Kansas State University Athletics
Sunday, March 5
Manhattan, KS
4 p.m.
Kansas State University
7-5
14
vs
8
Army
5-5
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Army
3
0
0
0
3
0
2
0
0
8
8
3
K-State
0
3
2
0
0
3
4
2
X
14
12
0
K-State Downs Army in Sunday Night Thriller
Mar 05, 2023 | Baseball
MANHATTAN, Kan. – In front of more than 2,200 fans, K-State came back to take a 14-8 decision against Army at Tointon Family Stadium on Sunday night.
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"Every single one of our players in our line up did something to help us offensively," stated head coach Pete Hughes. "What I'm most proud of is our teams' play from behind and that's a winning quality. It's tough to develop that. Some years you have it, some years you don't, but we answered."
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Five players produced multiple hits to lead the Wildcats to their third straight victory led by five RBI from Orlando Salinas, Jr. With the victory, K-State improves to 7-5 on the year while Army falls to 5-5.
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"I'd prefer not to get down in the game, but our guys bounced back. They answered, and they kept playing," said Hughes."
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Shay Hartis earned his first victory on the mound after allowing just two earned runs on two hits during his five innings in relief to starting pitcher German Fajardo. Army's Mike Ruggieri received the loss after allowing six runs (three earned) in the sixth and seventh frames.
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"I'm really proud of our guys and I'm really proud of Shay Hartis. I think he did a phenomenal job settling everyone down against a very good lineup and a really good Army team."
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HOW IT HAPPENED
The Black Knights led off the game with back-to-back home runs to jump out to a quick 3-0 lead in the first inning.
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K-State brought the score within one in the second frame when Salinas doubled into center field to tag two runs to the board until the junior advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt from Cole Johnson. With the tying run on third, Dom Hughes hit a fly ball out into center to bring in Salinas to make it 3-all.
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Brady Day put the Cats on top, 5-3, in the next inning with his first home run of the season. The Hampstead, N.H., product squared up a 3-1 pitch for the two-run deep shot out into right center.
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Army plated three runs in the fifth to take back the lead as Ross Friedrick doubled into right center to trim the Cats lead to one before coming around on a sac fly to add the Black Knights sixth run to the board. Â
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After two scoreless innings, Nick Goodwin launched his 25th career home run to give K-State its second lead of the day. Johnson led off with a double into left center before Brendan Jones walked to place runners on first and third with Goodwin approaching the plate. The Overland Park native hit a three-run homer into left to give the Cats the 8-6 lead. Â
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The lead was short lived as the Black Knights evened the score for the third time of the night with a two-run home run by Braden Golinski to even the score at 8-all in the seventh.
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K-State immediately responded in the bottom half of the inning after capitalizing on a pair of errors to score four unanswered runs. Raphael Pelletier led off the Cats offense with a single to right field before scoring on a ground out to first for the go-ahead run.
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The Cats executed two straight squeeze bunts to add insurance runs to the board before extending the lead out to four with a sac fly out to left.
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Salinas hit the Cats third homer of the day and his third of the weekend to secure the 14-2 victory.
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INSIDE THE BOX
The Wildcats will take on the Stonehill Skyhawks in the weekend finale on Monday at 4 p.m. CT . Tomorrow's game can be seen on the Big 12 Now on ESPN+ with radio coverage on KMAN (93.3 FM/1350AM). A free live audio is available at kstatesports.com/watch.
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"Every single one of our players in our line up did something to help us offensively," stated head coach Pete Hughes. "What I'm most proud of is our teams' play from behind and that's a winning quality. It's tough to develop that. Some years you have it, some years you don't, but we answered."
Â
Five players produced multiple hits to lead the Wildcats to their third straight victory led by five RBI from Orlando Salinas, Jr. With the victory, K-State improves to 7-5 on the year while Army falls to 5-5.
Â
"I'd prefer not to get down in the game, but our guys bounced back. They answered, and they kept playing," said Hughes."
Â
Shay Hartis earned his first victory on the mound after allowing just two earned runs on two hits during his five innings in relief to starting pitcher German Fajardo. Army's Mike Ruggieri received the loss after allowing six runs (three earned) in the sixth and seventh frames.
Â
"I'm really proud of our guys and I'm really proud of Shay Hartis. I think he did a phenomenal job settling everyone down against a very good lineup and a really good Army team."
Â
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Black Knights led off the game with back-to-back home runs to jump out to a quick 3-0 lead in the first inning.
