Cats Host Creighton for Monday Night Action

MANHATTAN, Kan. – K-State will make a quick turnaround when the Wildcats host Creighton on Monday night at Tointon Family Stadium with game time slated for 6 p.m.

Right-hander Collin Rothermel (0-1) will get his second start of the season against the Bluejays while Justin Kleinsorge (1-1) will start on the mound for Creighton.

Monday's nightcap marks the 100^th meeting between K-State and Creighton with the Cats leading the all-time series 54-44-1, including 38-19-1 in Manhattan. The Cats are 6-4 in the last 10 meetings and 3-2 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 KStateSports.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 #35
K-STATE (20-14, 6-6 Big 12) vs. CREIGHTON (14-11, 2-1 Big East)
Monday, April 10 | 6 p.m. | Tointon Family Stadium (2,331)
Projected Starters: RHP Collin Rothermel v. RHP Justin Kleinsorge
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 non-conference game with an overall 20-14 record … Pete Hughes is in his fifth season at the helm and has compiled an 118-106 (.529) record during his time with Wildcats … Hughes is 770-598-3 (.563) in his 26 years as a head coach … K-State is slashing .266/.401/.454 as a team including 56 doubles, seven triples and 47 home runs … K-State leads the nation in walks with 232 … Senior Cash Rugely is hitting .346 to lead the Cats offense to go alongside a .496 on-base percentage and .577 slug … Brady Day is second on the team in batting average at .295 followed by Kaelen Culpepper at .283 … Roberto Pena has sent eight out of the ball park this season with a team-high 39 RBI followed by Cole Johnson with 37 and Nick Goodwin with 36… Goodwin and Brendan Jones have started in all 31 games for K-State at shortstop and center field… As a team, the Wildcats are dangerous on the base path with a league-high 81 stolen bases … The Wildcats have a 4.93 team ERA with 306 strikeouts compared to 116 walks … … Sixteen pitchers have made appearances on the mound with five making over 10 outings this year while German Fajardo has a team-high nine starts … Owen Boerema hasstruck out 57 batters this season following his 12 on Friday night against No. 21 Texas … Collin Rothermel (0-1) will get his second start of the season this season on Monday against the Bluejays …

SCOUTING CREIGHTON
The Bluejays head to Manhattan with a 14-11 overall record after opening Big East with a 2-1 series victory over Villanova … Creighton shutout the Wildcats 6-0 and 2-0 to clinch the series before dropping the final game 8-6 in extras … Ed Servais is in his 20^th season at the helm of the Bluejay baseball program … Servais has compiled a 632-374-1 record during his time at Creighton and is 814-456-2 overall … As a team, Creighton has a team slash line of .252/.376/.399 with 77 extra-base hits in 25 games … Three players are batting over .300 … Nolan Sailors leads the offense with a .333 batting average along with a team-high three triples and .586 slugging percentage… Jack Grace, a 6-foot-3 senior from Illinois, has gone yard six times this season while Tyler Lozano leads with 23 RBI… The Bluejays have a team 4.68 ERA allowing opponents to hit .257 … Marc Lidd has a team-low 1.69 ERA in nine appearances … Justin Kleinsorge will get his fifth start of the season on Monday … The right-hander has made seven appearances this season and has one victory over with a 5.60 ERA …

INSIDE THE SERIES
Monday's nightcap marks the 100^th meeting between the two programs and second this season since its series start in 1903 … K-State leads the all-time series 54-44-1 with a current two-game winning streak … The Cats lead 38-19-1 when playing in Manhattan … K-State is 6-4 in the last 10 meetings and 3-2 in the last five… The Cats shutout the Bluejays, 3-0, in the last month led by RBI from Cole Johnson and Dom Hughes while the pitching staff combined for 14 strikeouts and limited Creighton to three hits … Johnson sent out his fourth home run of the season to give the Wildcats the go-ahead lead before Hughes hit a two-RBI double for the insurance runs ... Four pitchers combined for the shutout with freshman Mason Buss who tossed a one-hitter during his five innings to go along with a season-high seven strikeouts while Tyson Neighbors was credited the save …

L, 0-4 – April 5, 2019 (Omaha)
W, 9-2 – April 6, 2019 (Omaha)
L, 1-11 – April 7, 2019 (Omaha)
W, 7-5 – April 5, 2022 (Manhattan)
W, 3-0 – March 15, 2023 (Omaha)

