No. 22 Wildcats Make Midweek Stop at Wichita State Wednesday

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Fresh off a series sweep of Texas Tech, K-State hits the road to take on in-state rival Wichita State Wednesday at Eck Stadium with first pitch slated for 6 p.m.

Right-hander Tanner Duke (0-1) will get his second start of the season Wednesday, facing Shockers' right-hander Jeremiah Arnett (0-1).

The Wildcats (19-8) extended their win streak to four with the sweep over the Red Raiders and moved atop the Big 12 standings with an 8-1 league record, marking the best conference start in program history. Sunday's walk-off victory over TTU handed the Cats' their 10^th consecutive victory at home.

The midweek matchup marks the 105^th meeting between the Wildcats and Shockers (10-17), with Wichita State holding a 58-46 edge in the all-time series, including a 37-18 lead in games in Wichita. The Wildcats claimed the two-game season series in 2024, outscoring the Shockers 14-9.

Wednesday's contest will be broadcast on ESPN+ and the ESPN app. Fans can listen in on the K-State Sports Network while a free live stream audio is available at K-StateSports.com/watch and on the K-State Sports app.

Single-game tickets are now available and can be purchased online at KStateSports.com, or by calling 1-800-221-CATS (2287), or stopping by the K-State Athletics Ticket Office in Bramlage Coliseum.

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.

GAME #28
#22 K-STATE (19-8, 5-1 Big 12) vs. WICHITA STATE (10-17, 3-3 American)
Wednesday, April 2 // 6 PM CT // Eck Stadium (5,665)
Projected Starters: RHP Tanner Duke (0-1; 8.38 ERA) vs. RHP Jeremiah Arnett (0-1; 6.75 ERA)
Watch: ESPN +
Radio: K-State Sports Network // Brian Smoller, Evan Marshall
Listen Online: kstatesports.com/watch
Live Stats

THE MATCHUP
Fresh off a series sweep of Texas Tech, K-State hits the road to take on in-state rival Wichita State Wednesday at Eck Stadium with first pitch slated for 6 p.m. … Right-hander Tanner Duke (0-1) will get his second start of the season Wednesday, facing Shockers' right-hander Jeremiah Arnett (0-1).

A LOOK AT K-STATE
The Wildcats (19-8) extended their win streak to four with the sweep over the Red Raiders and moved atop the Big 12 standings with an 8-1 league record, marking the best conference start in program history … Sunday's walk-off victory over TTU handed the Cats' their 10^th consecutive victory at home … After starting of the season 1-4, K-State is 15-3 in the month of March, that included a season-long six-game winning streak … K-State is hitting .294 as a team and is second in the Big 12 with 49 home runs, ranking 15^th overall in the country … Maximus Martin leads the Cats in eight offensive categories, producing a slash line of .396/.476/857 with 36 hits and 38 RBI … His .857 slugging percentage leads the Big 12 and ranks 14^th in the nation, while he is the first K-State player to reach 11 homers and second in the conference … Shintaro Inoue is the only player on the 2025 roster to have appeared in all 27 games … Seth Dardar is fourth in the Big 12 and leads the team with 10 doubles … As a team, the Wildcats' .526 slugging percentage is 29^th overall in the nation and second highest in the league … The Wildcats have a 5.05 team ERA with 257 strikeouts (2.33 strikeout-to-walk ratio) … Right-hander Tanner Duke is projected to start for the Wildcats, earning his second start … The Baylor transfer boasts a 8.38 ERA with a record of 0-1 in five outings this year … In 28 seasons, head coach Pete Hughes has compiled a career record of 839-642-3 as a head coach, while leading the Cats to an overall 187-150 record.

SCOUTING WICHITA STATE
Wichita State, who is coming off a series win vs. UAB, enters Wednesday's contest 10-17 overall with a 7-5 record at home ... As a team, WSU is slashing .269/.386/.394 with 51 doubles, 11 triples and 13 home runs, while three starters have driven in 20+ RBI … Camden Johnson leads the Shocker offense with his ..358 average (38-for-106) and nine extra-base hits, including a home run, and 20 RBI ... The WSU pitching staff boasts a 6.44 ERA with opponents hitting at a .268 clip ... Wichita State hurlers have struck out 222 batters over 230.2 innings ... Projected starter Jeremiah Arnett (0-1) will make his third start of the season … Arnett owns a 6.75 ERA and has struck out 19 batters during 23 innings.

