Kansas State University Athletics

Tuesday, May 21
Arlington, Texas
9 a.m.

Kansas State University

vs

Kansas

BSB Globe Life 2024

Wildcats Prepped for 2024 Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship

May 20, 2024 | Baseball

MANHATTAN, Kan. – K-State heads into the 2024 Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship as the No. 6 seed, as the Wildcats will face seventh-seeded KU in the opening round Tuesday at 9 a.m. at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas.

No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 4 West Virginia, and No. 9 TCU are also in the Cats' half of the double-elimination tournament. West Virginia and TCU will face each other in the opening round while OU, who received the bye, will take on the lowest-seeded winner of the two games Wednesday at 12:30 p.m.

Earlier Monday, nine Wildcats received all-conference accolades, as Brady Day (first team), Kaelen Culpepper (second team) and Tyson Neighbors (second team), were voted to the All-Big 12 Baseball Teams.
 
Owen Additionally, Owen Boerema, Nick English, Brendan Jones, Raphael Pelletier, and Jackson Wentworth each received honorable mention accolades while Blake Dean was named to the All-Freshman Team, as the awards were voted on by the league's 13 head coaches.
 
The ten-team field is now set for the upcoming Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas, May 21-25, with Oklahoma securing the No. 1 seed in the event. The Sooners claimed the regular season title and will be joined by UCF, Cincinnati, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas, Texas Tech, and West Virginia.
 
All 10 teams participating in the event have a top-70 RPI, with seven in the top-50. All-tournament and two-day tickets for the 2024 Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship at Globe Life Field are on sale at GlobeLifeField.com/Big12. Single-session tickets are on sale at https://fevo-enterprise.com/group/Big12baseball.
 
The tournament can be seen on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ and the ESPN app with select games broadcasted on ESPNU, while radio coverage will be carried on News Radio KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM). A free live streaming audio 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.
 
GAME #54
K-STATE (31-22, 15-15 Big 12) vs. KU (29-21, 15-15 Big 12)
Tuesday, May 21 // 9 AM // Globe Life Field (40,300)
Projected Starters: RHP Josh Wintroub v. LHP Evan Shaw
Watch: Big 12 Now on ESPN+ // Keith Moreland & Mike Rooney
Radio: 1350AM/93.3/93.7FM // Brian Smoller & Matt Walters
Listen Online: kstatesports.com/watch
 
2024 Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship Schedule
Tuesday, May 21
Game 1 – No. 6 Kansas State vs. No. 7 Kansas – 9 a.m. CT – Big 12 Now on ESPN+
Game 2 – No. 4 West Virginia vs. No. 9 TCU – 12:30 p.m. CT/1:30 p.m. ET – Big 12 Now on ESPN+
Game 3 – No. 5 Cincinnati vs. No. 8 UCF – 4 p.m. CT/5 p.m. ET – Big 12 Now on ESPN+
Game 4 – No. 3 Texas vs. No. 10 Texas Tech – 7:30 p.m. CT – Big 12 Now on ESPN+

Wednesday, May 22
Game 5 – Game 1 Loser vs. Game 2 Loser – 9 a.m. CT/10 a.m. ET – ESPNU
Game 6 – No. 1 Oklahoma vs. lower-seeded winner of Games 1 & 2 – 12:30 p.m. CT – Big 12 Now on ESPN+
Game 7 – Game 3 Loser vs. Game 4 Loser – 4 p.m. CT/5 p.m. ET – Big 12 Now on ESPN+
Game 8 – No. 2 Oklahoma State vs. Lower-seeded winner of Games 3 & 4 – 7:30 p.m. CT/8:30 p.m. ET – Big 12 Now on ESPN+