AROUND THE LEAGUE
Texas moved to first in the Big 12 standings after taking the series over Kansas State … The Longhorns have an overall 23-10 record and 6-3 in league action … Kansas (15-15, 5-4 Big 12) ranks second in the league followed by Oklahoma State (23-10) and TCU (20-12) tied for third with a 7-5 league record … The Wildcats stand fifth followed by Texas Tech (22-10, 4-5), West Virginia (23-9, 3-3), Baylor (12-20, 4-8) and Oklahoma (17-16, 3-6) …

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 384-208 (.649) when playing at home … The Wildcats are 75-31 (.708) at home under Hughes and 57-18 (.760) 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 12-4 when playing at Tointon this season ... Over the last three seasons, K-State has compiled an overall home record of 57-18 (.760) ... At home, the Wildcat offense is hitting .259 while slugging .485 with 25 home runs ... K-State averages 9.1 runs a game on 8.9 hits when playing at Tointon Family Stadium ... The Wildcat bullpen has boasted a 3.93 ERA … The Cats have struck out 144 compared to 49 walks for a 2.94 strikeout-to-walk ratio ... K-State has homered in 12 of the 16 games played at home with 25 of the 45 total home runs coming at Tointon … Three Cats are hitting over .300 at home led by Cash Rugely … The senior leads the pack at home with a slash line of .444/.574/.711 with 19 RBI … Roberto 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 …

WALK THE WALK
The Cats have walked a nation-leading 232 times this season, averaging 6.8 per contest … Brady Day leads the Wildcats with 32 total walks which third 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 81 bases, averaging 2.53 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 74 stolen bases surpasses the 2022 season total by 32 … 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 Mascouche, Quebec, Canada product has thrown out a league-high 11 runners this season … The redshirt-sophomore catcher gunned down his latest runner at second in Cats 6-5 victory over No. 21 Texas …

THE LONG BALL
K-State have sent out 47 balls out of the ballpark this season … The Cats 47 homers ranks third in the league … Roberto Pena moved to top of the Cats' season leader board with eight followed by Nick Goodwin and Cole Johnson each with seven … 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 is coming off its third Big 12 series weekend where the Cats dropped a 1-2 series against No. 21 Texas … The Cats bounced back from a 6-5 loss to claim the middle game, 6-5, to force a rubber match … K-State fell, 8-2, in the series finale to move to 6-6 in league action … Texas leads the all-time series 63-23-1 and 36-12-1 in Austin … The Cats hit .229 in the series with 13 runs and 12 RBI … Brendan Jones reached base for the 24^th straight game … Roberto Pena hit .364 in the series while Cole Johnson led with five RBI …

A LOOK AT THE NUMBERS
K-State has a season +76 run differential through 34 games averaging 7.9 runs on 8.8 hits ... The Wildcats have outscored opponents 38-22 in the third inning alone and 97-34 (+63) from the seventh on … Cats are 14-3 when leading after the sixth and 2-0 when tied after six ... K-State is 9-8 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 15-6 when scoring first and 7-5 when scoring in the first inning … K-State has outhit opponents on 15 occasions this season and is 5-14 when being outhit … The Cats are 13-2 when limiting opponents to five or less runs and are 5-5 in one-run games… K-State is 16-9 when playing afternoon games and 4-5 when playing under the lights … The Cats have won 16 games against right-handed starters while going 4-6 against lefties …

FROM THE 'PEN
Under the guidance pitching coach Rudy Darrow, the Cats pitching staff has produced a 4.93 ERA with outings from 16 different players this season … The Wildcats have struck out 306 batters this season compared to 116 walks … 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 nine starts on the mound this season … Four different players have earned a save this year led by sophomore Tyson Neighbors with five …

UP NEXT
K-State will head to Lawrence to take on Kansas (15-15, 5-4) in a three-game set starting on Friday, April 14 at the Hoglund Ballpark. The series will be streamed on the Big 12 Now 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.

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

Kaelen Culpepper

Brady Day

German Fajardo

Nick Goodwin

Shay Hartis

Dom Hughes

Cole Johnson

Brendan Jones

Tyson Neighbors

Raphael Pelletier

Roberto Pena

Collin Rothermel

Cash Rugely

Kansas State University Athletics