Wildcats and Huskers Go Head-to-Head in Manhattan

MANHATTAN, Kan. – K-State will take on the Nebraska Huskers on Tuesday night at Tointon Family Stadium, beginning at 6 p.m.

The two schools will each send a freshman to take the hump in the non-conference matchup. Right-hander Mason Buss (3-0) will make his third start of the season for the Wildcats and go against left-hander Caleb Clark (1-1).

Tuesday's contest marks the 291^st meeting between the Cats and Huskers with Nebraska leading the all-time series 174-116 since the series start in 1898. The two programs have split the season series, 1-1, over the last three seasons with K-State posting a 2-2 record under head coach Pete Hughes.

The 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 three-game series at K-StateSports.com/watch and on the K-State Sports app.

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.

GAME #31
K-STATE (19-11, 5-4 Big 12) vs. NEBRASKA (15-9-1, 2-1 Big 10)
April 4 | 6 p.m. | Tointon Family Stadium (2,331)
Projected Starters: RHP Mason Buss v. LHP Caleb Clark
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 heads into the midweek contest 19-11 and 5-4 in Big 12 action after dropping a series to No. 24 West Virginia… K-State is slashing .278/.407/.470 as a team including 52 doubles, five triples and 45 home runs with four starters batting over .280 … K-State leads the nation in walks with 212 … Senior Cash Rugely is hitting .337 to lead the Cats offense to go alongside a .492 on-base percentage and .584 slug … Brady Day is second on the team in batting average at .298 followed by Nick Goodwin at .284 … Roberto Pena has sent eight homers out of the ball park this season and ranks third in the Big 12 with 37 RBI … Goodwin and Brendan Jones have started in all 30 games for K-State at shortstop and center field… Jones ranks second in the league with 19 stolen bases which ranks 14^th in the nation … As a team, the Wildcats are dangerous on the base path with 71 total stolen bases which ranks 10^th among Division I programs and second in the Big 12 … K-State has rolled 21 double plays this season which ranks fourth in the Big 12 … The Wildcats have a 4.74 team ERA with 266 strikeouts compared to 105 walks … K-State ranks second in the league and ranks 37^th in DI with a 2.53 strikeout-to-walk ratio … Sixteen pitchers have made appearances on the mound with four making over 10 outings this year while German Fajardo has a team-high eight starts… Owen Boerema is one of five pitchers from the Big 12 this season to record four victories and is one of four with 45+ strike outs … Freshman Mason Buss will make his third collegiate start on Tuesday, entering the single contest with a 3-0 record and 2.93 ERA ….

SCOUTING NEBRASKA
Nebraska enters the week with a 15-9-1 overall record including 3-5-1 in true games on the road … The Huskers lone tie came from a 16-16 7-inning series finale against San Diego where the game was called off due to travel curfew … UNL is led by fourth-year head coach Will Bolt who's guided the Huskers to a 79-61-1 overall record … Bolt served as a team captain with the Huskers' baseball program helping the Huskers to back-to-back College World Series appearances in 2001 and 2002 … Junior Max Anderson leads an offense that is slashing .318/.412/.543 with the Omaha product batting .410 followed by Brice Matthews at .404 … Anderson and Matthews have each put out eight homers this season with the duo slugging well over .700 … The Huskers pitching staff has compiled a 4.78 ERA with Jace Kaminska and Emmett Olson each earning five victories … Shay Schanaman has made a team-high 11 appearances for UNL … Caleb Clark (1-1) will head to the mound on Tuesday … The freshman has a 17.42 ERA during five appearances with three starts …

INSIDE THE SERIES
Tuesday marks the 291^st meeting between Nebraska and K-State with the Huskers leading the all-time series 174-116 since the series start in 1898 … The Huskers lead 79-72 in games played in Manhattan … The two programs have split the season series, 1-1, over the last three seasons with K-State posting a 2-2 record under head coach Pete Hughes … Nebraksa leads 4-6 in the last 10 meetings while the Cats are 3-2 in the last five …

W, 4-3 – April 17, 2018 (Lincoln)
L, 0-7 – April 2, 2019 (Manhattan)
W, 5-0 – April 16, 2019 (Lincoln)
W, 6-4 – March 9, 2022 (Manhattan)
L, 6-8 – April 26, 2022 (Lincoln)

AROUND THE LEAGUE
Oklahoma State took control of the Big 12 standings after winning the series 2-1 against No. 21 Texas … The Cowboys are 6-3 in league action and 22-7 overall after snapping the Longhorns 16 game winning streak … West Virginia (21-7) ranks second after opening their Big 12 schedule with a 2-1 series win over K-State … Texas (20-9) ranks third at 4-2 in conference play followed by the Wildcats (19-11, 5-4) and TCU (17-11, 5-4) rounding out the Top 5 … Kansas (12-14, 3-3) stands sixth followed by Texas Tech (20-9, 4-5), Oklahoma (15-14, 2-4), and Baylor (9-19, 2-7) …

