Smolinski Stayed With It
Mar 09, 2026 | Baseball, Sports Extra
By: D. Scott Fritchen
This was different. Here was Ty Smolinski sitting in the coaches' meeting room at the head of the gray table in the black leather swivel chair where Kansas State head coach Pete Hughes usually sits. The 20-year-old sophomore wears his white ballcap with purple brim and a purple T-shirt with an old-school Willie Wildcat holding a baseball bat, he still wears purple supportive tape around his left wrist and lower forearm, and thick lines of eye black applied many hours ago begin to fade.
This Friday night was different because this was all new — Smolinski at the head of the table, and on the field just how masterful the 6-foot-1, 200-pounder who earned his seventh start at first base this season appeared at the plate, how patient he was in waiting for the right pitch, and how his contact over and over again reaped big-time results for the Wildcats, who just beat SIUE 14-5 in front of a sellout crowd at Tointon Family Stadium.
Four times Smolinski went to the plate. Four times he got a hit.
Yes sir — different.
"It was one of those nights in baseball where you knew going into a game that everything felt just right — seeing pitches, how your swing feels," Smolinski says. "My preparation? It wasn't different. But there's always just a different feel some days where you're like, 'All right, I'm feeling good today.'"
Four is an interesting number. Last season, while appearing in 20 games as a freshman, Smolinski had four hits. Entering the series opener against SIUE, spread out across nine games this season, he had four hits. Now here he was, Smolinski, whacking the ball like he was back at Bellevue West High School, or Gretna High School, back home in Nebraska, where he was the second-rated shortstop and fifth-rated player overall in the state his senior season. Crazy to think Smolinski is just two years removed from those days, hitting .412 with four home runs and a school-record 47 RBI. Time can fly. Even those nights in the dugout, when you're a college freshman waiting your turn, waiting for your chance to contribute, or even shine. Yes sir, time can fly.
Until time stands still.
Yes, here Smolinski was, going 4-for-4 against SIUE, on a night that was his night, at the time his best night as a Wildcat, with one single, two doubles and a second-inning home run to deep left that really got things going. Smolinski had the cheat code — the preparation that he put in prior to the game coupled with the keen eye of associate head coach Austin Wates, who delivered the report on the SIUE pitchers. So, Smolinski knew what was coming. He knew it all along. And, boy, was he ready. On this night, everything seemed to stand still. Except for him and the ball.
"On the home run, I knew the wind was going to be blowing toward left and going into that at-bat I was working to stay middle," Smolinski says. "He threw me a changeup in the middle and I thought to myself, 'Stay on it.'"
Boom.
"Yeah, last year, I only had four hits with the opportunities that I had, and I'm proud of staying with it," Smolinski says. "I've trusted my training, stayed with my approach, and I'm seeing the ball start to fall my way."
How good was Smolinski in Friday night's series opener against SIUE? He was one triple away from hitting the cycle, which no K-State player had done since Kaelyn Culpepper in the 2024 Fayetteville Regional.
"I love guys who get four hits," Hughes says. "He hit fastballs and changeups and breaking balls. That's what I loved about it. It was multi-dimensional, which you have to have at this level. He did it with runners on base. He did it with two strikes. That was really great. I loved it. It was different."
There wasn't much different about the other two games of the series against SIUE for Smolinski. On Saturday, he went 1-for-1 with three walks. On Sunday, he went 4-for-4 again with two doubles, two home runs and six RBI. He only seemed to get stronger as the series went on.
For the series, Smolinski went 9-for-9 with four doubles, three home runs and nine RBI.
Definitely, one of many K-State players who are Big 12 Player of the Week worthy.
All the sudden, Smolinski finished this past weekend's series against SIUE leading the team with a .464 batting average (13-for-28) with four doubles, four home runs, 15 RBI, a team-leading 1.621 OPS, a team-leading 1.036 slugging percentage and a team-leading .585 on-base percentage.
"I wouldn't say anything has changed," Smolinski says. "I've always just tried to do what I could with the opportunities I had and stayed confident going into every day, trying not to look at the past or the future, and just staying present in the moment."
