Kansas State University Athletics
Tuesday, April 18
Manhattan, KS
6 p.m.
Kansas State University
24-15
4
vs
10
Wichita State
21-15
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Wichita State
2
0
4
3
0
0
0
0
1
10
12
2
Kansas State
1
0
0
3
0
0
0
0
0
4
9
0
Shockers Down Cats Tuesday, 10-4
Apr 18, 2023 | Baseball
MANHATTAN, Kan. – Kaelen Culpepper and Roberto Pena each homered on Tuesday night as K-State dropped a 10-4 decision against Wichita State at Tointon Family Stadium.
The Wildcats (24-15) had six different players register a hit led by Culpepper, Nick Goodwin and Brady Day each with two.
"When you let up six home runs, it's pretty tough to beat anyone," said Pete Hughes. "We wasted a good relief appearance by Kyler Heyne who gave us a chance to get back in that game, but we didn't hit for 4 1/3 innings."
The Cats were down 9-1 before Culpepper and Roberto Pena went back-to-back with a pair of homers in the fourth to trim the Shockers lead to five.
"I will say I'll never give up on this team and if there was any team that could comeback from a 9-1 deficit, it's this team. It just didn't happen tonight," said Hughes.
"We might have had good swings off of Miners, but you don't get credit for good swings, you get credit for hits. They had more productive hits than we did and that's why we got it put to us."
HOW IT HAPPENED
Wichita State jumped out to an early 2-0 lead with a two-run homer by Payton Tolle in the top of the first.
The Cats answered in the bottom of the inning as Goodwin recorded his 29th walk of the season before scoring on a double down the right field line by Culpepper.
WSU used four homers to plate seven runs over the next three innings to expand their lead to eight, 9-1.
Day singled up the middle to get the Cats first runner since the opening frame until the Hampstead, N.H., product scored on Culpepper's homer out to center. Pena followed with his 10th blast of the season to bring the score within five.
The Shockers reliever Jace Miners retired 13 straight batters before walking Day in the eighth. K-State threatened WSU's lead after loading the bases, but the Shockers picked up two quick strikeouts to end the threat.
Starter Jackson Wentworth (1-4) was credited the loss after allowing six runs (six earned) on eight hits during his three innings.
INSIDE THE BOX
The Cats will head to the Golden State for a four-game road trip against UC-Irvine and UC-Riverside. K-State will take on the UCI Anteaters in a three-game series starting on April 21 at the Cicerone Field at Anteater Ballpark in Irvine, Calif.
The series against UCI will be streamed on ESPN+ and the ESPN app with radio coverage on News Radio KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM). Live streaming audio is available for all games at KStateSports.com/watch and on the K-State Sports app.
The Wildcats (24-15) had six different players register a hit led by Culpepper, Nick Goodwin and Brady Day each with two.
"When you let up six home runs, it's pretty tough to beat anyone," said Pete Hughes. "We wasted a good relief appearance by Kyler Heyne who gave us a chance to get back in that game, but we didn't hit for 4 1/3 innings."
The Cats were down 9-1 before Culpepper and Roberto Pena went back-to-back with a pair of homers in the fourth to trim the Shockers lead to five.
"I will say I'll never give up on this team and if there was any team that could comeback from a 9-1 deficit, it's this team. It just didn't happen tonight," said Hughes.
"We might have had good swings off of Miners, but you don't get credit for good swings, you get credit for hits. They had more productive hits than we did and that's why we got it put to us."
HOW IT HAPPENED
Wichita State jumped out to an early 2-0 lead with a two-run homer by Payton Tolle in the top of the first.
The Cats answered in the bottom of the inning as Goodwin recorded his 29th walk of the season before scoring on a double down the right field line by Culpepper.
WSU used four homers to plate seven runs over the next three innings to expand their lead to eight, 9-1.
Day singled up the middle to get the Cats first runner since the opening frame until the Hampstead, N.H., product scored on Culpepper's homer out to center. Pena followed with his 10th blast of the season to bring the score within five.
The Shockers reliever Jace Miners retired 13 straight batters before walking Day in the eighth. K-State threatened WSU's lead after loading the bases, but the Shockers picked up two quick strikeouts to end the threat.
Starter Jackson Wentworth (1-4) was credited the loss after allowing six runs (six earned) on eight hits during his three innings.
INSIDE THE BOX
- K-State scored four runs on nine hits with seven left on base
- Culpepper and Pena hit back-to-back homers in the fourth
- Pena hit his 10th homer of the season
- Six players registered a hit; three had multiple
- Wentworth was credited to loss for a season record of 1-4
- Goodwin and Day went 2-for-3 at the plate
- Culpepper led with three RBI
- The bullpen combined for five strikeouts and four walks
- WSU scored 10 runs on 12 hits with two errors and five left on base
- Culpepper homered for the second straight game
- Cats had their 14th multi-home run game
- K-State hit back-to-back home runs for the third time this season
- Rugely reached base for the 21st straight game followed by Day (18) and Pelletier (15)
- Pena leads the Cats with 10 homers; ranks fourth in the Big 12
- The Shockers lead the all-time series 57-44
- K-State is 26-19 against WSU when playing at home
- The Wildcats move to 13-5 at home
- The Cats rank second in the Big 12 rankings; fastest team to nine victories
- Goodwin was named to the Brooks Wallace Award Watch List
The Cats will head to the Golden State for a four-game road trip against UC-Irvine and UC-Riverside. K-State will take on the UCI Anteaters in a three-game series starting on April 21 at the Cicerone Field at Anteater Ballpark in Irvine, Calif.
The series against UCI will be streamed on ESPN+ and the ESPN app with radio coverage on News Radio KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM). Live streaming audio is available for all games at KStateSports.com/watch and on the K-State Sports app.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Miner, Jace (2-0)
L: Wentworth, Jackson (1-4)
Batting:
2B: Ingram, Chuck 1 ; Pennington, Garrett 1 ; Thornhill, Sawyre 1
HR: Rodden, Brock 2 ; Pennington, Garrett 2 ; Tolle, Payton 1 ; Herring, David 1
RBI: Rodden, Brock 2 ; Pennington, Garrett 4 ; Tolle, Payton 2 ; Herring, David 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Ingram, Chuck 1 ; Rodden, Brock 3 ; Pennington, Garrett 2 ; Tolle, Payton 1 ; Millan, Mauricio 1 ; Herring, David 1 ; Thornhill, Sawyre 1
SB: McDonald, Kyte 1
CS: Stroh, Seth 1 ; McDonald, Kyte 1
HBP: Rodden, Brock 1
Batting:
2B: Culpepper, Kaelen 1
HR: Culpepper, Kaelen 1 ; Pena, Roberto 1
RBI: Culpepper, Kaelen 3 ; Pena, Roberto 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Goodwin, Nick 1 ; Day, Brady 1 ; Culpepper, Kaelen 1 ; Pena, Roberto 1
HBP: Day, Brady 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
0
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
3
AB
5
R
0
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
INF
/ BaseballINF
/ Baseball
RHP
/ Baseball
INF
/ Baseball
RHP
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