K-State Hosts St. Thomas in Midweek Action

MANHATTAN, Kan. – K-State returns to Tointon Family Stadium on March 21-22 when the Wildcats host St. Thomas in a two-game non-conference series. First pitch is slated for 6:02 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The Wildcats (13-7) will send freshman right-hander Andrew Evans to the mound in the series opener on Tuesday. The Olathe native has made two appearances this season in relief and will face St. Thomas (1-12) freshman Nolan Kemp on Tuesday.

Tuesday's game marks the first meeting on the diamond between the two schools.

With construction ongoing on the new Morgan Family Arena, parking for baseball games at Tointon Family Stadium will be impacted during the 2023 season.

Fans are advised to park in the west parking lot of Bill Snyder Stadium and do so by entering through Gate 3 via College Avenue across from Ascension Via Christi Hospital. Gate 1 and Gate 2 will be closed for the duration of the 2023 baseball season.

When proceeding to the stadium on foot, fans are advised to exit the west parking lot along the pedestrian path between Gate 1 and Gate 2 and then proceed to the stadium via the sidewalk along College Avenue.

BSB Excuse Our Mess

Tickets are on sale for the entire 2023 season, starting at just $5 when purchased in advance at K-StateSports.com/Tickets, by calling 800-221-CATS or visiting the K-State Athletics Ticket Office.

Wednesday's game will be streamed on the 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 available for the two-game series at K-StateSports.com/watch and on the K-State Sports app.

GAME #21
K-STATE (12-5, 1-2 Big 12) vs. ST. THOMAS (1-12, 0-3 Summit)
Tuesday, March 21 | 6 p.m. | Tointon Family Stadium (2,331)
Projected Starters: RHP Andrew Evans vs. RHP Nolan Kemp
Listen Online: kstatesports.com/watch
Live Stats| Tickets

GAME #22
K-STATE (12-5, 1-2 Big 12) vs. ST. THOMAS (1-12, 0-3 Summit)
Wednesday, March 22 | 6 p.m. | Tointon Family Stadium (2,331)
Projected Starters: TBD vs. TBD
Watch: Big 12 Now on ESPN+
Radio: 1350AM/93.3/93.7FM
Listen Online: kstatesports.com/watch
Live Stats| Tickets

A LOOK AT K-STATE
The Wildcats return to Tointon Family Stadium on Tuesday as the Cats host St. Thomas in a two-game midweek series … Cats enter the week 13-7 with a perfect 7-0 record at Tointon… The Cats finished week five action 2-2 after falling 1-2 in the Big 12 series opener against Baylor, snapping a nine-game win streak … K-States nine-game win streak marked the longest since 2014 … The Big 12 opener marked the Cats first conference opener victory since 2012 and first win in the Big 12 opener on the road since 2006 … The Wildcats claimed the series opener against the Bears in Waco for the first time in Waco since 2014 … K-State is slashing .269/.2413/.461 including 33 doubles, five triples and 28 home runs with three starters batting over .300 … Brady Day is hitting .306 to lead the Cats with 19 hits including four doubles and one homer … Nick Goodwin and Brendan Jones have started in 20 games for K-State … Jones ranks second in the league with 15 stolen bases which ranks seventh in the nation … As a team, the Wildcats are dangerous on the base path with 57 total stolen bases which is the ninth highest among Division I programs and leads the Big 12 … K-State has rolled 16 double plays this season which ranks second in the Big 12 … The Wildcats have a 4.32 team ERA with 191 strikeouts compared to 70 … Fifteen pitchers have made appearances on the mound with Tyson Neighbors making nine outings this year while German Fajardo has a team-high six starts… Owen Boerema is one of eight pitchers from the Big 12 this season to record three victories and is one of five with 30+ strike outs … Andrew Evans will

