No. 22 K-State Travels South to Face Oklahoma State

MANHATTAN, Kan. – The No. 22 Kansas State Wildcats set out for their second Big 12 road trip of the season, as they face Oklahoma State in a three-game league series, starting on Friday at 6 p.m. at O'Brate Stadium.

Game two in Stillwater is set to start at 6 p.m. with the series finale following at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

Jacob Frost (0-0) will get Friday's call with the left-hander making his seventh start of the season, while lefty Michael Quevedo (4-0) will get Saturday's nod. Lincoln Sheffield, who owns a record of 4-2, will start in the series finale.

Junior shortstop Maximus Martin was named to the Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List – an award that honors the nation's top amateur player.

The entire series will be streamed on the ESPN+ and the ESPN app with radio coverage available on News Radio KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM). Live streaming audio is available at kstatesports.com/watch and on the K-State Sports app.

Single-game tickets are now available for all Wildcat games at Tointon Family Stadium 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 #29
#22 K-STATE (20-8, 8-1 Big 12) at OKLAHOMA STATE (12-14, 1-6 Big 12)
Friday, April 4 // 6 PM CT // O'Brate Stadium (8,000)
Projected Starters: LHP Jacob Frost (0-0, 4.45 ERA) vs. LHP Harrison Bodendorf (5-1, 4.41 ERA)
Watch: ESPN +
Radio: KMAN // Brian Smoller
Listen Online: kstatesports.com/watch
Live Stats

GAME #30
#22 K-STATE (20-8, 8-1 Big 12) at OKLAHOMA STATE (12-14, 1-6 Big 12)
Saturday, April 5 // 6 PM CT // O'Brate Stadium (8,000)
Projected Starters: LHP Michael Quevedo (4-0, 4.41 ERA) vs. RHP Sean Youngerman (0-1, 3.20 ERA)
Watch: ESPN +
Radio: KMAN // Brian Smoller
Listen Online: kstatesports.com/watch
Live Stats

GAME #31
#22 K-STATE (20-8, 8-1 Big 12) at OKLAHOMA STATE (12-14, 1-6 Big 12)
Sunday, April 6 // 1 PM CT // O'Brate Stadium (8,000)
Projected Starters: LHP Lincoln Sheffield (4-2, 4.86 ERA) vs. TBA
Watch: ESPN +
Radio: KMAN // Brian Smoller
Listen Online: kstatesports.com/watch
Live Stats

A LOOK AT K-STATE
The Wildcats (20-8, 8-1 Big 12) bring a five-game winning streak into the weekend series after defeating Wichita State, 13-10, Wednesday night … The Cats sit atop the Big 12 standings with an 8-1 league record, marking the best conference start in program history with three straight conference series wins … K-State is hitting .294 as a team and is second in the Big 12 with 52 home runs, ranking 13^th overall in the country … Martin's .884 slugging percentage leads the Big 12 and ranks sixth in the nation, while he is the first K-State player since 2023 to reach 12 homers in a season – the second-most in the conference … Shintaro Inoue is the only player on the 2025 roster to have appeared in all 28 games … As a team, the Wildcats' .526 slugging percentage is 29^th overall in the nation and second highest in the league … K-State has 52 homers – second-most in the Big 12 … The Cats recorded their 11^th game with 10+ runs and 13^th game with 10 or more hits … With a single in the second against the Shockers, O'Connor has successfully reached base in 20 consecutive games … Martin launched his 12^th homer of the season at Wichita State, becoming the first player to hit 12 in a year since 2023 … Kennedy turned in his first multi-home run game … Evasco has reached base in 19 straight games, followed by Inoue with the third-longest streak (8) … In 28 seasons, head coach Pete Hughes has compiled a career record of 840-642-3 as a head coach, while leading the Cats to an overall 188-150 record.

SCOUTING OKLAHOMA STATE
Oklahoma State (12-14, 1-6 Big 12) is coming off a midweek loss at Missouri State ... The Cowboys have lost three straight Big 12 series with losses to West Virginia, Utah and Kansas … As a team, OSU is slashing .265/.372/.477 with 51 doubles, four triples and 42 homers while averaging just over seven runs per game … Colin Bruggemann, a two-time Second Team All-Big 12 honoree, leads OSU with a .343 batting average and 30 RBIs … OSU's pitching staff sports a 5.08 ERA … The Cowboys rank second in strikeouts per nine innings (10.4) and fifth with a 2.55 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

INSIDE THE SERIES
In a series that dates all the way back to 1911, Oklahoma State leads the all-time series 179-62 (55-22 Big 12) ... K-State has only one two of the 38 series played in Stillwater (2009, 1971), while it won the series last year in Manhattan – first series win over OSU since 2010... K-State is 18-103 on the road in the series and 1-8 in Stillwater in the Hughes era ... In the Big 12 era (since 1997), K-State has claimed five series against Oklahoma State, with the 2009 series being the only road series (2-0).

