Kansas State University Athletics
Saturday, April 1
Manhattan, KS
4 p.m.
Kansas State University
19-10, 0
7
vs
1
West Virginia
20-7, 0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
West Virginia
0
0
0
1
0
0
0
0
0
1
4
1
Kansas State
0
1
1
0
1
0
1
3
X
7
9
0
Fajardo’s Gem, Five Homers Propel Cats Past No. 24 Mountaineers
Apr 01, 2023 | Baseball
MANHATTAN, Kan. – K-State blasted five homers to back starter German Fajardo's seven-inning gem to grab a 7-1 upset over No. 24 West Virginia to level the series at Tointon Family Stadium on Saturday.
Five different players went deep to lift the Wildcats (19-10, 5-3) to their first victory over a Top 25 opponent since the 2022 Phillips Big 12 Championship tournament over No. 8 Texas Tech.
"It was a great day for our program when you get back in the series," said head coach Pete Hughes. "You want to play to win a series on Sunday and we put ourselves in a situation to do that. It begins with a good starting pitcher and German [Fajardo] was phenomenal today."
Fajardo collected his first victory of the season after tossing a career-high seven innings. The Nogales, Ariz., product punched out six batters and allowed just one earned run on three hits during his outing. Fajardo is the first Wildcat to throw seven complete frames this season while Tyson Neighbors and Mason Buss each threw a shutout inning.
"He allowed our offense to chip away and build the lead. He kept them off balance, but his slider was the difference maker in his outing and the game," said Hughes.
The Cats' pitching staff limited the Mountaineers to just four hits, their lowest hit count of the season.
"We got some key hits with five solo shots and that tells you how good Traxel is when those are just solo shots because there's no traffic on the base paths. He's not walking anyone. It's just a style of pitching you have to be disciplined against and see the ball off and not chase because he's a veteran."
Roberto Pena and Raphael Pelletier each drove in a pair of runs while Pena went 2-for-2 to lead the offense, knocking out his sixth homer with the Cats and two walks.
HOW IT HAPPENED
After a scoreless first inning, the Wildcats homered in two straight innings to set the tone in the upset.
Brady Day led off with his second homer of the year to put the Cats on the board until Pena opened the third frame with his own solo shot for the go-ahead run.
WVU plated its lone run with a pair of hits from Dayne Leonard and Landon Wallace but Fajardo struck out the final batter to preserve the lead.
The Mountaineers threatened the lead in the fifth after a batter was a hit by pitch until Cash Rugely gunned down the runner at first after snagging a deep fly ball in right for the double play.
For the third time of the game, a Wildcat led off the inning with a solo homer as Pelletier launched a 2-2 pitch 395-feet off the scoreboard to extend the lead out to two.
Cole Johnson roped his seventh double of the year off the left field wall before advancing 90-feet on a sacrifice bunt to bring Pelletier back to the plate. The Ontario, Canada product drove in his second run with fly ball to left to plate Johnson from third.
The Cats added insurance runs to the board in the eighth with back-to-back homers from Dom Hughes and Nick Goodwin. After falling behind 0-2, Hughes fought his way to a full count before blasting his second homer of the season to force the Mountaineers' first pitching change of the night.
Goodwin, a junior from Overland Park, Kan., welcomed the new arm with his 28th career homer to expanded the Cats lead out to five, 6-1.
The Mountaineers made three additional pitching changes in the eighth before the final run was walked in to secure the victory, leveling the series 1-1.
INSIDE THE BOX
K-State will close out the conference series on Sunday with first pitch slated for 1:02 p.m. at Tointon Family Stadium. The afternoon matchup will be streamed on the Big 12 Now on ESPN+ and the ESPN app with radio coverage on KMAN (93.3FM/1350AM) and a free live audio available at kstatesports.com/watch.
Five different players went deep to lift the Wildcats (19-10, 5-3) to their first victory over a Top 25 opponent since the 2022 Phillips Big 12 Championship tournament over No. 8 Texas Tech.
"It was a great day for our program when you get back in the series," said head coach Pete Hughes. "You want to play to win a series on Sunday and we put ourselves in a situation to do that. It begins with a good starting pitcher and German [Fajardo] was phenomenal today."
Fajardo collected his first victory of the season after tossing a career-high seven innings. The Nogales, Ariz., product punched out six batters and allowed just one earned run on three hits during his outing. Fajardo is the first Wildcat to throw seven complete frames this season while Tyson Neighbors and Mason Buss each threw a shutout inning.
"He allowed our offense to chip away and build the lead. He kept them off balance, but his slider was the difference maker in his outing and the game," said Hughes.
