No. 24 K-State Falls to Holy Cross in Extras

MANHATTAN, Kan. – K-State came back from a five-run deficit in Saturday's game, but four unanswered runs in the 10^th inning by Holy Cross dealt the Wildcats a 13-10 loss to even the series at Tointon Family Stadium.

"Holy Cross was better than we were tonight. They almost doubled us in hits, they played better defense, they pitched better, and they got big hits," said K-State head coach Pete Hughes. "When you win in all those categories, you're going to beat someone, and they deserved to beat us."

The Wildcats (3-3), who had eight hits to the Crusaders 13 as well as a season-high 13 walks, tied the game 9-9 with a leadoff home run by Chuck Ingram in the ninth. With the winning run on second, Holy Cross (2-3) forced two straight outs to send the game into extras before adding four runs and taking control of the game.

Luke LeMond (1-0) was credited the win in relief, allowing just the solo home run down the stretch of the finale three innings with three walks and a pair of strikeouts.

"We're not going to beat anyone if our starters can't go more than one inning. It puts a lot of pressure on our offense to come back, puts a lot of pressure on our bullpen guys, back-to-back days. So we need to figure that out immediately. It sort of begins and ends right there," Hughes said.

Of K-State's eight hits, four were extra-base hits that included three home runs by Kaelen Culpepper, Brady Day and Ingram. Brendan Jones went 2-for-3 in the game with an RBI and two runs scored, while Culpepper drove in a team-high three RBI with his three-run homer in the first.

Blake Dean (0-2) received the loss after surrendering the final four runs (three earned), while scattering four hits in his 3 2/3 innings of work. The freshman right-hander fanned a season-best nine batters in his third appearance of the season, including striking out the side in the seventh.

THE RUNDOWN
K-State overcame a five-run deficit with the help of a three-run blast by Culpepper in the bottom of the first. After a 1-2-3 inning behind reliever James Guyette, the Wildcats cut the lead to one after scoring on a balk, 5-4.

Down 6-4 in the third frame, Day launched his first homer of the season out to right center to even the score.

The Wildcats worked from behind in the fifth frame with a double down the right field line from Jones to score the runner from second.

Two consecutive walks and passed ball moved runners into scoring position for K-State in the seventh, leading to a deep fly ball at the warning track by Nick English to bridge the gap to one.

With K-State trailing 9-8, Ingram unleashed a game-tying home run out to the left field parking lot to even the score heading into the ninth.

Holy Cross plated four runs in the 10^th to tie the series with the help of a three-run homer by designated hitter Sean Scanlon.

INSIDE THE BOX

K-State scored 10 runs on eight hits with two errors and 12 runners left on base
Holy Cross used 13 hits to score 13 runs and committed two errors with seven runners standed
Three Wildcats homered (Culpepper, Day, Ingram)
Jones went 2-for-3 with an RBI
Culpepper drove in a team-high three RBI
Six Wildcats recorded a hit
K-State drew a season-high 13 walks
Wildcats hit .364 (8-for-22) with runners on base and .500 (6-for-12) with men in scoring position.
Holy Cross went 5-for-22 (.227) with runners and 4-for-17 with runners in scoring position.

NOTES

Holy Cross tied the all-time series 1-1
K-State moves to 3-1 against teams from the Patriot League
K-State recorded fourth consecutive multi-home run game – third game with three homers
First extra-inning game since May 27, 2022 against Texas Tech (W, 6-5)

UP NEXT
The rubber match between the Wildcats and Crusaders is scheduled at Tointon Family Stadium. The series finale will be streamed on Big 12 Now on 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 Facebook, X formally known as Twitter and Instagram.

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Team Stats

Brendan Jones

Nick English

Chuck Ingram

Kaelen Culpepper

Players Mentioned

Kaelen Culpepper

Brady Day

Blake Dean

Nick English

James Guyette

Chuck Ingram

Brendan Jones

Players Mentioned

Kaelen Culpepper

Brady Day

Blake Dean

Nick English

James Guyette

Chuck Ingram

Brendan Jones

Kansas State University Athletics