SCOUTING ST. THOMAS
The Tommies come to Manhattan with a 1-12 overall record with their lone victory coming from a 8-4 decision against Cal State Bakersfield in the season opening weekend … St. Thomas led off conference action 0-3 against Oral Roberts with the Golden Eagles outscoring the Tommies 39-6 including a 21-2 seven-inning run-rule … The Tommies finished the 2022 season 16-29 overall in its first Division I season and 10-14 in Summit League action … Chris Olean is in his 14^th season at the helm of the St. Thomas baseball program compiling an overall 354-189-1 record since taking the reins in 2009 … A three-time NCAA Division III Region Coach of the Year, Olean guided the Tommies to a national runner-up finish in 2021 before making the jump to Division I … The Tommies are slashing .201/.263/.244 with 10 doubles, one triple and two home runs from Tanner Marsh and Joe Vos, averaging 2.2 runs on 6.5 hits per game … Max Moris leads the starting lineup with a .282 batting average on 11 hits while Marsh leads with three extra-base hits … The Tommies have a 7.15 team ERA allowing 7.8 runs a game with opponents hitting .283 … Eight players have made four appearances on the mound while Evan Esch, Kolby Gartner, and Jacob Mrosko each have made three starts … Nolan Kemp will make his fifth appearance of the season and second start on Tuesday … The freshman right-hander has a 2.08 ERA and record of 0-1 after being credited the 10-1 loss against Iowa (March 15) …

AROUND THE LEAGUE
Six programs opened Big 12 play overall the weekend with three teams lead off conference play 2-1 with Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Baylor … TTU leads the league with an overall 18-4 record after winning the Top 25 series against Oklahoma State … Oklahoma follows in second at 13-7 with Baylor in third at 8-12 … Oklahoma State sits in fourth at 16-5 (1-2 Big 12) followed by Kansas State (13-7, 1-2 Big 12) rounding out the top five … TCU dropped the Big 12 weekend, 1-2, against Oklahoma …

WALK THE WALK
Plate discipline has been one of the top priorities of the K-State offense with the Cats walking 147 times this season which ranks third in the nation … The Cats are just four walks short of matching the nation leader Texas Tech (151) while averaging 7.4 walks per contest … The Cats had 16 walks against Youngstown State (March 10) which is seven short nine short of matching the Division I all-time record …

GOTTA BE QUICKER THAN THAT
K-State has caused troubles on the base path for opponents, stealing a league-high 57 bases which ranks ninth in all Division I while sitting 11^th with 2.85 per game … The Cats nearly match the program record with 11 stolen bases against Youngstown State (March 10) and were just one base shy of matching the record … Brendan Jones has been the speedster for the Cats lineup with 15 stolen bases which is second in the Big 12 and seventh among all Division I players … The Cats 57 stolen bases surpasses the 2022 season total by 15 … The K-State single-season record is 149 set in 2009 thru 62 games …

R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Raphael Pelletier continues to be a threat behind the plate as the redshirt-sophomore catcher from Mascouche, Quebec, Canada has thrown out a league-high eight runners this season alongside KU's Cole Elvis … Pelletier matched his career-high in the series opener against Baylor (March 17) …

THE LONG BALL
K-State has produced 28 home runs this season which ranks third in the Big 12 and 38^th among Division I … Senior Cash Rugely took the reins on the home run leader board after hitting his fifth of the season against Baylor … The Cats have produced 80+ home runs the past two seasons … Three Wildcats have hit three grand slams this season with the last coming against Stonehill (March 4) by Cash Rugely … Cole Johnson and Roberto Pena each launched a grand slam against SFA (Feb. 20) to mark the first time since 2010 where two Wildcats posted grand slams in the same game … Eight players are posting a multi-home run season … Twenty-three homers were against right-handed pitchers, 11 were solo shots while 12 came with one-out … The Wildcats were the only team to produce double digit bombs in the opening weekend (10) … The Wildcats sent five deep and out in the series finale against Stephen F. Austin marking the third time in the Hughes era … The five home runs were just short two of matching a program record seven …

TOINTON FAMILY STADIUM
The home of K-State baseball opened in 2001 before its renovation and expansion debut in 2020 … The stadium is named in honor of Bob and Betty Tointon … K-State baseball is 380-204 (.651) when playing at home … The Wildcats are 70-27 (.721) at home under Hughes and 52-14 (.788) since 2021 … Tointon's largest crowd was on March 30, 2010 against Wichita State with 4,745 in attendance …

HOME. SWEET. HOME.
K-State is 7-0 when playing at Tointon this season ... Over the last three seasons, K-State has compiled an overall home record of 52-14 (.788) ... At home, the Wildcat offense is hitting .312 while slugging .5763 with 12 home runs ... K-State averages 13.4 runs a game on 10.3 hits at Tointon Family Stadium ... The Wildcat bullpen boasted a 3.69 ERA at home, striking out 72 compared to 24 walks ... K-State has homered in six of the seven games at home with 12 of the 28 total home runs coming at Tointon …

