Kansas State University Athletics
Wednesday, May 22
Arlington, Texas
9 a.m.
Kansas State University
32-23
8
vs
4
West Virginia
33-33
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
Kansas State
0
0
0
7
0
1
0
0
0
8
7
1
West Virginia
3
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
1
4
7
0
Boerema’s Record-Breaking Day Advances K-State in Big 12 Tournament
May 22, 2024 | Baseball
ARLINGTON, Texas – A record-breaking outing from left-hander Owen Boerema and an explosive seven-run fourth led No. 6 seed K-State to an 8-4 triumph over fourth-seeded West Virginia Wednesday in an elimination game at Globe Life Field.
Boerema's complete game set the record for the longest outing in the NCAA game held at Globe Life Field, while he also became the first pitcher in K-State history to throw a complete game in a conference tournament.
"Life in the loser's bracket is all about surviving, advancing, not panicking, having people pick up each other, and save your bullpen," said head coach Pete Hughes following his team's tournament win. "Those are the themes you think about as a head coach in the loser's bracket. Luckily, we have a team and a foundation of our pitching staff that does not panic when bases are loaded with no outs in the first inning in the loser's bracket because we've got a great competitor and a confident leader on the mound who continues to throw out zeros by settling in, believing and giving his offense time to get back in their game."
In his 17th start of the season, Boerema struck out 10 batters and scattered seven hits in his career-long outing, as he held the Mountaineers to four earned runs (6-3). The lefty graduate's 10 strikeouts are the most by a Wildcat in a single conference tournament game, breaking the previous record of nine.
Boerema's 17th start set a new program record as just seven pitchers in K-State history have started in 16 games in a single season.
"I'll just give a lot of credit to our pitching coach [Rudy Darrow]. It's so difficult to call pitches when you have to maneuver your way through a lineup four-five times with the best hitter in our conference. That constant attention to detail and changing of patterns, it was as good a repertoire I saw in the field between the pitching coach calling a game and a pitcher I've seen in a long time," Hughes mentioned.
Trailing 3-0 heading into the fourth inning, K-State (32-23) sent 13 batters to the plate and rallied for seven unanswered runs led by back-to-back two-RBI hits from Brady Day and David Bishop.
Offensively, six different Wildcats generated a hit Wednesday led by a two-hit day from Kyan Lodice, who went 2-for-4 with a pair of bunt singles. Bishop drove in a game-high three runs followed by Day with two, while Brendan Jones scored twice for the Cats.
"Obviously the key to that whole game was Owen's performance. Absolutely. Number one. Number two, not panicking early in the game and trusting your offense and being super disciplined at the plate, getting the walk to be a weapon for us again and take advantage of the inning. These are the things we haven't done up late, but it doesn't happen without Owen unselfishly going beyond his normal pitch count so we can save our bullpen for future games. It was as good as a performance that I've been around so it was awesome to watch."
West Virginia's (33-22) pitching staff issued 11 walks to K-State, marking the Wildcats' second game this season with double digit walks.
K-State will face ninth-seeded TCU (32-20) in an elimination game Thursday at 9 a.m. at Globe Life Field.
THE RUNDOWN
WVU opened scoring in the bottom of the first frame, as each of the top four hitters of the Mountaineers lineup reached base, that included a two-run single from Brodie Kresser.
After surrendering three runs in the first, Boerema settled in and retired eight consecutive batters to keep K-State in the game.
After three scoreless innings, K-State exploded with seven runs to take control of the game.
Jones was issued a seven-pitch walk and advanced to third on back-to-back singles from Lodice and Kaelen Culpepper. With bases loaded and no outs, Day doubled into right center to bring the game within one until the Cats took the lead with Bishop's two-run single.
A run was walked in to force the Mountaineers to make their second pitching change of the inning. In total, four runs were walked in to stretch that Cats' lead to four, 8-3.
INSIDE THE BOX
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.
Boerema's complete game set the record for the longest outing in the NCAA game held at Globe Life Field, while he also became the first pitcher in K-State history to throw a complete game in a conference tournament.
"Life in the loser's bracket is all about surviving, advancing, not panicking, having people pick up each other, and save your bullpen," said head coach Pete Hughes following his team's tournament win. "Those are the themes you think about as a head coach in the loser's bracket. Luckily, we have a team and a foundation of our pitching staff that does not panic when bases are loaded with no outs in the first inning in the loser's bracket because we've got a great competitor and a confident leader on the mound who continues to throw out zeros by settling in, believing and giving his offense time to get back in their game."
In his 17th start of the season, Boerema struck out 10 batters and scattered seven hits in his career-long outing, as he held the Mountaineers to four earned runs (6-3). The lefty graduate's 10 strikeouts are the most by a Wildcat in a single conference tournament game, breaking the previous record of nine.
Legendary#KStateBSB x @thebigo444 pic.twitter.com/gJYGMeqDhV
— K-State Baseball (@KStateBSB) May 22, 2024
Boerema's 17th start set a new program record as just seven pitchers in K-State history have started in 16 games in a single season.