The Cats' pitching staff limited the Mountaineers to just four hits, their lowest hit count of the season.
"We got some key hits with five solo shots and that tells you how good Traxel is when those are just solo shots because there's no traffic on the base paths. He's not walking anyone. It's just a style of pitching you have to be disciplined against and see the ball off and not chase because he's a veteran."
Roberto Pena and Raphael Pelletier each drove in a pair of runs while Pena went 2-for-2 to lead the offense, knocking out his sixth homer with the Cats and two walks.
HOW IT HAPPENED
After a scoreless first inning, the Wildcats homered in two straight innings to set the tone in the upset.
Brady Day led off with his second homer of the year to put the Cats on the board until Pena opened the third frame with his own solo shot for the go-ahead run.
WVU plated its lone run with a pair of hits from Dayne Leonard and Landon Wallace but Fajardo struck out the final batter to preserve the lead.
The Mountaineers threatened the lead in the fifth after a batter was a hit by pitch until Cash Rugely gunned down the runner at first after snagging a deep fly ball in right for the double play.
For the third time of the game, a Wildcat led off the inning with a solo homer as Pelletier launched a 2-2 pitch 395-feet off the scoreboard to extend the lead out to two.
Cole Johnson roped his seventh double of the year off the left field wall before advancing 90-feet on a sacrifice bunt to bring Pelletier back to the plate. The Ontario, Canada product drove in his second run with fly ball to left to plate Johnson from third.
The Cats added insurance runs to the board in the eighth with back-to-back homers from Dom Hughes and Nick Goodwin. After falling behind 0-2, Hughes fought his way to a full count before blasting his second homer of the season to force the Mountaineers' first pitching change of the night.
Goodwin, a junior from Overland Park, Kan., welcomed the new arm with his 28th career homer to expanded the Cats lead out to five, 6-1.
The Mountaineers made three additional pitching changes in the eighth before the final run was walked in to secure the victory, leveling the series 1-1.
INSIDE THE BOX
- K-State scored seven runs on nine hits with no errors committed and six left on base
- The Wildcats hit five homers for the second time on the season
- Fajardo allowed just three hits during his seven innings
- Eight different players recorded a hit with five going yard
- Pena went 2-for-2 with a home run and two walks
- Pelletier and Pena each drove in two RBI
- Six runners were left on base with only two in scoring position
- Neighbors and Buss combined for one hit, one walk and two strikeouts
- WVU was held to one run on a season-low four hits
- Traxel was credited the loss to move to 5-2 with five runs (five earned) on eight hits
- The Mountaineers lead the all-time series 17-13 and lead 4-6 in last 10 meetings
- Cats lead the series 9-8 in games played in Manhattan
- K-State moves to 12-2 at home and 4-1 in Big 12 play at Tointon
- Jones reached base in the 19th straight game followed by Rugely at 11
- K-State moves to 5-3 in Big 12 action; tied second in league standings with TCU
- Fajardo was the first K-State pitcher to toss seven complete innings this season
- Saturday marked the Cats first victory over a ranked opponent since May 27, 2022 against #8 Texas Tech in the Phillips Big 12 Championship tournament
- K-State had back-to-back homers for the second time this season
K-State will close out the conference series on Sunday with first pitch slated for 1:02 p.m. at Tointon Family Stadium. The afternoon matchup will be streamed on the Big 12 Now on ESPN+ and the ESPN app with radio coverage on KMAN (93.3FM/1350AM) and a free live audio available at kstatesports.com/watch.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Fajardo, German (1-1)
L: Traxel, Blaine (5-2)
Batting:
3B: Wallace, Landon 1
RBI: Wallace, Landon 1
SH: Wallace, Landon 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Leonard, Dayne 1
HBP: Tucker, Tevin 1
Batting:
2B: Johnson, Cole 1
HR: Hughes, Dom 1 ; Goodwin, Nick 1 ; Day, Brady 1 ; Pelletier, Raphael 1 ; Pena, Roberto 1
RBI: Hughes, Dom 1 ; Goodwin, Nick 1 ; Day, Brady 1 ; Pelletier, Raphael 2 ; Pena, Roberto 2
SH: Rugely, Cash 1
SF: Pelletier, Raphael 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Hughes, Dom 1 ; Goodwin, Nick 1 ; Day, Brady 1 ; Johnson, Cole 2 ; Pelletier, Raphael 1 ; Pena, Roberto 1
CS: Jones, Brendan 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
2
R
1
H
2
RBI
2
AB
5
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
1
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
1
Players Mentioned
RHP
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RHP
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/ Baseball
OF
/ Baseball
RHP
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/ BaseballINF
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INF/OF
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