Thursday, May 23
Game 9 – Game 5 Winner vs. Game 6 Loser – 9 a.m. CT/10 a.m. ET – Big 12 Now on ESPN+
Game 10 – Game 6 Winner vs. Higher-seeded winner of Games 1 & 2 – 12:30 p.m. CT/1:30 p.m. ET – Big 12 Now on ESPN+
Game 11 – Game 7 Winner vs. Game 8 Loser – 4 p.m. CT/5 p.m. ET – ESPNU
Game 12 – Game 8 Winner vs. Higher-seeded winner of Games 3 & 4 – 7:30 p.m. CT/8:30 p.m. ET – ESPNU

Friday, May 24
Game 13 – Game 10 Loser vs. Game 9 Winner – 9 a.m. CT/10 a.m. ET – Big 12 Now on ESPN+
Game 14 – Game 10 Winner vs. Game 13 Winner (semifinal) – 12:30 p.m. CT/1:30 p.m. ET – Big 12 Now on ESPN+
Game 15 – Game 12 Loser vs. Game 11 Winner – 4 p.m. CT/5 p.m. ET – Big 12 Now on ESPN+
Game 16 – Game 12 Winner vs. Game 15 Winner (semifinal) –7:30 p.m. CT/8:30 p.m. ET – Big 12 Now on ESPN+
 
A LOOK AT K-STATE
K-State (31-22) heads into the 2024 Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship as the No. 6 seed ... The Wildcats will meet No. 6 seed KU in the opening round, as No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 4 West Virginia, and No. 9 TCU are also in the Cats' half of the double-elimination tournament. ... K-State finished the regular season with a loss after falling to BYU, 12-8 ... On the year, K-State has produced a slash line of .273/.378/.433 as a team including 89 doubles, 15 triples and 58 home runs with four starters hitting over .300 … Brady Day's .333 average leads the Cats offense followed by Jaden Parsons (.330), Kaelen Culpepper (.310) and Brendan Jones (.301) … Day has driven in a team-leading 51 runs … Culpepper, Chuck Ingram, and Raphael Pelletier each have belted nine homers this season … K-State has stolen a league-high 120 bases this season led by 37 from Jones …The pitching staff has a 5.47 team ERA with a 2.53 strikeout-to-walk-ratio … Right-hander Josh Wintroub (2-4, 6.39 ERA) will head to the mound Tuesday.
 
SCOUTING THE FIELD
K-State will meet No. 6 seed KU (29-21, 15-15 Big 12) in the opening round of the 2024 Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship ... Top-seeded Oklahoma (34-18, 23-7 Big 12), fourth-seeded West Virginia (33-20, 19-11 Big 12) and ninth-seeded (TCU (31-19, 14-16 Big 12) are also in the Wildcats' half of the double-elimination bracket … WVU was the only team on the Cats' half of the bracket to win its regular-season finale … Kansas had eight Jayhawks receive conference honors with true freshman Dominic Voegele being named Big 12 Freshman of the Year … Voegele went 7-2 in the regular season with a 3.32 ERA (76 IP, 28 ER) with 74 strikeouts … KU will send left-hander Evan Shaw (3-1) to the hill Tuesday … Seven Jayhawks are hitting over .300 led by John Nett (.357) … TCU claimed the 2023 Big 12 Championship Tournament Title … Payton Tolle headlined a group of seven Frogs to earn all-conference accolades, becoming the first in Big 12 history to earn Big 12 Pitcher and Newcomer of the Year accolades … JJ Wetherholt leads the Mountaineers with a .375 batting average while Chumley has a team-high 15 home runs and 45 RBI … OU has an team slash line of .313/.414/.505 with four players hitting over .363 led by Easton Carmichael (.363).
 
INSIDE THE SERIES
The Wildcats posted a combined record of 4-8 during the regular season against their half of the bracket - playing three series on the road (OU, TCU, WVU) ... In the Big 12 Tournament, K-State is 6-3 against KU, after picking up a 7-1 triumph to advance to the semifinals last season … The Cats are 1-0 against West Virginia (last played in 2022), 1-4 against TCU (last played in 2023) and 3-7 against OU (last played in 2022) … Under Pete Hughes, K-State posts a record of 7-8 in the Conference tournament.
 