WALK THE WALK
The Cats have walked a nation-leading 212 times this season, averaging 7.1 per contest … Brendan Jones leads the Wildcats with 29 total walks which ranks seventh in Division I and second in the Big 12… K-state has registered double figure walks in eight games this season … 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 64 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 71 bases which ranks 10^th in all Division I while sitting 13^th with 2.37 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 14^th among all Division I players … The Cats 71 stolen bases surpasses the 2022 season total by 29 … 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 launched nine home runs in their Big 12 series against West Virginia, totaling 45 on the year … The Cats 45 homers ranks second in the league and 28^th nationally … Roberto Pena moved to top of the Cats' season leader board after hitting four out of the ballpark in three of the Wildcat's last five games … Nick Goodwin leads the current career leaderboard with 28 … Brendan Jones hit a leadoff home run in the series opener against the Mountaineers … Cole Johnson hit his second career and season grand slam in the Wildcats 12-9 comeback victory over Air Force (March 28) … Three players have hit multiple homers in a single game with Johnson, Salinas and Pena … The Cats have produced 80+ home runs the past two seasons … K-State hit back-to-back home runs for the second time this season since with back-to-back solo shots by Dom Hughes and Nick Goodwin … Three Wildcats have hit three grand slams this season with the last coming at Air Force (March 28) by Johnson … 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 … Nine players are posting a multi-home run season … 38 homers were against right-handed pitchers, 22 were solo shots while 19 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 moved to 19-11 overall after falling 1-2 in a conference series with No. 24 West Virginia … After falling 8-3 in the opener, the Cats sent five homers out to back German Fajardo's seven-inning outing to level the series… The Mountaineers lead the all-time series 18-13 and lead 7-3 in last 10 meetings … Series is tied 9-9 between the two schools in Manhattan … Brendan Jones reached base in the 20^th straight game followed by Rugely at 10 … Cole Johnson and Raphael Pelletier extended their hit streaks to six … The Wildcats moved to 5-4 in Big 12 action and rank fifth in league standings … Cats and Mountaineers combined for 15 home runs in the series … K-State hit .229 in the weekend series with 22 hits, including nine homers … Roberto Pena had three homers in the series …

A LOOK AT THE NUMBERS
K-State has a season +87 run differential through 30 games averaging 8.4 runs on 8.9 hits ... The Wildcats have outscored opponents 36-20 in the fourth inning alone and 91-35 (+64) from the seventh and on … Cats are 14-2 when leading after the sixth and 2-0 when tied after six ... K-State is 8-5 when committing no errors in a game … Conversely, K-State has won 11 games when one or more errors are committed, 11-6 overall ... The Wildcats are 14-5 when scoring first and 7-4 when scoring in the first inning … K-State has outhit opponents on 14 occasions this season and is 5-11 when being outhit … The Cats are 12-2 when limiting opponents to five or less runs and are 4-4 in one-run games… K-State is 15-7 when playing afternoon games and 4-4 when playing under the lights … The Cats have won 15 games against right-handed starters while going 4-4 against lefties …

FROM THE 'PEN
Under the guidance first-year pitching coach Rudy Darrow, the Cats pitching staff has produced a 4.74 ERA which ranks sixth in the Big 12 with outings from 16 different players this season … The Wildcats have struck out 266 batters this season compared to 105 walks, averaging 9.1 strikeouts per nine innings which ranks fourth in the Big 12 … K-State's pitching staff ranks second in the league with a 2.53 strikeout-to-walk ratio which is 37^th in Division I … 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 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 eight starts on the mound this season, ranks seventh in the nation… Boerema is just one of four pitchers from the Big 12 to record 45+ strike outs this season and ties fourth overall with 45 … Four different players have earned a save this year led by sophomore Tyson Neighbors with four …

TOINTON FAMILY STADIUM
The home of K-State baseball was rededicated 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 384-207 (.674) when playing at home … The Wildcats are 75-30 (.714) at home under Hughes and 57-17 (.770) since 2021 … The Cats had 5,355 fans in attendance during opening weekend with a season-high 2,247 against Army (March 5) … Tointon's largest crowd was on March 30, 2010 against Wichita State with 4,745 in attendance …

HOME. SWEET. HOME.
K-State is 12-3 when playing at Tointon this season ... Over the last three seasons, K-State has compiled an overall home record of 57-17 (.770) ... At home, the Wildcat offense is hitting .279 while slugging .501 with 25 home runs ... K-State averages 9.6 runs a game on 9.1 hits when playing at Tointon Family Stadium ... The Wildcat bullpen has boasted a 3.86 ERA at home limiting opponents to hit just .257 compared to the Cats .279 … The Cats have struck out 134 compared to 48 walks for a 2.89 strikeout-to-walk ratio ... K-State has homered in 12 of the 15 games played at home with 25 of the 45 total home runs coming at Tointon … Four Cats are hitting over .300 at home led by Cash Rugely … The senior leads the pack at home with a .415 batting average while Roberto Pena has a team-high .725 slug percentage… Pena has recorded 11 extra base hits at home with four home runs alongside red-shirt sophomore Brendan Jones… Owen Boerema has picked up three of the victories on the mound at Tointon followed by Mason Buss, Tyson Neighbors and Shay Hartis each with two …

UP NEXT
The Wildcats will hit the road to the Lone Star State to take on No. 21 Texas in a three-game league series beginning on Thursday, April 6. The big 12 series will be streamed on the Longhorn Network 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 KStateSports.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.

-- www.k-statesports.com --

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

Shay Hartis

Dom Hughes

Cole Johnson

Brendan Jones

Tyson Neighbors

Raphael Pelletier

Roberto Pena

Cash Rugely

Kansas State University Athletics