COACH HUGHES FILE
Pete Hughes grabbed his 100^th victory with K-State on Feb. 18 against in game two against Stephen F. Austin … Hughes is in 26th season and fifth at the helm of K-State baseball … Hughes has compiled a career record of 763-591-3 (.563) as a head coach … His 750 career victories ranks first among active Big 12 head coaches … In five seasons as the head coach of the Wildcats, Hughes has put together a 111-99 (.529) record … He's led the Cats to two straight runs in the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship semifinals ... In 2021, K-State turned in a 34-23 mark, its highest win total since posting 45 in 2013 … Three players were selected in the 2022 MLB First-Year Player Draft increasing Hughes' career draft total to 82, including eight while at K-State.

LAST TIME OUT
K-State extended its win streak out to nine for the first time since 2014 before dropping a pair of Big 12 matches to Baylor for the Bears to claim the Big 12 opening series 2-1 … The Big 12 opener victory marked the first conference opener win since 2012 and first on the road since 2006 … Baylor continues to lead the all-time series 55-33 and 33-11 inside Baylor Ballpark … The Cats hit .224 against the Bears despite only recording just one less hit at 16 … K-State had two doubles with the only homer of the series from Cash Rugely … The Cats were 10-for-12 on the base path with a .358 on-base percentage … K-State had just two errors in the series to field .981 compared to the bears .964 … The pitching staff had a series 4.32 ERA with strikeouts evenly matched at 26 … Owen Boerema and German Fajardo each struck out six batters during their weekend outings with Boerema collecting his third straight victory on the mound …

A LOOK AT THE NUMBERS
K-State has a season +77 run differential through 20 games averaging 98.9 runs on 8.9 hits ... The Wildcats outscored opponents 30-7 in the fourth inning alone and 62-25 from the seventh and on … Cats are 10-2 when leading after the sixth and 2-0 when tied after six ... K-State is 5-3 when committing no errors in a game … Conversely, K-State has won eight games when one or more errors are committed, 8-4 overall ... The Wildcats are 10-4 when scoring first and 7-3 when scoring in the first inning … K-State has outhit opponents on nine occasions this season and is 4-7 when being outhit … The Cats are 9-1when limiting opponents to five or less runs and are 2-3 in one-run games… K-State is only 2-2 when playing in night games … The Cats have won 10 games against right-handed starters while going 3-3 against lefties …

FROM THE 'PEN
Under the guidance pitching coach Rudy Darrow, the Cats pitching staff has produced a 4.32 ERA which ranks fourth in the Big 12 with outings from 15 different players this season … Four players have earned two victories on the mound lead by newcomer Owen Boerema with three … The D3 left-handed transfer earned his third straight victory in the Big 12 opener against Baylor … Right-hander German Fajardo has made a team-high six starts on the mound this season … Boerema is just one of five pitchers from the Big 12 to record 30+ strike outs this season and ranks third overall with 32 … Four different players have earned a save this year led by sophomore Tyson Neighbors with two … The Wildcats have struck out 191 batters this season compared to 70 walks, averaging 9.9 strikeouts per nine innings which ranks fourth in the Big 12 and 64^th nationally … K-States pitching staff ranks second in the league with a 2.73 strikeout-to-walk ratio which is 37^th in Division I …

UP NEXT
The Wildcats will dive back into conference play with a series against the Oklahoma Sooners this weekend on March 24-26 at Tointon Family Stadium. The Big 12 series will be streamed on the Big 12 Now on ESPN+ and the ESPN app while radio coverage available on News Radio KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM). Live streaming audio is available for all games at K-StateSports.com/watch and on the K-State Sports app.

How to follow the 'Cats: Stay up to date on K-State baseball online at www.kstatesports.com and on the team's social media channels on Twitter and Instagram.

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Kansas State University, the nation's first operational land-grant institution and a Carnegie Foundation Tier One university, is recognized as one of the nation's best colleges with world-class research and academic excellence located in America's No. 1 College Town (Manhattan, KS).

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Players Mentioned

Owen Boerema

Brady Day

Andrew Evans

German Fajardo

Nick Goodwin

Cole Johnson

Brendan Jones

Tyson Neighbors

Raphael Pelletier

Roberto Pena

Cash Rugely

Kansas State University Athletics