K-State Makes Final Midweek Stop at Wichita State

MANHATTAN, Kan. – K-State concludes its two-game season series with Wichita State Tuesday night, as the in-state rivals meet at Eck Stadium with a 6 p.m. first pitch.

Freshman Mason Buss will get his fourth start of the season with the right-hander holding a 3-1 record with a 3.03 ERA.

Wichita State leads the all-time series 57-44 and 36-17 at home.

The midweek game can be seen on ESPN+ and the ESPN app with radio coverage available on News Radio KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM). Live streaming audio is available at kstatesports.com/watch and on the K-State Sports app.

GAME #46
K-STATE (28-17, 11-7 Big 12) vs. WICHITA STATE (26-17, 10-5 American)
Tuesday, May 2 | 6 p.m. | Eck Stadium (8,153)
Projected Starters: RHP Mason Buss v. RHP Matt Boyer
Watch: ESPN+
Radio: 1350AM/93.3/93.7FM
Listen Online: kstatesports.com/watch
Live Stats | Tickets

A LOOK AT K-STATE
The Wildcats enters the week 28-17 overall after taking a massive 2-1 big 12 series over then ranked 14^th Texas Tech … K-State is slashing .270/.398/.452 as a team which includes 72 doubles, nine triples and 61 home runs with two starters hitting over .300 … K-State ranks third in the nation in walks with 287 which ranks 10^th in the school all-time leaderboard … The Cats rank 16^th in the nation in sacrifice flies (27), and 14^th in stolen bases (95) … Brady Day leads the offense hitting .352 followed by Cash Rugely at .306 with the duo each combining for 80 walks, 52 RBI and 70 runs scored … Roberto Pena has launched 12 homers this season followed by Nick Goodwin with 10 while they rank second and sixth in RBI among the Big 12 combing for 98 this season … Goodwin and Brendan Jones have started in all 45 games for K-State at shortstop and center field… Jones ranks second in the league with 23 stolen bases which ranks 26^th in the nation … Goodwin is fourth in the nation in sac flies with seven … As a team, the Wildcats have been dangerous on the base path with a second-best 95 stolen bases which ranks 14^th in Division I … The Wildcats have a 4.96 team ERA with 405 strikeouts compared to 165 walks … K-State leads the league and ranks 37^th in DI with a 2.45 strikeout-to-walk ratio while also leading the Big 12 in fewest walks per nine innings at 3.79 and total walks allowed … Sixteen pitchers have made appearances on the mound with German Fajardo making a team-high 12 starts … Left-hander Owen Boerema ranks second in the league with 76 total strikeouts while the Minnesota product is just one-of-six pitchers to strikeout 12+ in a single game … Pete Hughes is in his fifth season at the helm and has compiled an 126-109 (.536) record during his time with Wildcats … Hughes is 778-601-3 (.564) in his 26 years as a head coach …

SCOUTING WICHITA STATE
Wichita State enters the week with an overall 26-17 record with the Shockers for an 86 RPI ranking while posting a 16-9 record at home … WSU is led by interim head coach Loren Hibbs following his 27 seasons spent at the helm of the Charlotte baseball program … The Shockers are slashing .303/.386/.493 averaging 7.3 runs a game on 10.5 hits … WSU has totaled 163 extra-base hits including 56 homers … Seven starters are hitting over .300 led by Chuck Ingram … The junior outfielder is hitting .353 on the year with 33 RBI and 46 runs scored … Ten shockers have sent one out of the park this season led by Rodden with 12 to go along with a team-high .663 slugging-percentage … On the mound, Kansas has a 4.25 team ERA with opponents hitting .246 with a 2.84 strikeout-to-walk ratio … Left-hander Payton Tolle has earned eight victories on the mound this year over 11 starts and a team-high 75 strikeouts … Caden Favors and Nate Snead leads in appearances each with 18 as the duo has combined for 78 innings and 71 strikeouts …

INSIDE THE SERIES
Wichita State leads the all-time series 57-44 since its start in 1906 … The Wildcats are 17-36 when playing in Wichita … The Cats are 2-3 in the last five meetings and 5-5 over the last 10 … Under head coach Pete Hughes the Cats are 3-4 … WSU took the lead in the season series with a 10-4 victory just two weeks ago … Kaelen Culpepper and Roberto Pena went back-to-back with a pair of homers …

L, 1-2 – Feb. 26, 2020 (Wichita)
L, 1-5 – March 23, 2021 (Wichita)
W, 12-1 – April 18, 2022 (Wichita)
W, 3-1 – May 3, 2022 (Manhattan)
L, 4-10 – April 18, 2023 (Manhattan)

