Kansas State University
Nebraska
No. 23 K-State Hosts Cornhuskers Tuesday Night
Mar 25, 2024 | Baseball
MANHATTAN, Kan. – Coming off a Big 12 series sweep at Houston, K-State returns to Tointon Family Stadium to take on the Nebraska Cornhuskers Tuesday at 6 p.m.
The No. 23 Wildcats (17-6) are bringing a nine-game win streak into the week, after sweeping past Houston to take the lead in the Big 12 standings. Nebraska comes into the game riding a seven-game win streak.
Head coach Pete Hughes collected his 800th career win and 150th at K-State in the series.
Nebraska (17-5) holds a 175-116 advantage over K-State in the all-time series, as the Huskers grabbed a 6-1 decision last season in Manhattan.
Right-hander Mason Buss (2-0) will get his first start of the season, facing the Cornhuskers' lefty Will Walsh (2-0).
Tuesday's game can be seen on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ and the ESPN app with the broadcast team of Brian Smoller and Trevor Hurley. Fans can also listen to Matt Walters and Mike Clark on News Radio KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) and K-State Sports Network while a free live stream audio is available at K-StateSports.com/watch and on the K-State Sports app.
Season and single-game tickets for the Cats 2024 home schedule are now available. To purchase season tickets, fans can visit K-StateSports.com/Tickets, call 1-800-221-CATS (2287), or stop by the K-State Athletics Ticket Office in Bramlage Coliseum.
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, Twitter and Instagram.
GAME #24
K-STATE (17-6, 5-1 Big 12) v. Nebraska (17-5, 0-0 Big Ten)
Tuesday, March 26 | 6 p.m. | Tointon Family Stadium
Projected Starters: RHP Mason Buss (2-0) v. LHP Will Walsh (2-0)
Watch: Big 12 Now ESPN+
Radio: 1350AM/93.3/93.7FM
Listen Online: kstatesports.com/watch
A LOOK AT #23 K-STATE
K-State returns to Tointon Family Stadium, where it holds a 11-2 record, to take on long-time rival Nebraska in game one of the two-game season series ... K-State heads into the week ranked as high as No. 23 by D1Baseball, after a posting a perfect 4-0 week that included a Big 12 road sweep of Houston … The Cats are 17-6 overall, marking the best 23-game start since 2010 … K-State is hitting .311 as a team and is the Big 12 fielding percentage leader (.981) … Day leads the offense in eight offensive categories, producing a slash line of .415/.522/.702 with 39 hits and is second in the league with 34 RBI … Brendan Jones has stolen a league-high 14 bases this season, and is first in the league in runs scored (34) … Sophomore right-hander Mason Buss (2-0) will get his first start of the season Tuesday.
SCOUTING NEBRASKA
Nebraska enters the week with a 17-5 overall record, including a 7-2record in true road games … UNL is led by fifth-year head coach Will Bolt who's guided the Huskers to a 114-80-1 overall record … Bolt served as a team captain with the Huskers' baseball program helping the Huskers to back-to-back College World Series appearances in 2001 and 2002 … Rhett Stokes has produced a slash line of .382/.443/.509 to lead the Huskers offense, while Josh Caron has driven in a team-leading 26 runs with five home runs … The Huskers' pitching staff has compiled a 3.80 ERA led by Brett Sears who's made six starts with four wins and a 1.14 RA (5 ER, 39.1 IP) … Left-hander Will Walsh will get the start in the midweek and boasts a 4.13 ERA (11 ER, 24 IP) in 10 appearances.
INSIDE THE SERIES
In 291 meetings, Nebraska holds a 175-116 lead In the all-time series … The Huskers lead 80-72 in games played in Manhattan … K-State Is 2-3 against the Cornhuskers under Hughes, after Nebraska claimed a 6-1 decision last season at Tointon Family Stadium … Nebraska leads 3-7 in the last 10 meetings.
L, 0-7 – April 2, 2019 (Manhattan)
W, 5-0 – April 16, 2019 (Lincoln)
W, 6-4 – March 9, 2022 (Manhattan)
L, 6-8 – April 26, 2022 (Lincoln)
L, 1-6 - April 4, 2023 (Manhattan)
800 WINS FOR 19
K-State head baseball coach Pete Hughes, who wears No. 19 on the field, reached 800 career wins Friday night in the Wildcats 5-3 come-from behind victory over Houston … Hughes is in 27th season as a head coach and sixth at the helm of K-State baseball … Hughes has compiled a career record of 802-614-3 (.566) as a head coach … His 802 career victories are the most by all active Big 12 head coaches … In six seasons as the head coach of the Wildcats, Hughes has put together a 150-122 (.551) record … Hughes became the 25th active Division I coach to reach 800 career wins, reaching the milestone by registering 52 wins at Trinity, 250 at Boston College, 222 at Virginia Tech, 128 at Oklahoma and 148 at K-State … The series finale against Houston marked the 150th victory under Hughes for K-State.