INSIDE THE SERIES
The Shockers lead the all-time series 58-46 since the first game in 1906 … The midweek matchup marks the 105^th meeting between the Wildcats and Shockers … The Wildcats have taken five of the last 10 meetings with Wichita State with K-State taking an 6-3 victory in Manhattan last April … In the last meeting, the K-State offense broke out with a four-run eighth inning, highlighted by a go-ahead two-run single from former Wildcat Danniel Rivera to complete the home-and-home season series sweep of Wichita State … The Wildcats are 18-37 all-time on the road vs. the Shockers … Under Hughes, K-State is 5-5 against Wichita State.

LAST FIVE MEETINGS
W, 3-1 – May 3, 2022 (Manhattan)
L, 4-10 – April 18 (Manhattan)
L, 0-1 – May 2, 2023 (Wichita)
W, 8-6 – March 19, 2024 (Wichita)
W, 6-3 – April 10, 2024 (Manhattan)

MARCH MADNESS
K-State wrapped an incredible March with a 15-3 record, that included a season-long six-game winning streak (March 14-22) ... The Wildcat offense hit at a .306 clip in the month and averaging 9.6 runs a game with 10.2 hits a game ... In February, the Cats hit just .270 as a team with 5.6 runs per game on 9.2 hits a contest ... Additionally, K-State hit .355 with runners in scoring position, and .299 with two outs in March with 48 two-out RBI ... Six Cats hit north of .300 in the month of March, with three starters posting above a .350 average ... O'Connor led the offense, hitting .426 followed by Martin (.391) and Evasco (.353) ... Eleven players have homered in March, with eight hitting multiple ... K-State finished with 41 homers in March.

BACK IN THE POLLS
K-State returned to the national polls Monday for the first time since March of 2024 where they ranked 23^rd by D1Baseball … The Cats rank No. 22 by D1Baseball … K-State is just one of five schools from the Big 12 Conference featured in at least one of the major four national organizations.

SLUG-KING
Maximus Martin, who became the first player to earn the Brooks Wallace Award and Golden Spikes Award Player of the Week in school history, continues his breakout season as he is the first player to reach 11 homers … Martin barreled his 11^th blast of the year on March 28 against Texas Tech, becoming the second player in the league to hit 10+ … He leads the Big 12 with a season 1.333 OPS, that includes a league-high .857 slugging percentage, ranking 29^th overall in the country … In week four, Martin turned in an incredible 2.714 OPS, after launching five home runs and tallying 12 RBI … Became the first player since 2018 to drive in eight RBI in a single game, while achieving the first multi-homer game this season for K-State with his first-inning grand slam and three-run homer in the second against William and Mary (March 8) … Homered in four straight games from March 2-9 … Became the fourth player in the Big 12 to turn in a five-hit day (March 9) … Leads the offense with 12 multi-RBI games, including a team-best 10 games with two or more hits.

ON THE ROAD, AGAIN
K-State is 9-8 when playing on the road this season, including a 3-6 record in true road games after earning a series win at Baylor … On the road, the Wildcat offense is slashing .269/.377/.447 with 22 home runs and 100 RBI ... K-State averages 6.8 runs/game on 8.2 hits while drawing 85 walks with 22 stolen bases ... The Wildcat pitching staff boasts a 5.55 ERA on the road, holding opponents to a .258 average … The Cats have struck out 166 compared to 83 walks for a 2.00 strikeout-to-walk ratio ... Martin's .370 average at leads the Cats, as the junior has generated 20 hits with three homers and a team-leading 15 RBI.

