Kansas State University Athletics
A Night That No One Will Forget
Mar 12, 2024 | Baseball, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
They're brought together at this occasion because of their mutual passion for punching out opponents — Jacob Frost with his left arm; Jackson Wentworth with his right. They've seen players crumble. Heck, they saw many do so tonight, again and again, as wind blew in from 11 miles per hour from the north in 38-degree weather, as the Big 12 Conference flag behind the right-field wall flapped wildly in some instances, and as one by one, Cincinnati, in its first-ever game as a league member, strung together a series of zeros across the scoreboard at Tointon Family Stadium.
And about the stadium, yes, the stadium had never seen anything quite like this, the sportswriters had seen nothing like this, and Pete Hughes had seen it only twice in a head coaching career that spans nearly three decades, as Frost and Wentworth, leftie and righty, served up retirements and strikeouts like flapjacks, pausing only briefly to adjust their ballcaps. Frost & Wentworth. Sounds like a name of a business of importance. Well, Frost & Wentworth meant serious business as they combined for a piece of K-State history on Friday, March 8, 2024.
They teamed up for the ninth no-hitter in the program's 124-year history, the first no-hitter in history against a Big 12 Conference opponent, and the program's first combined no-hitter since 1991, in a 4-0 drubbing of the Bearcats in Manhattan, a victory that sparked the Wildcats' to their first Big 12 opening series win since 2013. If that's a lot to digest, remember this: It was probably plenty difficult for the Bearcats to stomach. That, of course, could be of no concern to Hughes, who, when once thawed out from the cold, sits inside his meeting room, holding a box score in both hands as his elbows rest on the glass table, then removes his reading glasses before speaking.
"Every game is predicated off a good start, and we got a phenomenal start from a talented kid who stuck with the game when it doesn't always reward you," Hughes says. "He was rewarded tonight, Jacob Frost, and I thought he was awesome against a veteran and gritty Cincinnati team."
Frost, a 21-year-old junior, retired 21 of the 25 batters he faced in 118 pitches. The St. Louis, Missouri, native threw a season-high seven innings, surrendering just two walks with four strikeouts, and for his efforts, he was named the Big 12 Co-Newcomer of the Week. Now Frost, the No. 45 numerals beaming from his purple jersey, sits inside the meeting room, talking about how he has never seen a no-hitter live because he has never been to a professional baseball game, how he "absolutely loves" being a Wildcat, and how while at a showcase tournament with his Wabash Valley College junior-college team, he garnered attention from many Division I coaches, including K-State pitching coach Rudy Darrow.
"Coach Darrow followed me on Twitter, and then we exchanged our phone numbers," Frost says, "Next thing you know, it's just taking off."
Hughes was a fan of Frost's profile. The 6-foot-2, 220-pounder helped Wabash Valley to two consecutive runs in the NJCAA World Series and went 13-4 with a pair of saves and a 3.79 ERA with 160 strikeouts in 37 games with 21 starts.
"He's a winner, and that's so healthy to have that in your dugout," Hughes says. "He's left-handed and he's a bulldog and he's got really good stuff. I just love recruiting competitive people from winning programs. That's what he personifies."
After the Bearcats threatened the shutout with runners in scoring position in the second inning, Frost found his rhythm and retired 17 straight batters. Wentworth received the call in the pen to start off the eighth inning and the 20-year-old redshirt-sophomore from Urbandale, Iowa, struck out five straight before forcing a fly out to close the game. Wentworth is an illustration of never giving up. Tommy John surgery caused him to miss his true freshman season in 2022. Last season, he went 1-4 with an 8.72 ERA with 27 strikeouts and 11 walks over 10 appearances with eight starts — not at all how the former No. 3 overall player in the state of Iowa by Perfect Game expected things to go.
