Eying Sustained Success

Feb 05, 2025 | Baseball, Sports Extra

By: D. Scott Fritchen

Pete Hughes sat upon a stage. Behind him, a blue backdrop in which letters read, "THE GREATEST SHOW ON DIRT." Kansas State's incredible run came to an end against Virginia in the Charlottesville Super Regional. Hughes spoke briefly in the postgame news conference. After the final game of a magical season, the head coach grasped for words.

"We didn't come here to get close," Hughes said. "We came to Kansas State to get to Omaha. We don't know exactly what it looks like, but we can see it. We plan on getting there."

Sometimes, time can draw out like a blade. Other times, it goes by lightning quick.

The time is now. And the journey to Omaha this season officially begins when K-State opens its 2025 season against Washington in the first game of the Baseball on the Beach tournament in Conway, South Carolina, on February 14.

Restocked and reloaded after losing seven of the nine regulars in the starting lineup, including its top five hitters, K-State comes off its wildly successful 2024 campaign that ended with a 35-26 record and strives to maintain its winning culture behind returners like Ty Ruhl, David Bishop, Kyan Lodice and Nick English.

Then there's Hughes, who embarks upon his seventh season as K-State head coach, and, with 820 victories, owns the most wins by any current Big 12 head coach.

This year, sustained success is the mission.

"We set the standard for our program and where we want to be, and our next step is having sustained success," Hughes said at the K-State baseball media day event on Monday. "That's what really good programs do year in and year out. They survive drafts and you just reload and continue to have success and raise the standard of your program. That's the goal this year.

"I'm looking forward to seeing a lot of guys who I haven't competed with compete when the lights go on, and we'll find out soon enough how that's going to look, but I'm looking forward to it."

K-State returns 14 letterwinners. The two returning primary starters, flawless-fielding first baseman David Bishop (.261 with six doubles and four home runs) and right fielder Nick English (.249 with a team-high 17 doubles and 37 RBI), are expected to guide a lineup that could feature an abundance of new faces.

"David Bishop has been with us for a couple years, and he definitely feels like a Wildcat to me," Hughes said. "He runs our defense from the first base position, and that's very rare. He lines up our cuts and relays and our positioning. He just brings a nice calming presence to the field defensively, and there's more in there offensively. I just think the power is going to come out this year a little bit more."

While senior catcher Cayden Phillips will contend for an everyday starting job, a pair of experienced transfers — Bear Madliak (Jacksonville State) and Keegan O'Connor (Quinnipiac) — could challenge for playing time at the catcher position.

"Cayden Phillips is a veteran of this program, and Keegan O'Connor and Bear gives us great depth at that position," Hughes said. "I trust those guys a ton. They're great leaders, and they're tough. Everything that position warrants, we have. I don't think I have to wear one guy out for 56 games. I don't want to do that with catchers because it hurts them offensively when you get to late April and May. That's a pleasant surprise that that position has a lot of depth and character right now."

The infield could feature new faces such as sophomore righthanded hitter Dee Kennedy (Texas), potential shortstops/second basemen Maximus Martin (Georgia State) and Shintaro Inoue (Western Nebraska), and another potential infielder in Seth Dardar (Columbia).

The possibilities are seemingly endless.

"With the exception of David Bishop, it is a completely new-look infield," Hughes said. "We have played infield defense at a high level the last three or four years. We've brought in some dynamic players. Dee Kennedy can play all over the field, Maximus Martin is very athletic and dynamic, Seth Dardar has been really impressive and Shintaro Inoue, a junior college transfer via Japan, is a highly skilled infielder. I don't think our infield defense will take a step back with all the losses (in personnel) we had. I think we're deeper. We just have to figure out where some of those guys are going to play and what's the best fit for our defensive alignment, but they're talented enough."

Cadyn Karl played sparingly last season but could wind up starting in an outfield that has a plethora of candidates. Alongside English, Kyan Lodice, Karl and potentially O'Connor could be freshman Donte Lewis and Sam Flores (McLennan) in competition for spots in the outfield.

"It's pretty clear that I'm here to win, and I don't care what my role is," Lodice said. "If it's on the bench cheering on my teammates, that's fine with me. I just want to win. I'll never stop working hard. I'm one of the hardest workers on this team day in and day out. This year and everything that I've learned from the past couple years, seeing really good names come through this program, I've learned a lot.

"This year, I can say I'm really prepared and I'm excited for what I can do. I've been changing some things in my swing with Coach (Austin) Wates, and I've made a lot of progress and I'm looking forward to putting on a show this year."

Ty Ruhl, a redshirt senior righthander, was popular at baseball media day as he harbors quite a comeback story. After missing most of last season with an injury, Hughes gave Ruhl the ball against Southeast Missouri State in the Fayetteville Regional Championship, and Ruhl, who pitched just 12 1/3 innings all season, delivered four-plus scoreless innings before turning it over to the bullpen in a 7-2 victory.