CATS AT THE BIG 12 CHAMPIONSHIP
K-State heads into its fifth consecutive Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship,  ... A season ago, the Wildcats reached the semifinal round of the Big 12 Championship for the third straight year ... After falling to TCU in the tournament opener, the Cats ousted both Texas and KU before falling to the Horned Frogs in the elimination game, with the winner headed to the title game ... All-time in the Big 12 tournament, K-State is 21-24 (.467) while the Cats' three wins in 2021 season's tournament were the most in any Big 12 Championship tournament ... Last year, Kaelen Culpepper matched a K-State conference championship record, driving in five runs against KU.
 
THE STRENGTH OF 2024
K-State finished with the toughest Big 12 schedule in the conference with an average opponent RPI of 55, that included an average opponent RPI of 48 in games on the road … The 13 road games played between April 1-May 2 was the most by any Power 5 team … 12 of the 13 games were against a team ranked 42 or higher in RPI … K-State scheduled five non-conference games vs. teams that made the 2023 NCAA postseason and played total of 10 teams (20 total games) that competed in the 2023 postseason.
 
ALL-BIG 12 HONOR ROLL
K-State's Brady Day was voted to the All-Big 12 First Team while Kaelen Culpepper and Tyson Neighbors received Second Team Honors to highlight the Wildcats' nine total selections, as the Big 12 Conference revealed its 2024 All-Big 12 Baseball Awards Monday … Additionally, Owen Boerema, Nick English, Brendan Jones, Raphael Pelletier, and Jackson Wentworth each received honorable mention accolades while Blake Dean was named to the All-Freshman Team, as the awards were voted on by the league's nine head coaches … The Wildcats' nine selections match the program record that was set in 2013, while K-State was one of five schools from the Big 12 to have nine or more players receive All-Big 12 honors.
 
FROM THE PEN
The Cats struck out 518 batters while issuing 205 walks, for a 2.53 strikeout-to-walk ratio which is third in the league ... Three members of the pitching staff earned All-Big 12 honors – Tyson Neighbors (Second Team), Owen Boerema (Honorable Mention) and Jackson Wentworth (Honorable Mention) … Now with 100 strikeouts on the season, Wentworth ties second in the K-State single-season records and is 18 away from tying current Major Leaguer Jordan Wicks' school record set in 2021 (118) … K-State's pitching staff is fourth in fewest walks allowed (205), third in fewest walks per nine innings (3.88), fourth in strikeouts per nine innings (9.80), fourth in total strikeouts, tied second in saves (15).
 
RECORD WATCH
With 37 stolen bases this year, Jones is third in the single-season records while his 67 career stolen bases in third all-time …  Jones is 11 career steals away from tying second all-time alongside Adam Muenster (2007-10) ... Neighbors collected his 19th career save and stands third all-time in school history … Boerema has compiled 184 strikeouts in his two seasons with K-State, ranking eighth all-time in school history … With 17 doubles on the season, true freshman Nick English has matched the freshmen class single-season doubles record set by current Major Leaguer Nick Martini (2009).
 
CALL THE COPS
The Cats have stolen a league-high 120 bases this season, ranking 11th overall in Division I … The Cats 2.26 stolen bases/game is first in the Big 12 and 13th in the nation … Jones has stolen a league-high 37 bases this season, ranking fifth in Division I … K-State has stolen 100+ bases in consecutive seasons, while the 2024 team's 120 ranks fourth all-time in the record books … The K-State single-season record is 149 set in 2009 through 62 games.
 
COME BACK KIDS
K-State has recorded 14 come-from behind victories this season, including three on the road … The Wildcats have overcome four-run deficits in four games, and five three-run games … In their comeback wins, K-State is outscoring opponents 121-75 (+46) … Of the 14 wins, six were one-run games while four ended with margins of victory larger than six runs.
 
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).
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