"My relationship with Jackson goes back six years," Hughes says. "He came to one of our winter clinics our first year here and committed to us early, and we followed him through his high school career. He had an outstanding career, he had the opportunity to entertain some pro interest out of high school, and we ramped up the recruiting process to tell him Kansas State was the way to go. He's had some hard luck. It hasn't been easy – Tommy John surgery and missed the whole year and did not have success coming back from Tommy John last year. The game beat him up pretty good, but to his credit, he can take criticism and sometimes that's often not delivered the easiest way. He took it and got better and became a great teammate, and he's poured himself into our program this year.
"I love seeing that kid see the results that he deserves. He's been our most reliable guy the entire season. He's been awesome."
K-State fans began clapping in unison at 8:28 p.m. as Wentworth took the mound in the top of the ninth inning, three outs from the no-hitter, which nobody dared to talk about for fear of jinxing the deal, and yet everybody knew Frost & Wentworth were in the midst of doing something special, even if some fans didn't exactly know the magnitude of the feat. Thirty-three years. A postage stamp was 29 cents back then, "Ghost" was best original screenplay, MC Hammer won best hip-hop album, and Kathy Bates won best actress for Misery. And Wentworth put the Bearcats out of their misery, fanning Tommy O'Connor and then Kerrington Cross before Josh Kross flied out to right field to end the game. Wentworth stood on the mound, his teammates running toward him, spilling out of the dugout, and the first thought that climbed into his head was this: "I was scared someone might come at me with a gallon jug of water."
"That's what I thought," Wentworth says, smiling big. "When I got the last out, I turned around to see everybody running at me and I got scared, like, 'I don't want to get wet right now.' It was really cold out there."
On a cold night, Frost and Wentworth delivered chicken noodle soup to soothe a Wildcats' soul.
After Hughes spoke to reporters, he rises from his seat, and pats Frost and Wentworth, still in uniform, on their backs as they enter the room.
"You were awesome," Hughes said. "Way to go, boys."
Then Frost and Wentworth, joined together in K-State baseball lore forever, take a seat and begin retelling their accounts of the night that they'll never forget.
They're brought together at this occasion because of their mutual passion for punching out opponents — Jacob Frost with his left arm; Jackson Wentworth with his right. They've seen players crumble. Heck, they saw many do so tonight, again and again, as wind blew in from 11 miles per hour from the north in 38-degree weather, as the Big 12 Conference flag behind the right-field wall flapped wildly in some instances, and as one by one, Cincinnati, in its first-ever game as a league member, strung together a series of zeros across the scoreboard at Tointon Family Stadium.
And about the stadium, yes, the stadium had never seen anything quite like this, the sportswriters had seen nothing like this, and Pete Hughes had seen it only twice in a head coaching career that spans nearly three decades, as Frost and Wentworth, leftie and righty, served up retirements and strikeouts like flapjacks, pausing only briefly to adjust their ballcaps. Frost & Wentworth. Sounds like a name of a business of importance. Well, Frost & Wentworth meant serious business as they combined for a piece of K-State history on Friday, March 8, 2024.
They teamed up for the ninth no-hitter in the program's 124-year history, the first no-hitter in history against a Big 12 Conference opponent, and the program's first combined no-hitter since 1991, in a 4-0 drubbing of the Bearcats in Manhattan, a victory that sparked the Wildcats' to their first Big 12 opening series win since 2013. If that's a lot to digest, remember this: It was probably plenty difficult for the Bearcats to stomach. That, of course, could be of no concern to Hughes, who, when once thawed out from the cold, sits inside his meeting room, holding a box score in both hands as his elbows rest on the glass table, then removes his reading glasses before speaking.
"Every game is predicated off a good start, and we got a phenomenal start from a talented kid who stuck with the game when it doesn't always reward you," Hughes says. "He was rewarded tonight, Jacob Frost, and I thought he was awesome against a veteran and gritty Cincinnati team."
Frost, a 21-year-old junior, retired 21 of the 25 batters he faced in 118 pitches. The St. Louis, Missouri, native threw a season-high seven innings, surrendering just two walks with four strikeouts, and for his efforts, he was named the Big 12 Co-Newcomer of the Week. Now Frost, the No. 45 numerals beaming from his purple jersey, sits inside the meeting room, talking about how he has never seen a no-hitter live because he has never been to a professional baseball game, how he "absolutely loves" being a Wildcat, and how while at a showcase tournament with his Wabash Valley College junior-college team, he garnered attention from many Division I coaches, including K-State pitching coach Rudy Darrow.
