 12 Championship - their longest tournament run since the 2008 campaign ... After falling to TCU in the tournament opener, the Cats ousted both Texas Tech and Baylor before defeating the Horned Frogs to force an elimination game, with the winner headed to the title game ... All-time in the Big 12 tournament, K-State is 17-22 (.436) while the Cats' three wins in last season's tournament were the most in any Big 12 Championship tournament ... Dylan Phillips is tied with Cameron Thompson for the most career runs batted in at the Big 12 Championship with 11 while his three career homers are the most by any Wildcat in the conference tournament.
AGAINST RANKED TEAMS
Texas Tech, ranked as high as No. 8 in the national polls, will be the seventh different opponent K-State will face ranked inside the top 25 ... So far this season, the Wildcats are 3-11 against ranked opponents, with all three victories coming against teams in the top 10 ... K-State won its weekend series with then-No. 7 Texas (April 14-16) at Tointon Family Stadium ... Away from home, the Cats are 0-8 against top-25 teams and last season picked up two top-10 wins during their Big 12 Championship run ... Under fourth-year head coach Pete Hughes, K-State has racked up 16 ranked victories, with 11 coming against the top 10 ... 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 ... Hughes is 16-29 against top-25 squads and 11-17 against the nation's top 10 over his four seasons in Manhattan.
BOMBS ARE BACK
K-State ranks second in the Big 12 and 29th nationally with 82 home runs this season, with 67 coming over its last 38 games ... K-State has homered in nine of its last 10 games and in 16 of the last 19 games, with multiple homers in 11 of those outings ... The Wildcat offense managed just one homer over the season's first five games and turned in seven over their first 10 games ... Twenty-five times the Cats have hit multiple home runs, including 17 of their last 29 contests ... K-State has 35 home runs over its last 19 games and 54 in its last 30 games ... In total, 14 different players have hit at least one home run this season ... A season ago, K-State launched a single-season program record 89 bombs while its 82 home runs this season are already second-most in any season in program history ... Twenty-seven of K-State's 82 home runs have been game-tying or go-ahead home runs, led by five go-ahead home runs by Nick Goodwin (four each from Dominic Johnson and Dylan Phillips) ... Home runs account for 130 of the 304 runs batted in on the season (43 percent), including 10 of 25 RBI over the season's finale seven games.
HOME COOKIN'
K-State finished its home schedule with a record of 21-7, marking the second straight season in which the Cats have reached the 20-win plateau at home ... It was the first time K-State has put together consecutive 20-win home seasons since three straight from 2009-11 ... Over the last two seasons, K-State is 45-14 (.763) - good for the third-best win total and home winning percentage in the Big 12 ... At home, the Wildcat offense hit .303 while slugging .566 with 60 home runs ... K-State averaged 6.9 runs a game on 10.2 hits at Tointon Family Stadium ... Conversely, the Cats are hitting .254 and slugging .402 in games away from home, averaging 5.1 runs per game and 8.7 hits a game ... The Wildcat bullpen boasted a 3.83 ERA at home, striking out 128 compared to 60 walks ... In road and neutral contest, K-State relievers have a combined ERA of 8.75 with 125 strikeouts and 94 walks ... K-State homered in 24 of 28 home games while 60 of its 82 home runs have come at Tointon Family Stadium ... The Cats outscored teams 193-131 in 28 home games with a +54 run differential (80-26) from the seventh inning on ... Additionally, K-State outscored its opponents 46-5 in the seventh and eighth innings over its last 14 home games ... Jeff Heinrich leads the Wildcats in hitting at home at .375 while Dominic Johnson is next at .349 ... Dylan Phillips posted a team-high 10 homers at home while Heinrich added nine.
DOUBLE-DOUBLE ANIMAL STYLE
Jeff Heinrich and Dominic Johnson joined the 10-homer club, as Johnson now sits at 11 home runs while Heinrich has 10 to go with Dylan Phillips' team-leading 13 bombs ... A season ago, five Wildcats recorded 10 or more homers, led by 16 from Phillips ... Phillips is just the second Wildcat to register three seasons with 10 or more home runs, joining Pat Maloney who did it in three straight seasons from 2001-03 ... Johnson is one of three players in the Big 12 to reach double digits in both home runs and stolen bases (12) ... Phillips needs just two more stolen bases to join the 10 homers-10 steals club... Additionally, Phillips and Oklahoma State's Nolan McLean are the only players in the conference to have 10+ home runs along with recording multiple saves on the mound.
NUMBER NUGGETS
K-State has a -27 run differential through 54 games this season after being outscored 35-9 over three games at West Virginia ... The Wildcats have outscored opponents 48-36 in the eighth inning alone and 118-87 from the seventh inning on ... The Cats are 23-15 when hitting a home run and 17-8 when hitting multiple homers ... K-State has won 11 of 14 games in which it has not committed an error while going 6-15 when committing multiple errors ... When holding opponents to five or fewer runs, the Wildcats are 22-7 ... Conversely, K-State has a record of 5-19 when scoring five or fewer runs in a game.
Players Mentioned
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