LAST FIVE MEETINGS
L, 5-19 – May 13, 2023 (Stillwater)
L, 2-12 (7) – May 14, 2023 (Stillwater)
W, 6-5 (12) – April 18, 2024 (Manhattan)
W, 7-2 – April 19, 2024 (Manhattan)
L, 4-6 – April 20, 2024 (Manhattan)

BIG BAT CATS
K-State has erupted for 52 homers – ranks second in the league and 13^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 (12) and O'Connor (8) … Martin, O'Connor and Kennedy have each turned in a two-run home run game this season, with Kennedy joining the club after his two blasts at Wichita State (April 2) … K-State has turned in 17 multi-home run games (16-1), 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.

FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS
In 2025, K-State is 2-2 in Friday opening-weekend contests, that includes a four-game winning streak behind starter Jacob Frost … The Cats are hitting .267 on Friday while the pitchers boast a 3.80 ERA, limiting opponents to a .227 average and averaging 8.9 strikeouts per game … Two players are hitting above a .400 clip, led by Evasco (.429) and Kennedy (.407) … As a team, the Cats have launched 10 homers in Friday contests … Last season in series openers at home, K-State finished with a perfect 8-0 record in series openers at home.

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.

MAXIMUS IS GOLDEN
Junior shortstop Maximus Martin added to his 2025 honors, as the shortstop was named to the USA Baseball Golden Spikes Award Midseason Watch List – an award that honors the nation's top amateur player … Martin played his way on to the watch list and is recognized as one of the nation's top hitters. This season, he has earned national recognition as the Golden Spikes Award National Player of the Week and National College Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) Shortstop of the Week … Martin has also earned Big 12 Player of the Week and Big 12 Co-Newcomer of the Week honors … A native of Edgewater Park, N.J., Martin leads the Wildcat offense in eight offensive categories: batting average (.411), slugging percentage (.884), on-base percentage (.491), runs scored (34), hits (39), RBI (39), home runs (12) and total bases (84) … His .884 slugging percentage leads the Big 12 and is the sixth highest in the country, while he ranks 14^th in Division I in home runs and 15^th in RBI per game (1.50) … On the year, Martin has turned in a team-leading 11 multi-hit efforts along with 12 games with multiple runs driven in, while also becoming the first player since 2018 to produce eight RBI in a single game.

ON THE ROAD, AGAIN
K-State is 10-8 when playing on the road this season, including a 4-6 record in true road games after earning a series win at Baylor …The Cats are 4-1 in their last five road trips … On the road, the Wildcat offense is slashing .271/.382/.453 with 25 home runs and 110 RBI ... K-State averages 7.2 runs/game on 9.2 hits while drawing 94 walks with 28 stolen bases ... The Wildcat pitching staff (5.63 ERA) have struck out 174 compared to 89 walks ... Four starters are hitting north of .310 on the road led by Martin's .397 average, as the junior has generated 23 hits with four homers and a team-leading 16 RBI … O'Connor is second hitting .347 followed by Dardar (.345), who matches Martin with four homers on the road.

WINNING TIME
In K-State's 20 wins this season, the Wildcats are hitting .346 with runners in scoring position and .300 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 61 two-out RBI in victories with 12 in eight losses ... Overall, K-State hits .316 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 3.3 walks per game (66 walks in 20 wins) and 10.1 strikeouts per nine innings.

NUMBERS NUGGETS
K-State has a season +74 run differential, averaging 8.5 runs on 9.9 hits per game ... Cats are undefeated (17-0) when leading after the sixth and 1-2 when tied after six ... K-State is 15-4 when committing one or no errors, while picking up five victories when committed two or more ... 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 28 games this season (13-1) and is 13-1 when limiting opponents to five or less runs … 21 of 28 games have been against right-handed starters (16-5), while K-State is 4-3 against lefty starters.

AROUND THE LEAGUE
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.

UP NEXT
Following the weekend series, the Wildcats will host Missouri State on Tuesday, April 8 at Tointon Family Stadium with first pitch slated for 6 p.m.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Jacob Frost

Shintaro Inoue

Maximus Martin

Cayden Phillips

Michael Quevedo

Lincoln Sheffield

Kansas State University Athletics