"Coach Darrow followed me on Twitter, and then we exchanged our phone numbers," Frost says, "Next thing you know, it's just taking off."
Hughes was a fan of Frost's profile. The 6-foot-2, 220-pounder helped Wabash Valley to two consecutive runs in the NJCAA World Series and went 13-4 with a pair of saves and a 3.79 ERA with 160 strikeouts in 37 games with 21 starts.
"He's a winner, and that's so healthy to have that in your dugout," Hughes says. "He's left-handed and he's a bulldog and he's got really good stuff. I just love recruiting competitive people from winning programs. That's what he personifies."
After the Bearcats threatened the shutout with runners in scoring position in the second inning, Frost found his rhythm and retired 17 straight batters. Wentworth received the call in the pen to start off the eighth inning and the 20-year-old redshirt-sophomore from Urbandale, Iowa, struck out five straight before forcing a fly out to close the game. Wentworth is an illustration of never giving up. Tommy John surgery caused him to miss his true freshman season in 2022. Last season, he went 1-4 with an 8.72 ERA with 27 strikeouts and 11 walks over 10 appearances with eight starts — not at all how the former No. 3 overall player in the state of Iowa by Perfect Game expected things to go.
"My relationship with Jackson goes back six years," Hughes says. "He came to one of our winter clinics our first year here and committed to us early, and we followed him through his high school career. He had an outstanding career, he had the opportunity to entertain some pro interest out of high school, and we ramped up the recruiting process to tell him Kansas State was the way to go. He's had some hard luck. It hasn't been easy – Tommy John surgery and missed the whole year and did not have success coming back from Tommy John last year. The game beat him up pretty good, but to his credit, he can take criticism and sometimes that's often not delivered the easiest way. He took it and got better and became a great teammate, and he's poured himself into our program this year.
"I love seeing that kid see the results that he deserves. He's been our most reliable guy the entire season. He's been awesome."
K-State fans began clapping in unison at 8:28 p.m. as Wentworth took the mound in the top of the ninth inning, three outs from the no-hitter, which nobody dared to talk about for fear of jinxing the deal, and yet everybody knew Frost & Wentworth were in the midst of doing something special, even if some fans didn't exactly know the magnitude of the feat. Thirty-three years. A postage stamp was 29 cents back then, "Ghost" was best original screenplay, MC Hammer won best hip-hop album, and Kathy Bates won best actress for Misery. And Wentworth put the Bearcats out of their misery, fanning Tommy O'Connor and then Kerrington Cross before Josh Kross flied out to right field to end the game. Wentworth stood on the mound, his teammates running toward him, spilling out of the dugout, and the first thought that climbed into his head was this: "I was scared someone might come at me with a gallon jug of water."
"That's what I thought," Wentworth says, smiling big. "When I got the last out, I turned around to see everybody running at me and I got scared, like, 'I don't want to get wet right now.' It was really cold out there."
On a cold night, Frost and Wentworth delivered chicken noodle soup to soothe a Wildcats' soul.
After Hughes spoke to reporters, he rises from his seat, and pats Frost and Wentworth, still in uniform, on their backs as they enter the room.
"You were awesome," Hughes said. "Way to go, boys."
Then Frost and Wentworth, joined together in K-State baseball lore forever, take a seat and begin retelling their accounts of the night that they'll never forget.
Players Mentioned
LHP
/ Baseball
RHP
/ BaseballK-State Football | Postgame Highlights vs KU
Sunday, October 26
K-State Football | Pregame Hype vs KU
Friday, October 24
K-State Men's Basketball | Cat Q's - Elias Rapieque and Exavier Wilson
Thursday, October 23
K-State Football | Joe Klanderman press conference - Oct. 23, 2025
Thursday, October 23