Wildcats Host Missouri State Tuesday

MANHATTAN, Kan. – K-State hosts Missouri State Tuesday night at Tointon Family Stadium, with the midweek tilt scheduled for 6 p.m.

The Wildcats' right-hander Tanner Duke (0-1) will get his third midweek start of the season against the Bears.

Tuesday's contest will broadcast on 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 K-State baseball 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 #32
#22 K-STATE (20-11, 8-4 Big 12) vs. MISSOURI STATE (16-14, 7-2 Missouri Valley)
Tuesday, April 8 // 6 p.m. CT // Tointon Family Stadium (2,344)
Projected Starters: RHP Tanner Duke (0-1) vs. RHP Owen Slater
Watch: ESPN + // Brian Smoller, Evan Marshall, Sophie Smith
Radio: KMAN // Matt Walters, Mike Clark
Listen Online: kstatesports.com/watch
Live Stats

THE MATCHUP
K-State hosts Missouri State Tuesday night at Tointon Family Stadium, with the midweek tilt scheduled for 6 p.m. … The Wildcats' right-hander Tanner Duke (0-1) will get his third midweek start of the season against the Bears.

A LOOK AT K-STATE
Coming off its first series loss of the year at Oklahoma State, K-State enters the week 20-11 overall with a 8-4 record in Big 12 to move into a four-way tie for third in the league standings … K-State is hitting .280 as a team and is second in the Big 12 with 53 home runs, ranking 17^th overall in the country … Martin's .785 slugging percentage is second in the Big 12 and ranks 20^th 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 31 games … In 28 seasons, head coach Pete Hughes has compiled a career record of 840-645-3 as a head coach, while leading the Cats to an overall 188-153 record … With the Game 2 loss in Sunday's doubleheader at OSU, the Wildcats dropped a season-high three straight games, moving to 6-4 in their last 10 contests … Game 1 of the doubleheader marked the first shutout loss for K-State this season.

SCOUTING MISSOURI STATE
Missouri State is coming off a series victory over Southern Illinois, including a 9-5 10-inning victory Monday afternoon, as it heads into the midweek matchup 16-14 overall … On the road, the Bears are 5-10 this season … Missouri State was favored to win the Missouri Valley Conference in the by D1Baseball and the MVC coaches' preseason poll with Caden Bogenpohl and Nick Rodriguez earning preseason all-conference honors … MSU has four former Freshman All-Americans on its current roster – Rodriguez, Garrett Ferguson, Zack Stewart and Bogenpohl … Rodriguez leads the Bears offense, slashing .382/.463/.707 with eight home runs and 29 RBI … As a team, MSU is hitting .296 averaging 8.5 runs a game on 10.2 hits … The bullpen has a 6.44 ERA and .277 opposing batting average.

INSIDE THE SERIES
Tuesday marks the 30^th meeting between the Cats and Bears … K-State holds a 18-11 edge over Missouri State since the first game in 1984 … The Wildcats have won eight of the last 10 meetings, that includes a four-game season series sweep over the Bears last season, outscoring the Bears 38-16 … In games played in Manhattan, K-State is 11-4 … The Cats have six of the last seven contests in Manhattan.

LAST FIVE MEETINGS
L, 7-10 – March 15, 2015 (Manhattan)
W, 7-3 – March 15, 2024 (Manhattan)
W, 12-6 – March 16, 2024 (Manhattan)
W, 11-3 – March 17, 2024 (Manhattan)
W, 8-4 – April 3, 2024 (Springfield)

WELCOME TO TOINTON
K-State is 10-0 at home this season, its best start at home since 2023 … K-State baseball is 418-217 when playing at Tointon Family Stadium (since 2002) … The Wildcats are 112-42 at home under Hughes and 91-21 (.813) since 2021.