A SEASON OF FIRSTS
K-State matched a program record 13 wins on the road after defeating UC Irvine … The Cats last won 13 road games in 2013 … The Wildcats' Dillons Sunflower Showdown series sweep was the first road sweep over KU since 2013 … The 2023 team is the fastest team to nine conference wins in program history … Fastest team to 24 overall wins since 2013 … K-State completed its first sweep over Oklahoma at home since 1990 … The sweep over the Sooners marked the first Big 12 series sweep since 2013 … K-State was the first member of the Big 12 to reach nine conference victories this season … First time in 123-years of K-State baseball history the Wildcats led off the season with a four-game road series sweep …

CRACKIN' THE POLLS
K-State was ranked 22^nd in the Collegiate Baseball's Top 30 poll on Monday morning marking the first appearance in a national poll since 2014 … The Cats are receiving votes in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) …

WELCOME TO THE NEIGHBORHOOD
Right-handed closer Tyson Neighbors has been dominate on the mound for the Cats this season, totaling eight saves and a 4-1 record … The sophomore ties 10^th all-time in K-State history with eight career saves and leads the Big 12 in the category … In the series opener against Texas Tech, Neighbors broke the school's TrackMan-era pitch velocity record at 99 mph … Neighbors was named to the NCBWA Stopper of the Year Midseason Watch List …

BRING OUT THE BROOMS
K-State has swept four three-plus game series this season including two Big 12 foes which marks the first since 2013 … The Cats are 13-0 in the four series and have outscored opponents 144-72 (+72) … The Wildcats plated 21 runs in the series finale against the KU Jayhawks in the highest-scoring game in series history to complete the Showdown sweep … K-State is the only program in the Big 12 to have two conference sweeps this season …

KEEP AN EYE ON 25
Junior Nick Goodwin was named to the 2023 Brooks Wallace Award Watch List, as the College Baseball Foundation announced the season's initial list Tuesday … The award honors the nation's top shortstop and will be presented by the College Baseball Foundation later this year ... It is named for former Texas Tech shortstop Brooks Wallace, who played for the Red Raiders from 1977 to 1980 … Goodwin, a junior from Overland Park, Kan., ranks fourth in the nation with seven sacrifice flies while ranking sixth in the league with 65 RBI … At the plate, the Overland Park native has a slash line of .282/.403/.518 to go with six doubles, two triples, and 10 homers … Goodwin hit his 31^st career home runs in the Cats victory over UC Irvine to rank fifth overall in the K-State all-time leaderboard … He was one of seven shortstops from the Big 12 represented on the watch list …

AROUND THE LEAGUE
The West Virginia Mountaineers (33-11) lead the league with an 11-4 record followed by Oklahoma State (30-13, 11-7) and K-State (28-17, 11-7) tied for second … Texas (30-15, 10-7) ranks fourth followed by Texas Tech (30-15, 9-9), Oklahoma (24-20, 9-9), TCU (23-20, 7-10), Kansas (21-23, 6-12), and Baylor (15-29, 6-15) … The Cats are one of just two teams with double figure wins on the road with 13 while WVU leads with 16 …

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 15 runners this season after tossing out a pair of runners in the series against UC Irvine… As a team, K-State is second in the league in caught stealing with 23 runners thrown out while having the lowest stolen base attempt percentage at .425 …

ON THE ROAD AGAIN
K-State is 13-11 when playing on the road and 13-8 when playing in true away games as the visiting team including 5-4 in Big 12 road games ... On the road, the Wildcat offense is slashing .266/.387/.442 including 38 doubles, five triples and 32 home runs ... K-State has averaged 6.9 runs a game on 9.1 hits when on the road ... Four Wildcats are hitting over .300 on the road with Brady Day, Kaelen Culpepper, Raphael Pelletier and Brendan Jones … Day leads the offense on the road hitting .355 with 27 hits including five extra-base hits and nine RBI … Cole Johnson leads with 26 RBI on the road while Nick Goodwin has launched seven homers on the road… The Wildcat bullpen has boasted a 5.61 ERA on the road, striking out 223 compared to 92 walks ... Eight Cats have earned a victory on the road led by Kyler Heyne with three while Tyson Neighbors has a team-high five saves … Neighbors has made an appearance in 13 road games this season followed by Ty Ruhl with 11 …

WALK THE WALK
The Cats rank third in the nation in walks with 287, averaging 6.4 per contest … Brady Day and Cash Rugely rank 17^th and 29^th in the nation in walks … 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-States' 287 walks ranks 10^th in the all-time program single-season records … The Wildcats all-time single-season walks record was set in 1995 with 382 …