POWER SURGE
K-State's 49 homers – ranks second in the league and 15^th in Division I – with 41 coming in in the month of March … Twelve Wildcats belted at least one home run this season… Nine different players have recorded multiple home runs this season led by Martin (11) and O'Connor (8) … Martin and O'Connor have each turned in a two-run home run game this season … K-State has turned in 16 multi-home run games (15-1), including a season-high six homers on Sunday against William & Mary … The Cats have generated five back-to-back performances this season (Latest: Shintaro Inoue and Cayden Phillips, vs. William & Mary, March 9) … Martin and Evasco have each launched a grand slam this season … Since 2019, K-State's offense has turned in four of the top five seasons in terms of total home runs in program history, including a single-season record 89 in 2021 … The 89 bombs ranked 11th in the nation and shattered the previous record of 75 set in 1997.

WINNING TIME
In K-State's 19 wins this season, the Wildcats are hitting .350 with runners in scoring position and .291 with two outs ... Conversely, the Cats have a .281 average with runners in scoring position while hitting .247 with two outs over eight losses ... K-State has produced 54 two-out RBI in victories with 12 in eight losses ... Overall, K-State hits .317 in victories against just .236 in defeats ... In eight losses, K-State pitchers have combined for 50 walks (6.3 per game) while in victories the staff averages 3.2 walks per game (60 walks in 19 wins) and 9.8 strikeouts per game.

NUMBERS NUGGETS
K-State has a season +71 run differential, averaging 8.3 runs on 9.9 hits per game ... Cats are undefeated (16-0) when leading after the sixth and 1-2 when tied after six ... K-State is 15-4 when committing one or no errors ... When scoring first, K-State is 12-3 and 10-2 when scoring in the first inning … K-State has outhit opponents in 14 of 27 games this season (13-1) and is 13-1 when limiting opponents to five or less runs … 20 of 27 games have been against right-handed starters (15-5), while K-State is 4-3 against lefty starters.

THE VIEWS FROM UP TOP
K-State sits atop the Big 12 standings with an 8-1 league record by a game-back by Arizona State … KU and Arizona are knotted at a 6-3 league record, tying third in the standings with West Virginia rounding out the top five … Two teams are featured in the D1Baseball Top 25 poll with K-State (22^nd) and Arizona State (24^th), while KU and Arizona are ranked by Baseball America, ranking 22^nd and 23^rd respectively … West Virginia is ranked as high as 23^rd by the NCBWA … Kansas' duo of Michael Brooks (co-player) and Dominic Voegele (pitcher) were joined by Cincinnati's Kerrington Cross (co-player) and Arizona State's Matt King (newcomer) as the Big 12 Baseball weekly award recipients for games ending March 30.

LAST TIME OUT
K-State completed the series sweep of Texas Tech on Sunday afternoon, as Shintaro Inoue's two-run walk-off single lifted the Wildcats to a 5-4 victory at Tointon Family Stadium … K-State scored five runs on seven hits with no errors committed and nine runners left on base … TTU scored four runs on 12 hits, committed no errors and stranded 13 on base … Inoue delivered the game-winning hit with a two-run single through the right side in the ninth … O'Connor doubled in the fourth to break a no-hit bid and homered in the sixth to end the shutout … Inoue and O'Connor each had two hits and drove in a pair of RBI … K-State utilized five pitchers in the win … Slack (1-2) was awarded the victory in relief, striking out five of the seven batters he faced … Ruhl logged a team-high 3 1/3 innings, leaving TTU scoreless with five hits … Parish (0-4) suffered the loss, allowing four earned runs in his 2 2/3 innings in relief … Petty held the Cats to one run and two hits in his 5 1/3 inning start.

UP NEXT
K-State will return in Big 12 action and face Oklahoma State in three-game Big 12 series starting on Friday, April 4 at O'Brate Stadium. The series opener is scheduled for 6 p.m. and can be seen on ESPN+.

No. 22 Wildcats Make Midweek Stop at Wichita State Wednesday

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Players Mentioned

Seth Dardar

Tanner Duke

Shintaro Inoue

Maximus Martin

Cayden Phillips

Danniel Rivera

Kansas State University Athletics