HOME COOKIN'
K-State has won each of its 10 home tilts ... At home, the Wildcat offense is hitting .337 and slugging .669 with 27 home runs ... K-State averages 10.8 runs a game on 11 hits at Tointon Family Stadium ... Conversely, the Cats are hitting .254 and slugging .418 in games away from home, averaging 6.4 runs per game and 8.2 hits a game ... The Wildcat bullpen boasts a 4.18 ERA at home, striking out 91 compared to 27 walks (3.4 strikeout-to-walk ratio) ... In road and neutral contest, K-State starters and relievers have a combined ERA of 5.83 with 208 strikeouts and 102 walks ... K-State has homered in each of its seven home games this season, with 27 of its 53 home runs have come at Tointon Family Stadium ... Three players are hitting north of .400 at home led by Martin hitting at a .432 clip at home, followed by O'Connor (.406), Evasco (.405) … Martin has recorded eight of his 12 home runs in Manhattan.

AT THE PLATE
Offensively, the Wildcats lead opponents with a slash line of .280/.388/.497 with 63 doubles, one triple and 53 homers – the second-most in the Big 12 … K-State has out-hit opponents in 14 of its 31 games this season (13-1), that included a season-high 20 hits with a season-high 18 RBI at home against William & Mary (March 9) … K-State has recorded 10+ hits in 12 games (10-2) … Five starters are hitting over .300, with Martin leading the way with a .364 average followed by Evasco (.347) and O'Connor (.337) … The team's .497 slugging percentage is third in the league and ranks 48^th nationally, while Martin is second in the league with a .785 slugging percentage, which is 20^th overall in the country.

ON THE MOUND
The 2025 K-State pitching staff boasts a 5.30 ERA (155 ER, 263 IP), with six players throwing at least 20 innings on the year … Seven different players have picked up a win while four have garnered a save … Opponents are hitting .260 against K-State … K-State pitchers rank third in the Big 12 and 29^th nationally in strikeouts per nine innings at 10.2 … K-State has struck out 299 batters this season and issued 129 walks for a 2.32 strikeout-to-walk ratio … Quevedo has struck out a season-high 46 batters – 10^th-most in the Big 12 – while Sheffield has issued just nine walks in eight starts for a 5.00 strikeout-to-walk ratio, ranking second overall in the conference.

BIG BAT CATS
K-State has erupted for 53 homers – ranks second in the league and 17^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.

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 .264 average with runners in scoring position while hitting .244 with two outs over 11 losses ... K-State has produced 61 two-out RBI in victories with 16 in eight losses ... Overall, K-State hits .316 in victories against just .209 in defeats ... In 11 losses, K-State pitchers have combined for 63 walks (5.7 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 +58 run differential, averaging 7.8 runs on 9.3 hits per game ... Cats are undefeated (17-0) when leading after the sixth and 1-2 when tied after six ... K-State is 15-5 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 31 games this season (13-1) and is 13-2 when limiting opponents to five or less runs … 21 of 28 games have been against right-handed starters (16-7), while K-State is 4-4 against lefty starters.

AROUND THE LEAGUE
With the series loss at OSU, K-State dropped into a four-way tie for third in the Big 12 standings, alongside TCU, Arizona, and Arizona State … KU jumped atop the standings with a sweep of UCF, moving to 9-3 in league action … Kansas' Brady Ballinger (player) and Oklahoma State's duo of Harrison Bodendorf (pitcher) and Sean Youngerman (newcomer) were named the Big 12 Baseball weekly award recipients for games ending April 6.

LAST TIME OUT
Oklahoma State claimed both games of a Sunday doubleheader with K-State at O'Brate Stadium, taking the middle game 7-0 before a 10-2 win in the series finale … The Cowboys handed the Cats their first series loss of the season … Seven different Wildcats registered hit on Sunday, led by two in Game 1 by freshman Donte Lewis – his four game with two or more hits … AJ Evasco recorded a game-tying home run in the third inning of Game 2. The true freshman is now one of four players to have six or more home runs on the year.

UP NEXT
The Wildcats continue their four-game homestand with a three-game conference series with UCF (18-13, 3-9 Big 12), starting Friday at 6 p.m. at Tointon Family Stadium.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Tanner Duke

AJ Evasco

Shintaro Inoue

Donte Lewis

Cayden Phillips

Kansas State University Athletics