GOTTA BE QUICKER THAN THAT
K-State has caused trouble on the base path for opponents, stealing a 95 bases which ranks 14^th in all Division I and second in the Big 12 while sitting 20^th with 2.11 stolen bases per game … Brendan Jones has been the speedster for the Cats lineup with 23 stolen bases which is second in the Big 12 and 26^th among all Division I players … 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 … The Cats 90 stolen bases surpasses the 2022 season total by 48 … The K-State single-season record is 149 set in 2009 thru 62 games …

THE LONG BALL
K-State has launched 61 balls out of the park this season which ranks third in the Big 12 … Eleven players have recorded multiple homers this season led by Roberto Pena with 12 … Nick Goodwin leads the current career leaderboard with 31 which ranks fifth on the all-time leaderboard … Four players have hit multiple homers in a single game with Kaelen Culpepper, Cole Johnson, Orlando Salinas, Jr., and Pena … Brendan Jones hit the Cats only game leadoff home run in the series opener against the West Virginia … K-State hit back-to-back home runs for the third time this season against Wichita State by Culpepper and Pena … Four Wildcats have hit grand slams this season with the last coming from Kyan Lodice against Kansas (April 16) … Johnson and 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 … Just 10 homers have been against left-handed pitchers, 29 are solo shots while 16 have come with two outs … 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 No. 24 West Virginia marking the fourth time in the Hughes era, and second this season … The five home runs were just short two of matching a program record seven …

LAST TIME OUT
Sophomore Brendan Jones hit a two-run RBI triple that plated the game-winning run as K-State clinched the Big 12 series over No. 14 Texas Tech with a 10-8 thriller on Sunday afternoon at Tointon Family Stadium … After four lead changes the Wildcats entered the eighth inning with a one-run deficit until Jones launched his only hit of the series off the wall to give K-State its third conference series win of the season … K-State scored 10 runs on nine hits with no errors and eight left on base … Kaelen Culpepper and Cole Johnson each went 2-for-4 while Pena and Jones lead with two RBI … Tyson Neighbors received the victory to move to 4-1… K-State's pitching staff struck out 11 batters … K-State won its third Big 12 series of the season … K-State improves to 15-6 at home this season … Johnson expanded his hit streak out to nine … Cash Rugely extended his on-base streak to 27 straight games followed by Day (25) and Pelletier (21) …

A LOOK AT THE NUMBERS
K-State has a season +88 run differential through 45 games averaging 7.3 runs on nine hits ... The Wildcats have outscored opponents 50-26 in the second inning alone and 120-55 (+65) from the seventh and on … Cats are 19-3 when leading after the sixth and 4-0 when tied after six ... K-State is 14-10 when committing no errors in a game … Conversely, K-State has won 14 games when one or more errors are committed, 14-6 overall ... The Wildcats are 20-6 when scoring first and 8-7 when scoring in the first inning … K-State has outhit opponents in 23 contests this season and is 5-17 when being outhit … The Cats are 19-3 when limiting opponents to five or less runs and are 7-5 in one-run games… K-State is 22-11 when playing afternoon games and 6-6 when playing under the lights … The Cats have won 22 games against right-handed starters while going 6-6 against lefties …

FROM THE 'PEN
Under the guidance pitching coach Rudy Darrow, the Cats pitching staff has produced a 4.96 ERA which ranks fourth in the Big 12 with outings from 16 different players this season … The Wildcats have struck out 405 batters this season compared to 165 walks, averaging 9.3 strikeouts per nine innings which ranks fourth in the Big 12 … K-State's pitching staff ranks second in the league with a 2.45 strikeout-to-walk ratio which is 37^th in Division I … The Cats lead the Big 12 with fewest walks allowed per nine innings at 3.79 and fewest allowed overall with 165 … Five players have earned at least three victories on the mound led by newcomer Owen Boerema with five … Boerema earned his fifth victory in the series opener against UC Irvine limiting the 'Eaters with five strikeouts … The Litchfield, Minn., product is one of six players to strikeout 12+ batters in a single-game after fanning 12 against No. 21 Texas (April 7), ranks second in the league with 76 total strikeouts… Right-hander German Fajardo has made a team-high 12 starts on the mound this season, ranks seventh in the nation … Four different players have earned a save this year led by sophomore Tyson Neighbors with a league-high eight which is the 14^th-best in D1…

UP NEXT
The Cats return home to host Southeast Missouri State on May 5-7 at Tointon Family Stadium. 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 with be available at kstatesports.com/watch and 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

Kyler Heyne

Cole Johnson

Brendan Jones

Kyan Lodice

Tyson Neighbors

Raphael Pelletier

Roberto Pena

Cash Rugely

Ty Ruhl

Orlando Salinas, Jr.

Kansas State University Athletics