K-State Looks to Continue Hot Start in Colorado

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Coming off its first Big 12 series sweep since 2013, K-State sets out West to take on Air Force in a two-game midweek series in Colorado Springs, Colo., on March 28-29. Game one of the midweek matchups is slated to begin at 1 p.m. MT.

The Wildcats (17-8) will send freshman right-hander Mason Buss to the mound on Tuesday going against the Falcons' Ben Weber. Buss is 3-0 on the year after collecting his third victory in game two against Oklahoma.

The midweek series will be streamed on the Mountain West Network with radio coverage available on News Radio KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM). Live streaming audio is available for the three-game series at K-StateSports.com/watch and on the K-State Sports app.

GAME #26
K-STATE (17-8, 4-2 Big 12) at AIR FORCE (9-15, 4-5 Mountain West)
Tuesday, March 28 | 1 p.m. MT | Falcon Field (1,000)
Projected Starters: RHP Mason Buss v. RHP Ben Weber
Watch: Mountain West Broadcast
Radio: 1350AM/93.3/93.7FM
Listen Online: kstatesports.com/watch
Live Stats

GAME #27
K-STATE (17-8, 4-2 Big 12) at AIR FORCE (9-15, 4-5 Mountain West)
Wednesday, March 29 | 12 p.m. MT | Falcon Field (1,000)
Projected Starters: TBD v. TBD
Watch: Mountain West Broadcast
Radio: 1350AM/93.3/93.7FM
Listen Online: kstatesports.com/watch
Live Stats

A LOOK AT K-STATE
The Wildcats head out to Colorado for a two-game non-conference series with Air Force … Cats enter the week 17-8 with an 11-1 record at Tointon Family Stadium after sweeping Oklahoma in Big 12 action … K-State is slashing .267/.409/.449 as a team including 43 doubles, five triples and 32 home runs with three starters batting over .300 … Senior Cash Rugely is hitting .324 to lead the Cats offense to go alongside a .469 on-base percentage and .662 slug … Rugely, Nick Goodwin and Cole Johnson have each sent out five blasts this season … Goodwin and Brendan Jones have started in 25 games for K-State at shortstop and center field… Jones ranks second in the league with 19 stolen bases which ranks fifth in the nation … Goodwin ranks sixth in the Big 12 with 29 RBI followed by Johnson in seventh with 28 … As a team, the Wildcats are dangerous on the base path with 69 total stolen bases which is the sixth highest among Division I programs and leads the Big 12 … K-State has rolled 18 double plays this season which ranks third in the Big 12 … The Wildcats have a 4.09 team ERA with 229 strikeouts compared to 85 … K-State ranks second in the league and ranks 32^nd in DI with a 2.69 strikeout-to-walk ratio … Fifteen pitchers have made appearances on the mound with four making over nine outings this year while German Fajardo has a team-high seven starts… Owen Boerema is one of five pitchers from the Big 12 this season to record four victories and is one of four with 39+ strike outs … The Litchfield, Minn., product has a 2.61 ERA and has allowed just 11 runs (nine earned) through 31.0 innings … Mason Buss will get his second collegiate start on Tuesday with the freshman heading into the week with a 3-0 record … Buss has struck out 26 batters over 23.0 innings with a 1.57 ERA …

SCOUTING AIR FORCE
The Falcons enter the series 9-15 and 4-5 in Mountain West play after falling in a three-game set against San Diego State, 2-1 … AF was selected to finish fifth in the MW preseason poll after finishing the 2022 season 32-29 … Mike Kazlausky leads the Falcons' baseball program with an overall record of 272-364 over 13 seasons … Kazlausky retired from active duty effect June 1, 2011 before being elevated to the official head coach … The Falcons have a slash line of .256/.352/.402 with 74 extra-base hits over 24 games … AF averages 5.4 runs on 9.2 hits with a -50 run differential … Two players are hitting over .300 led by Sam Kulasingam … The junior from Holly Springs, N.C., is hitting .396 on the year which ranks third in the conference with 10 doubles and 16 RBI … Trayden Tamiya is hitting .337 while Jay Thomason leads with seven homers … The Falcons have a 6.44 team ERA with opponents hitting .306 … Right-hander Duke Benge has made 15 appearances on the mound this season with a 2-1 record while Seungmin Shim has a team-high three victories ….

INSIDE THE SERIES
The Wildcats and Falcons meet on the diamond for the 18^th time with K-State leading the all-time series, 13-4, including 4-2 in Colorado Springs since the series start in 1971. Air Force claimed a 4-3 victory in the last meeting on March 23, 2022 to snap the Cats eight-game winning streak in Manhattan. Nick Goodwin hit a game-tying RBI before the Falcons regained the lead in the seventh to end a four-game losing streak with the Cats. The Wildcats last won the season series against the Falcons on the road in 1998, 2-1, in El Dorado, Kan. K-State's lone sweep came in a three-game set in 1996. The Wildcats are 4-1 in the last five matchups, outscoring the Falcons 44-9.