"I'll just give a lot of credit to our pitching coach [Rudy Darrow]. It's so difficult to call pitches when you have to maneuver your way through a lineup four-five times with the best hitter in our conference. That constant attention to detail and changing of patterns, it was as good a repertoire I saw in the field between the pitching coach calling a game and a pitcher I've seen in a long time," Hughes mentioned.
Trailing 3-0 heading into the fourth inning, K-State (32-23) sent 13 batters to the plate and rallied for seven unanswered runs led by back-to-back two-RBI hits from Brady Day and David Bishop.
Offensively, six different Wildcats generated a hit Wednesday led by a two-hit day from Kyan Lodice, who went 2-for-4 with a pair of bunt singles. Bishop drove in a game-high three runs followed by Day with two, while Brendan Jones scored twice for the Cats.
"Obviously the key to that whole game was Owen's performance. Absolutely. Number one. Number two, not panicking early in the game and trusting your offense and being super disciplined at the plate, getting the walk to be a weapon for us again and take advantage of the inning. These are the things we haven't done up late, but it doesn't happen without Owen unselfishly going beyond his normal pitch count so we can save our bullpen for future games. It was as good as a performance that I've been around so it was awesome to watch."
West Virginia's (33-22) pitching staff issued 11 walks to K-State, marking the Wildcats' second game this season with double digit walks.
K-State will face ninth-seeded TCU (32-20) in an elimination game Thursday at 9 a.m. at Globe Life Field.
THE RUNDOWN
WVU opened scoring in the bottom of the first frame, as each of the top four hitters of the Mountaineers lineup reached base, that included a two-run single from Brodie Kresser.
After surrendering three runs in the first, Boerema settled in and retired eight consecutive batters to keep K-State in the game.
After three scoreless innings, K-State exploded with seven runs to take control of the game.
Jones was issued a seven-pitch walk and advanced to third on back-to-back singles from Lodice and Kaelen Culpepper. With bases loaded and no outs, Day doubled into right center to bring the game within one until the Cats took the lead with Bishop's two-run single.
A run was walked in to force the Mountaineers to make their second pitching change of the inning. In total, four runs were walked in to stretch that Cats' lead to four, 8-3.
INSIDE THE BOX
- K-State scored eight runs on seven hits, committed one error, and left eight runners on base.
- WVU scored four runs on seven hits with no errors committed and stranded seven runners on base.
- Six different Wildcats turned in a hit led by a two-hit day from Lodice.
- Lodice went 2-for-4 with a pair of bunt singles.
- K-State was issued double digit walks for the second time of the season (10).
- The Cats scored four runs on walks.
- Boerema (6-3) tossed nine innings, allowing four earned runs on seven hits with 10 strikeouts.
- WVU used six pitchers Wednesday, with Oliver suffering the loss allowing five runs (five earned) on four hits.
- K-State went 5-for-15 (.333) with runners on base and hit .333 (3-for-9) with men in scoring position while WVU was 4-for-14 (.286) with runners on and 2-for-9 (.222) in scoring position.
- The Cats hit .125 (1-for-8) with two outs and drove in three runs with two outs.
- K-State is 15-20 all-time against the Mountaineers and is undefeated in Big 12 Conference tournament games (2-0).
- The Cats are 22-25 when playing in the Big 12 Tournament, and 8-8 under Hughes.
- In neutral games, K-State is 3-2 while holding an overall 12-16 record on the road.
- Boerema set the record for the longest outing in an NCAA game held at Globe Life Field.
- Boerema broke the K-State strikeouts record in a single conference tournament game (10).
- He became the first pitcher in K-State history to throw a complete game in a conference tournament contest.
- Boerema's 17th start set a new program record as just seven pitchers in K-State history have started in 16 games in a single season.
- Boerema is the first pitcher since April 14, 2019, to throw a complete game (Jordan Wicks v. Texas).
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.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Boerema, Owen (6-3)
L: Oliver, H. (2-2)
Batting:
2B: Day, Brady 1 ; Parsons, Jaden 1
RBI: Lodice, Kyan 1 ; Culpepper, Kaelen 1 ; Day, Brady 2 ; Bishop, David 3
Base Running:
RUNS: Jones, Brendan 2 ; Lodice, Kyan 1 ; Culpepper, Kaelen 1 ; Day, Brady 1 ; Bishop, David 1 ; English, Nick 1 ; Pelletier, Raphael 1
SB: Bishop, David 1
Batting:
2B: Perazza, M. 1 ; King, S. 1
RBI: Kresser, B. 2 ; White, S. 1 ; King, S. 1
SF: White, S. 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Wetherholt 1 ; Sauve, L. 1 ; Chumley, R. 1 ; Perazza, M. 1
HBP: Chumley, R. 1
Game Leaders
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
1
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
1
AB
4
R
1
H
1
RBI
3
Players Mentioned
INF
/ Baseball
LHP
/ BaseballINF
/ Baseball
OF
/ BaseballINF/OF
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