K-State Drops Series Finale in Waco

WACO, Texas – K-State's six-game winning streak came to an end Sunday afternoon, as Baylor used a six-run fifth inning to defeat the Wildcats, 19-4, in seven innings at Baylor Ballpark.

The Bears registered 17 hits on their way to moving to 16-7 and 2-4 in league action, handing the Cats (15-8, 5-1 Big 12) their first conference loss of the season.

"Disappointing day, but a really good road series win," seventh-year head coach Pete Hughes said. "I thought we had a good enough start from [Lincoln Sheffield] to be able to win and our offense did great job driving up their starters' pitch count and getting him out of the game, but unfortunately, they won the battle of the bullpen."

Bears' starter Carson Bailey held the Cats to two earned runs in his 4 1/3 innings of work, striking out seven of the 19 batters he faced. Grayson Murry (2-0) was awarded the victory in relief of Bailey.

Baylor spotted Lincoln Sheffield (4-2) for five earned runs, as the left-hander suffered his first loss since February 17 against Coastal Carolina. He finished his sixth consecutive start with four strikeouts and a walk, while allowing eight hits.

Six different players recorded a hit for K-State, led by Keegan O'Connor (2-for-3), while Seth Dardar and Bear Madliak each drove in a pair of runs batted in.

HOW IT HAPPENED
After two scoreless frames, Baylor broke through with a 2-0 edge, led by Wesley Jordan's RBI single up the middle. With runners on second and third, Martin threw out a runner at home before Sheffield recorded his fourth strikeout to minimize the damage.

AJ Evasco and O'Connor strung together a pair of singles before both moving to scoring position after Seth Dardar walked. With two outs, catcher Bear Madliak delivered a two-out RBI single to left center to score Evasco and O'Connor.

Baylor made its first call to the pen in the fifth after Bailey issued a walk to Shintaro Inoue with one out, bringing Murry to the hill. The right-handed reliever fanned two straight batters to keep game tied, 2-2.

Jordan led off the bottom of the inning with a solo shot to left field to ignite the Bears' six-run inning that included a bases-clearing double from JJ Kennett.

Trailing 8-2, Seth Dardar closed the gap to four, as the Cats' first baseman belted a two-run homer into right-center. Baylor answered with 11 unanswered runs in the sixth.

INSIDE THE BOX

K-State scored four runs on seven hits with one error and four left on base.
Baylor scored 19 runs on 16 hits with no errors and nine left on base.
Six different players had hits for K-State, led by two from O'Connor.
K-State had three extra-base hits, with doubles from O'Connor and English and a homer by Dardar.
The Bears scored 17 runs between the fifth and sixth innings.
Baylor sent 17 to the plate and scored 11 runs in the fifth inning.
Sheffield (4-2) suffered his second loss of the year after allowing five runs and eight hits with two walks and four strikeouts in 4 2/3 innings of work.
Baylor was 13-for-23 with runners on and 9-for-15 with runners in scoring position.
Jordan and Riebock had three hits, while Jordan and Simmons each homered for Baylor.

TEAM NOTES

Baylor leads the all-time series 56-35, with a 52-29 advantage in Big 12 games.
In games played in Waco, K-State is 13-34 with five wins coming in the last 10 contests.
K-State is 5-5 when opponents score first.
K-State has homered in seven straight games and in 18 of its 23 games overall.
The Cats have 41 homers on the season, rank second overall in the Big 12.
K-State hit a program-record 89 home runs in 2021.

PLAYER NOTES

Evasco and O'Connor stretched their hitting streaks out to 14 and 13 – first- and second-best streaks on the team
Dardar belted his fourth homer of the season.
O'Connor is third on the team with seven multi-hit games, including six in his last 10 games.

UP NEXT
The Wildcats return to Tointon Family Stadium Tuesday night to host Nebraska (10-13, 2-7 Big Ten), scheduled for a 6 p.m. first pitch. K-State baseball season and single-game tickets are now available, and can be purchased by visiting KStateSports.com, call 1-800-221-CATS (2287), or stopping by the K-State Athletics Ticket Office in Bramlage Coliseum.

– k-statesports.com –

How to follow the Cats: For complete information on K-State Baseball, visit www.kstatesports.com and follow the team's social media channels on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and Facebook.

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Team Stats

Keegan O'Connor

Nick English

AJ Evasco

Seth Dardar

Players Mentioned

Seth Dardar

AJ Evasco

Shintaro Inoue

Bear Madliak

Keegan O'Connor

Lincoln Sheffield

Players Mentioned

Seth Dardar

AJ Evasco

Shintaro Inoue

Bear Madliak

Keegan O'Connor

Lincoln Sheffield

Kansas State University Athletics