W, 11-2 – Feb. 20, 1999 (Manhattan)
W, 9-1 – Feb. 21, 1999 (Manhattan)
W, 17-2 – March 18, 2014 (Manhattan)
W, 4-0 – March 19, 2014 (Manhattan)
L, 3-4 – March 23, 2022 (Manhattan)

AROUND THE LEAGUE
Texas took the reins of the Big 12 standings after sweeping nationally-ranked Texas Tech in their first conference outing of the season … The Longhorns lead the league with a 3-0 conference record and are 18-7 overall … Three teams tie second in the league standings with Oklahoma State (2-5), Kansas State (17-8) and TCU (15-9) starting off 4-2 in Big 12 play … Texas Tech (18-7, 2-4) stands fifth followed by Oklahoma (13-11, 2-4), Baylor (9-15, 2-4) and Kansas (8-14, 0-3) … West Virginia will open their Big 12 schedule at Kansas State this weekend …

THE VIEWS FROM UP TOP
Plate discipline has been one of the top priorities of the K-State offense with the Cats walking 180 times to lead the nation … K-State has two players ranked in the Top 25 in season walks … Brendan Jones leads the offense with 27 season walks which stands fifth among all Division I players followed by Nick Goodwin with 23 in 22^nd … The Cats had 16 walks against Youngstown State (March 10) which was nine short of matching the Division I all-time record … K-State is on pace to break the single-season Top 10 leaderboard with just 96 left to match the 10^th top performance of 276 set in 1982 … The Wildcats all-time single-season walks record was set in 1995 with 382 …

GOTTA BE QUICKER THAN THAT
K-State has caused troubles on the base path for opponents, stealing a league-high 69 bases which ranks sixth in all Division I while sitting seventh with 2.76 per game … The Cats nearly matched 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 19 stolen bases which is second in the Big 12 and fifth among all Division I players … The Cats 69 stolen bases surpasses the 2022 season total by 27 … 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 10 runners this season after tossing out two Sooners in last weekend's series … Pelletier matched his career-high in the series opener against Baylor (March 17) …

THE LONG BALL
K-State has produced 32 home runs this season which ranks fourth among the Big 12 … Three Wildcats have sent five deep and out this season while Nick Goodwin leads the current career leaderboard with 26 … The Cats have produced 80+ home runs the past two seasons … K-State hit back-to-back home runs for the first time since April 19, 2022 against Omaha with Jeff Heinrich and Raphael Pelletier with homers by Cole Johnson and Pelletier … 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 … 252 homers were against right-handed pitchers, 14 were solo shots while 16 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 …

LAST TIME OUT
K-State completed the sweep of Oklahoma at home as Brady Day's walk-off single plated the winning-run to lift the Wildcats to an 8-7 victory at Tointon Family Stadium on Sunday … The sweep marked the first home sweep over the Sooners since 1990 … Cats collected their first Big 12 series sweep since 2013 at Kansas (May 10-12) … Sunday marked the first series sweep over OU since 1990 (4-0) … K-State is off to a 4-2 start in conference play for the first time since 2010 … Wildcats move to 11-1 at home and 56-15 since 2021 … Brendan Jones reached base for the 15^th straight game … Cats recorded their second walk-off victory of the season; Stonehill on March 6 (6-5) … K-State hit back-to-back home runs for the first time since April 19, 2022 against Omaha with Jeff Heinrich and Raphael Pelletier … Day went 5-for-10 (.500) in the OU series with three RBI and three runs … Cats hit .253 in the series outscoring the Sooners 22-14

ON THE ROAD AGAIN
K-State is 6-7 when playing on the road and 6-4 when playing away ... On the road, the Wildcat offense hits .245 while slugging .407 with 16 home runs ... K-State has averaged 5.6 runs a game on seven hits when on the road ... The Wildcat bullpen has boasted a 4.66 ERA on the road, striking out 119 compared to 46 walks ... Brendan Jones leads the offense when on the road slashing .333/.476/.438 with 10 stole bases while Cole Johnson has a team-high 16 RBI …

A LOOK AT THE NUMBERS
K-State has a season +92 run differential through 25 games averaging 8.5 runs on 8.8 hits ... The Wildcats have outscored opponents 35-13 in the fourth inning alone and 88-48 (+40) from the seventh and on … Cats are 13-2 when leading after the sixth and 2-0 when tied after six ... K-State is 7-4 when committing no errors in a game … Conversely, K-State has won 10 games when one or more errors are committed, 9-4 overall ... The Wildcats are 13-4 when scoring first and 7-3 when scoring in the first inning … K-State has outhit opponents on 12 occasions this season and is 5-8 when being outhit … The Cats are 11-2 when limiting opponents to five or less runs and are 4-4 in one-run games… K-State is 13-5 when playing afternoon games … The Cats have won 13 games against right-handed starters while going 4-3 against lefties …

FROM THE 'PEN
Under the guidance pitching coach Rudy Darrow, the Cats pitching staff has produced a 4.09 ERA which ranks fifth in the Big 12 with outings from 15 different players this season … … Five players have earned at least two victories on the mound lead by newcomer Owen Boerema with four followed by Tyson Neighbors and Mason Buss each with three … Boerema earned his fourth straight victory in the series opener against Oklahoma limiting the Sooners to one run with seven strikeouts during his six innings … Right-hander German Fajardo has made a team-high seven starts on the mound this season … Boerema is just one of four pitchers from the Big 12 to record 39+ strike outs this season and ranks fourth overall with 39 … Four different players have earned a save this year led by sophomore Tyson Neighbors with three … The Wildcats have struck out 229 batters this season compared to 85 walks, averaging 9.5 strikeouts per nine innings which ranks fourth in the Big 12 … K-States pitching staff ranks second in the league with a 2.69 strikeout-to-walk ratio which is 32^nd in Division I …

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 767-592-3 (.564) 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 115-100 (.535) 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.

UP NEXT
The Cats will return to Big 12 action this weekend, March 31-April 2, when they host West Virginia at Tointon Family Stadium. The series will be streamed on the Big 12 Now on ESPN+ and the ESPN with radio coverage 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

Mason Buss

Brady Day

German Fajardo

Nick Goodwin

Jeff Heinrich

Cole Johnson

Brendan Jones

Tyson Neighbors

Raphael Pelletier

Roberto Pena

Cash Rugely

Ben Weber

Kansas State University Athletics