Â
K-State brought the score within one in the second frame when Salinas doubled into center field to tag two runs to the board until the junior advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt from Cole Johnson. With the tying run on third, Dom Hughes hit a fly ball out into center to bring in Salinas to make it 3-all.
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Brady Day put the Cats on top, 5-3, in the next inning with his first home run of the season. The Hampstead, N.H., product squared up a 3-1 pitch for the two-run deep shot out into right center.
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Army plated three runs in the fifth to take back the lead as Ross Friedrick doubled into right center to trim the Cats lead to one before coming around on a sac fly to add the Black Knights sixth run to the board. Â
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After two scoreless innings, Nick Goodwin launched his 25th career home run to give K-State its second lead of the day. Johnson led off with a double into left center before Brendan Jones walked to place runners on first and third with Goodwin approaching the plate. The Overland Park native hit a three-run homer into left to give the Cats the 8-6 lead. Â
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The lead was short lived as the Black Knights evened the score for the third time of the night with a two-run home run by Braden Golinski to even the score at 8-all in the seventh.
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K-State immediately responded in the bottom half of the inning after capitalizing on a pair of errors to score four unanswered runs. Raphael Pelletier led off the Cats offense with a single to right field before scoring on a ground out to first for the go-ahead run.
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The Cats executed two straight squeeze bunts to add insurance runs to the board before extending the lead out to four with a sac fly out to left.
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Salinas hit the Cats third homer of the day and his third of the weekend to secure the 14-2 victory.
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INSIDE THE BOX
- The Cats scored 14 runs (10 earned) on 12 hits with six left on base
- Raphael Pelletier went 3-for-5 at the plate with two runs
- Five players produced multiple hits while three had multiple RBI
- Salinas became the first player to register five RBI since Cole Johnson on April 30, 2022 at Oklahoma (L, 10-22)
- Goodwin hit his 25th career home run
- K-State leads the all-time series 2-0 against Army
- Brady Day extended his hit streak out to six which is the longest current streak
- Cash Rugely leads with a 10-game on-base streak followed by Day with nine
- K-State has outscored opponents 37-19 from the seventh inning on
- The Wildcats three home runs brings the season total to 19 to lead the Big 12; fifth multi-home run game of the season
The Wildcats will take on the Stonehill Skyhawks in the weekend finale on Monday at 4 p.m. CT . Tomorrow's game can be seen on the Big 12 Now on ESPN+ with radio coverage on KMAN (93.3 FM/1350AM). A free live audio is available at kstatesports.com/watch.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Hartis, Shay (1-0)
L: Mike Ruggieri (2-1)
Batting:
2B: Sam Ruta 1 ; Ross Friedrick 1
HR: Derek Berg 1 ; Ross Friedrick 1 ; Braden Golinski 1
RBI: Derek Berg 1 ; Ross Friedrick 2 ; Kevin Dubrule 1 ; Braden Golinski 3 ; Justin Lehman 1
SF: Kevin Dubrule 1 ; Braden Golinski 1 ; Justin Lehman 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Derek Berg 2 ; Sam Ruta 2 ; Ross Friedrick 2 ; Kevin Dubrule 1 ; Braden Golinski 1
HBP: Derek Berg 1 ; Bret Copeland 1
Batting:
2B: Pelletier, Raphael 1 ; Salinas, Jr., Orlando 1 ; Johnson, Cole 1
HR: Goodwin, Nick 1 ; Day, Brady 1 ; Salinas, Jr., Orlando 1
RBI: Jones, Brendan 1 ; Goodwin, Nick 3 ; Day, Brady 3 ; Salinas, Jr., Orlando 5 ; Hughes, Dom 1
SH: Johnson, Cole 1 ; Hughes, Dom 1
SF: Day, Brady 1 ; Hughes, Dom 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Jones, Brendan 1 ; Goodwin, Nick 2 ; Day, Brady 1 ; Pelletier, Raphael 2 ; Pena, Roberto 3 ; Salinas, Jr., Orlando 2 ; Johnson, Cole 2 ; Hughes, Dom 1
SB: Goodwin, Nick 1 ; Pena, Roberto 1
CS: Johnson, Cole 1
Game Leaders
AB
5
R
2
H
3
RBI
0
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
2
H
2
RBI
3
Players Mentioned
RHP
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RHP
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OF
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OF
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/ Baseball
INF/OF
/ Baseball
INF
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