"It means a lot to just go out there one last time and play with the boys and win every day with the team and just compete and stay injury free," Ruhl said. "Coming back wasn't a hard decision at all. Why go somewhere else and question how I'm going to get treated? It's like leaving home. This is my home. I've been here. Coaches feel like family. I'm just excited to be back and get another opportunity to play baseball for Kansas State."

Ruhl is joined by several returning pitchers, including righthander James Guyette, junior righthanders Mason Buss and Andrew Evans, and sophomore lefthander Adam Arther. Meanwhile, K-State fans could hear names such as senior righthanders Carson Liggett (Louisville) and Michael Quevedo (Nicholls State), redshirt freshman Tanner Duke (Baylor), lefthander Lincoln Sheffield (Hinds Community College) and righthanders Tazwell Butler and Miles Smith (both at Walters State). Eastern Arizona Junior College product Jonah Reich, a righthander, has been clocked as high as 98 miles per hour, according to D1Baseball.

Lewis could see time at either centerfield or pitcher. The freshman has been clocked between 94-96 miles per hour.

K-State fans might remember how lefthander JJ Slack pitched the final three outs of the Fayetteville Regional final. Now a graduate student, Slack could develop into a closer.

"We have a lot of different pieces of the puzzle where you can matchup from the fifth inning on, and you only get that with depth, but you have to have depth that's talented as well," Hughes said. "I do think we have that, but I don't know until the lights go on, honestly. I certainly think we're deep enough and good enough on the mound to do what we want to do as a pitching staff."

Hughes indicated that although some everyday personnel and positions are yet to be determined, there's ample depth among this squad.

"The last two years we were writing the same names down," he said. "You look at our stat sheet, there were nine guys getting at bats. I think our stat sheet is going to look different this year, especially after the first 10 games. And that's good. It's not a problem. I tell our guys it's a competitive level and we're fighting for playing time every day. For me, I'd rather have a numbers problem than a lack of talent problem. It's our job to put these kids into the best situation to have success. We can match up on certain people. We have the depth to do that. We have five guys fighting for playing time right now. We have five infielders fighting for playing time.

"My starting lineup changes in my head every day. Those are really good problems to have. It helps you with injury and matchups. You don't have to be so dependent on a guy where you have to live with a two-week rut. You get him out of there and get someone fresh in there. That's always helpful. Our stat sheet is going to look a little different this year."

Hughes a year ago set up one of the most challenging schedules in Division I college baseball. He didn't deviate from his scheduling philosophy this year as the schedule features six programs ranked in the preseason Top 25 national poll by D1Baseball, including No. 3 LSU, No. 5 Arkansas, No. 6 North Carolina, No. 17 Oklahoma State, No. 23 TCU and No. 24 Nebraska. K-State will face eight teams that reached last season's regional round of the NCAA Tournament and will play a total of 10 opponents (20 games) that finished with an RPI of 45 or higher.

"That's how I go about the scheduling," Hughes said. "You've heard me talk about the RPI many times, and you have to play good people, and you have to play away games, and at Kansas State, you have to find your away games and good opponents really from a RPI standpoint out of region. So, you have to get on a plane. But I always have thought that the tougher the schedule you play non-conference before you get into the Big 12, that gets you ready for Big 12 play. Travel is tough and it makes your kids resilient and playing in uncomfortable places makes your kids tougher. I don't think we have the same approach in the Arkansas regional if we didn't schedule that tough during the season last year. And it was just another tournament for our guys because of how we scheduled.

"The same premise is behind this year's schedule. You start off in a tournament on the road at Coastal Carolina and play Washington, Coastal Carolina twice and St. Joe's, and you get on a bus and go to Chapel Hill and play North Carolina, go to Globe Life and play Arkansas, TCU, Michigan, and then go to Frisco, Texas, and play LSU, Nebraska and Sam Houston State. That's a good start. Our guys are built for it. It'll be challenging, but I want the toughest team I can possibly have going into the Big 12 and the postseason. To me, the way to do it is to schedule that way."

Hughes said that he still does think about the ending of last year's magical run to the Super Regional. Sometimes, time draws out like a blade. Other times, the time flies by. You get the sense that Hughes has spent some time thinking deeply about last season's journey now and again over these past eight months. And why not? It was a defining campaign for this program.

Now comes the next step: Sustained success.

"I think about it, you know," he said. "We're a weekend away from going to where this program needs to go. A couple balls here and there. I think about it because it's a really small gap for us to close. It certainly motivates me. Not thinking about it wouldn't be advantageous. To me, it motivates us and where we have to get better to where we can close the game and get to Omaha and win a Super Regional. But you know a majority of our team wasn't there last year.

"Our job is to get this group of guys playing at that Super Regional/Omaha level with this schedule as soon as possible. There can't be any growing pains with this schedule with what we have out of the gates. We have to play meticulous fundamental baseball with urgency and without any mistakes that usually decide a one-run game. It can't happen for us in those first 10 games. That's been our message every day."