Cats Welcome Horned Frogs in Regular-Season Finale

MANHATTAN, Kan. – K-State will host TCU in a three-game series in the finale weekend series of the regular season starting Thursday at 6 p.m. at Tointon Family Stadium.

Game two of the conference series is slated for 6 p.m. followed by Saturday's finale at 2 p.m. The Cats will honor their senior class prior to Saturday's first pitch.

K-State (32-20, 12-9 Big 12) seeks to improve its seeding heading into next week's Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship in Arlington, Texas, and is just a game ahead of TCU (31-21, 11-10 Big 12) in the league standings.

Owen Boerema (7-1) will get Thursday's call with the left-hander making his 14^th start as a Wildcat while German Fajardo (3-3) gets Friday's start.

The entire series 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 at kstatesports.com/watch and on the K-State Sports app.

Tickets are on sale, 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 #53
K-STATE (32-20, 12-9 Big 12) vs. TCU (31-21, 11-10 Big 12)
Thursday, May 18 | 6 p.m. | Tointon Family Stadium (2,344)
Projected Starters: LHP Owen Boerema vs. RHP Louis Rodriguez
Watch: Big 12 Now on ESPN+
Radio: 1350AM/93.3/93.7FM
Listen Online: kstatesports.com/watch
Live Stats  | Tickets

GAME #54
K-STATE (32-20, 12-9 Big 12) vs. TCU (31-21, 11-10 Big 12)
Friday, May 19 | 6 p.m. | Tointon Family Stadium (2,344)
Projected Starters: RHP German Fajardo vs. RHP Kole Klecker
Watch: Big 12 Now on ESPN+
Radio: 1350AM/93.3/93.7FM
Listen Online: kstatesports.com/watch
Live Stats  | Tickets

GAME #55
K-STATE (32-20, 12-9 Big 12) vs. TCU (31-21, 11-10 Big 12)
Saturday, May 20 | 2 p.m. | Tointon Family Stadium (2,344)
Projected Starters: TBD vs. TBD
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 enter the week ranked 26^th in the Collegiate Baseball Top 30 Poll with a 32-20 overall … Cats are 18-6 when playing at home … K-State is slashing .272/.395/.461 as a team which includes 84 doubles, 10 triples and 73 home runs … K-State ranks ninth in the nation in walks with 310 which ranks sixth in the school history … Brady Day leads the offense hitting .353 followed … Roberto Pena has launched 15 homers this season followed by Nick Goodwin with 12 while Pena ranks third in the Big 12 with 56 RBI … Goodwin and Brendan Jones have started in all 52 games for K-State at shortstop and center field… Jones ranks second in the league with 24 stolen bases … The Wildcats have struck out 452 batters compared to 189 walks … K-State ranks second In the league with a 2.39 strikeout-to-walk ratio while leading in walks per nine innings at 3.80 and fewest walks allowed … Sixteen pitchers have made appearances on the mound with German Fajardo making a team-high 14 starts … Left-hander Owen Boerema ranks second in the league with 84 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 130-112 (.537) record during his time with Wildcats … Hughes is 782-604-3 (.564) in his 26 years as a head coach …

SCOUTING TCU
TCU enters the weekend 31-21 on the year and 11-10 in conference action which ranks fifth in the league standings … Kirk Saarloos is in his second season at the helm of the Horned Frogs baseball program producing a record of 69-43 (616) … TCU has a slash line of .286/.395/.465 averaging 7.6 runs a game on 9.7 hits … The Frogs have totaled 177 extra-base hits including 66 homers … Five starters are hitting over .300 led by Anthony Silva … The freshman from San Antonio hitting .342 on the year with 39 RBI and 41 runs scored … Eleven players have sent one out of the park this season led by Brayden Taylor with 17 to go along with a team-high .605 slugging-percentage … On the mound, TCU has a 4.94 team ERA with opponents hitting .250 with a 2.05 strikeout-to-walk ratio … Right-hander Kole Klecker has picked up eight of the Frogs victories on the hill and has made 11 starts with a 4.18 ERA … Three pitchers have made appearances in 16 games while Louis Rodriguez and Garrett Wright each have three saves …

INSIDE THE SERIES
TCU leads the all-time series since its start on 1966 including a 19-8 record in Big 12 action … The Cats are 8-7 when playing the Horned Frogs at home … TCU claimed the regular-season series 3-0 in 2022 in Fort Worth …The Cats last series win over the Frogs came in 2021 during the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championships …

W, 5-2 – May 29, 2021 (Oklahoma City)
L, 7-17 (7) – May 29, 2021 (Oklahoma City)
L, 5-7 – March 25, 2022 (Fort Worth)
L, 5-14 – March 26, 2022 (Fort Worth)
L, 3-11 – May 27, 2022 (Fort Worth)

AROUND THE LEAGUE
West Virginia (39-13) leads the Big 12 with an 15-6 record followed by Oklahoma State (35-15, 13-8) in second and Texas (35-18) and Kansas State (32-20, 12-9) tied at third … TCU (31-21, 11-10) comes in at fourth followed by Texas Tech (35-18, 10-11), Oklahoma (29-22, 10-11), Kansas (23-28) and Baylor (17-35, 6-18) …

THE BIG 12 TOURNAMENT
The 2023 Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship will again be held at the home of the Texas Rangers, Globe Life Field, for the second straight season in Arlington, Texas, May 24 through May 28 … The top-eight teams from the conference will advance to the tournament … All-tournament tickets for the 2023 Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas are on sale at GlobeLifeField.com/Big12 … The 2023 NCAA Baseball Tournament begins June 2.