GOING STREAKIN'
The sweep over Houston extended the Wildcats' win streak to nine which matches the longest of the Hughes era … In the nine games, the Wildcat offense is hitting .332 and scoring 9.8 runs per game, while the pitching staff has compiled a 4.82 ERA and held opponents to a .233 average.
BACK IN THE POLLS
K-State returned to the national polls Monday for the first time since February 19 where they ranked 24th by D1Baseball … The Cats rank No. 23 by D1Baseball, No. 24 by NCBWA, and No. 25 by Perfect Game … K-State is just one of two members of the Big 12 to rank in two or more of the major national standings.
ANOTHER DAY OF BRADY DAY
The Hampstead, N.H., product continues his standout season after he turned in his first-career five-hit day in Sunday's series finale … Day is the first player since March 30, 2018, to produce a five-hit game (Cameron Thomspon v. Texas), while he pushed his hitting streak to 16 games … … The second baseman leads the Cats in eight offensive categories – average (.415), slugging percentage (.702), on-base percentage (.522), OPS (1.224), hits (39), RBI (34), home runs (6) and total bases (66) … Day was named the Big 12 Player of the Week on March 4 … Day ranks in the Top 5 of the Big 12 leaderboards in each categories and in total bases … Day was selected in the 12th round (No. 369 overall) in the 2023 MLB Draft and chose to return to K-State for another season with the Wildcats squad.
HOME. SWEET. HOME.
K-State is 11-2 when playing at home this season with a current five-game win streak at Tointon … At home, the Wildcat offense is slashing .340/.463/.588 with 26 home runs and 126 RBI ... K-State averages 10.8 runs a game on 12.3 hits while drawing 97 walks with 44 stolen bases... The Wildcat bullpen boasts a 4.98 ERA at home with opponents hitting .238 … The Cats have struck out 140 compared to 43 walks for a 3.26 strikeout-to-walk ratio ... Day's .442 average at Tointon leads the Cats this season, as the redshirt-junior has generated 23 hits with a team-leading 24 RBI … K-State baseball is 403-214 when playing at home since 2002 … The Wildcats are 92-37 at home under Hughes and 78-25 since 2021.
A LOOK AT THE NUMBERS
K-State has a season +59 run differential through 23 games averaging 8.6 runs on 11.1 hits ... The Wildcats outscore opponents 71-34 (+37) from the seventh inning and on … Cats were 12-0 when leading after the sixth and 2-0 when tied after six ... K-State is 15-5 when committing less than one error in a game ... The Wildcats are 6-3 when scoring first and 7-2 when scoring in the first inning … K-State has outhit opponents in 14 contests (14-2) … The Cats are 12-0 when limiting opponents to five or less runs … the Cats are undefeated against left-handed starters (7-0).
AROUND THE LEAGUE
Following the series sweep at Houst, K-State jumped atop the Big 12 standings with a 5-1 league record followed by Oklahoma (7-2), Texas (4-2) and West Virginia (4-2) … Alongside the Cats, two other Big 12 members are featured in the national polls with Oklahoma (21 – Baseball America) and TCU (25 – USA Today) … Kansas' Caleb Upshaw (Player; Newcomer), Oklahoma's Jake Bennett (Pitcher) and Oklahoma State's Nolan McLean (Player) earned Big 12 Baseball weekly honors for games ending on May 1, as selected by a five-person media panel.
LAST TIME OUT
K-State pushed its winning streak to nine games after completing the series sweep of Houston Sunday, earning a 9-3 win at Schroeder Park, highlighted by a five-hit day from Day ... K-State's nine-game winning streak matches the longest streak in the Hughes era ... K-State outhit Houston 15-6 in the series finale … Parsons drove in the game-winning run with an RBI single in the seventh while K-State scored five runs in the eighth to take control of the game … Neighbors (1-0) picked up his first victory of the season in relief, scattering just one hit in his two innings of work … Eight different Wildcats generated a hit in the victory, with four producing multiple (Ingram, Day, Parsons, Rivera) … Seven players drove in a run led by two apiece from Day and Lodice … Boerema struck out five and held the Cougars to just three hits in his five-inning start … Nine pitchers made an appearance on the mound for Houston … K-State went 7-for-18 (.389) with runners in scoring position while Houston was 1-for-9 (.111) … The Wildcats hit .308 (4-for-13) with two outs with a pair of two-out RBIs .. K-State leads the all-time series 5-2 against Houston … The victory marked the Cats second consecutive sweep of the season … … The Wildcats are 6-4 on the road, and 4-3 in true road games.
UP NEXT
K-State heads into another challenging weekend, when the Wildcats take on Texas (15-9, 4-2 Big 12) at Tointon Family Stadium in a three-game set, starting Thursday at 6 p.m.
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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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).