A SEASON OF FIRSTS
The 2023 roster became the first team in program-history to record 14 road victories after defeating Oklahoma State, 10-9 … Wildcats reached 30-wins for the first time since 2021; 17^th time in program history … Roberto Pena became just the third player since 1997 to have a 15-plus home run season … The Wildcats' Dillons Sunflower Showdown series sweep was the first road sweep over KU since 2013 … The 2023 team was 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 moved to 26^th in the latest edition of the Collegiate Baseball's Top 30 poll … This season marks the Cats 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
K-State's Tyson Neighbors, the top ranked reliever by D1Baseball.com, became the second Wildcat in school history to be selected to attend the 2023 USA Baseball Collegiate National Team Training Camp … The closer has totaled a league-high 10 saves and a 4-1 record … The sophomore ranks 10^th all-time in K-State history with nine 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 five three-plus game series this season including two Big 12 foes which marks the first since 2013 … The Cats are 16-0 in the five series and have outscored opponents 168-78 (+90) … 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
K-State shortstop Nick Goodwin was named a 2023 Brooks Wallace Award Semifinalist Tuesday, following the College Baseball Foundation's announcement … The award recognizes the nation's top shortstop and will be presented by the College Baseball Foundation later this year … Goodwin, who is one of three players from the Big 12 to make list, is the third Wildcat to be named a semifinalist joining Drew Biery in 2009 and Austin Fisher in 2013 …

GOT HEEEEM
Raphael Pelletier was just one of three catchers from the Big 12 to be tabbed to the Buster Posey Catcher of the Year Watch List … The sophomore continues to be a threat behind the plate as right-handed catcher from Mascouche, Quebec, Canada has gunned down a league-high 15 runners this season for an impressive .516 SBA percentage … As a team, K-State is third in the league in caught stealing with 24 runners thrown out while having the lowest SBA percentage at .429 …

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 386-209 (.674) when playing at home … The Wildcats are 82-33 (.780) at home under Hughes and 64-20 (.761) since 2021 … K-State had a pair of sellout crowds against Texas Tech … The Cats had 5,355 total 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 18-6 when playing at Tointon this season ... Over the last three seasons, K-State has compiled an overall home record of 64-20 (.761) ... At home, the Wildcat offense is hitting .278 while slugging .490 with 38 home runs ... K-State averages 8.3 runs a game on 8.9 hits when playing at Tointon Family Stadium ... The Wildcat bullpen has boasted a 3.99 ERA at home with opponents hitting .244 … The Cats have struck out 202 compared to 80 walks for a 2.53 strikeout-to-walk ratio ... K-State has homered in 18 of the 24 games played at home with 38 of the 73 total home runs coming at Tointon … Five Cats are hitting over .300 at home led by Cash Rugely … The senior leads the pack at home with a .365 batting average while Roberto Pena has a team-high .853 slug percentage… Pena has recorded 18 extra base hits at home with nine home runs … Boerema has collected four saves on the hill while Tyson Neighbors leads with four saves at home …

WALK THE WALK
The Cats rank fifth in the nation in walks with 310 … Brady Day ranks 29^th in the nation in walks and fourth in the Big 12 with a team-high 45 … 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' 301 walks rank sixth 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 104 bases which ranks 17^th in all Division I and second in the Big 12 while sitting 25^th with two stolen bases per game … Brendan Jones has been the speedster for the Cats lineup with 24 stolen bases which is second in the Big 12 … The Cats stole a season-high 11 bases against Youngstown State … The K-State single-season record is 149 set in 2009 thru 62 games …

THE LONG BALL
K-State has launched 73 balls out of the park this season which ranks fourth in school history … K-State recorded back-to-back-to-back home runs against Oklahoma State (May 13) for the first time in history with Kaelen Culpepper, Brady day and Nick Goodwin … Eleven players have recorded multiple homers this season led by Roberto Pena with 15 … Goodwin leads the current career leaderboard with 33 which ties fourth on the all-time leaderboard … Four players have hit multiple homers in a single game with Culpepper, Cole Johnson, Orlando Salinas, Jr., and Pena who has two … 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 … Five Wildcats have hit grand slams this season with the last coming from Brendan Jones against SEMO (May 6) … 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 16 homers have been against left-handed pitchers, 35 are solo shots while 20 have come with two outs … 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 …

A LOOK AT THE NUMBERS
K-State has a season +82 run differential through 52 games averaging 7.3 runs on nine hits ... The Wildcats have outscored opponents 126-61 (+65) from the seventh and on … Cats are 22-3 when leading after the sixth and 5-0 when tied after six ... K-State is 17-11 when committing no errors in a game ... The Wildcats are 24-7 when scoring first and 9-8 when scoring in the first inning … K-State has outhit opponents in 27 contests this season … The Cats are 22-4 when limiting opponents to five or less runs and are 9-6 in one-run games… The Cats have won 24 games against right-handed starters while going 8-6 against lefties …

FROM THE 'PEN
Under the guidance pitching coach Rudy Darrow, the Cats pitching staff has produced a 5.24 ERA with outings from 16 different players this season … The Wildcats have struck out 452 batters this season compared to 189 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 2.39 strikeout-to-walk ratio … The Cats lead the league in fewest walks allowed per nine innings at 3.80 and fewest allowed overall … Six players have earned at least three victories on the mound led by newcomer Owen Boerema with seven … 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 84 total strikeouts… Right-hander German Fajardo has made a team-high 14 starts on the mound this season, ranking eighth in DI … Four different players have earned a save this year led by sophomore Tyson Neighbors with a league-high 10 which is the 11^th-best in D1…

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

Kaelen Culpepper

Brady Day

German Fajardo

Nick Goodwin

Cole Johnson

Brendan Jones

Tyson Neighbors

Raphael Pelletier

Roberto Pena

Cash Rugely

Orlando Salinas, Jr.

Kansas State University Athletics