But there was a time when Smolinski did look to the future. He was a middle-schooler in Nebraska, realized that he was more talented than most of the kids, and he believed that baseball could take him places. It began with his first piece of recruiting correspondence. Boston College showed interest in him. He was a high school freshman. It continued on. More Division I schools jumped on board. Then things paused that summer day before his junior year. He and his coaches and teammates on the Gretna High School varsity baseball team traveled to Manhattan and practiced at Tointon Family Stadium. He saw Hughes and Wates and recruiting coordinator Ryan Connolly observing practice.
Then things got different.
"I worked out, talked to them afterward, and had a phone call with Coach Hughes," Smolinski says. "I decided on my college pretty quick after that."
What separated K-State from the other programs?
"It was an instant connection with all the coaches," Smolinski says. "The relationship we built was really quick."
Last season as a freshman, Smolinski hit .250 with four hits, one home run and five RBI to go along with three runs scored. He had a .350 on-base percentage and slugged .438. His first collegiate start? That was different. He went 2-for-3 with a solo home run and two RBI against William & Mary on March 6, 2025 — exactly one year to the day of this sophomore breakout performance against SIUE.
"Growth, maturity, patience," Hughes says. "It is really hard to be productive in college baseball coming in from the high school ranks. The average age of our team is 22 ½ years old, and you ask an 18-year-old to come in with no experience at the Power 4 level to be productive and it's difficult. How do you get better? You're mature enough to understand the landscape and get better in your practices and early work. Your batting practices is where you make your biggest jump in growth. You're not going to have your name in that lineup that day, but you still have to get better. That's the challenge."
Smolinski met it head on during this offseason. He played 37 games for Tri-State of the Appy League, slashing .258/.381/.433 with 31 hits. He had seven doubles, one trip and four home runs for a .814 OPS. He also drove in 20 RBI and stole nine bases with 25 runs scored.
Back in Manhattan, he got with the cheat code — Austin Wates.
"I worked with Coach Wates a lot," Smolinski says. "He's awesome when it comes to swinging. There were little tweaks to my swing to make from last year to this year. I worked on those over the summer and made those adjustments and kept working on them this fall. That was big going into this year."
The hard work is paying off. And hard work? That's not different. That hasn't changed.
"He's the ultimate team guy, he's a work-a-holic, so it was just a matter of time," Hughes says. "Physically, he's changed in a year. Sometimes, you learn the game and take your biggest strides when you're sitting on the bench watching it, because it's not as fast as you think it is."
Sometimes, everything slows down. Sometimes, everything stops. Just Smolinski and the ball. Four at-bats. Four hits. That kind of night.
"I'm just proudest of how I've been able to handle adversity," Smolinski says. "This game is a tough sport. Going into my freshman year last year, I played summer ball, didn't have the best summer, and I was like, 'This is different. This is a different game than I've been playing.'"
Now he certainly looks at home at the plate. Once utilized on a limited basis as a freshman, he's darned near at the head of the table. And he's just a sophomore.
After recording eight hits in his entire career, Smolinski had nine hits in three days.
With four doubles.
And with three home runs.
And with nine RBI.
Better stock up on the eye black, Smolinski.
That college baseball spotlight can grow pretty bright.
This was different. Here was Ty Smolinski sitting in the coaches' meeting room at the head of the gray table in the black leather swivel chair where Kansas State head coach Pete Hughes usually sits. The 20-year-old sophomore wears his white ballcap with purple brim and a purple T-shirt with an old-school Willie Wildcat holding a baseball bat, he still wears purple supportive tape around his left wrist and lower forearm, and thick lines of eye black applied many hours ago begin to fade.
This Friday night was different because this was all new — Smolinski at the head of the table, and on the field just how masterful the 6-foot-1, 200-pounder who earned his seventh start at first base this season appeared at the plate, how patient he was in waiting for the right pitch, and how his contact over and over again reaped big-time results for the Wildcats, who just beat SIUE 14-5 in front of a sellout crowd at Tointon Family Stadium.
Four times Smolinski went to the plate. Four times he got a hit.
Yes sir — different.
"It was one of those nights in baseball where you knew going into a game that everything felt just right — seeing pitches, how your swing feels," Smolinski says. "My preparation? It wasn't different. But there's always just a different feel some days where you're like, 'All right, I'm feeling good today.'"
Four is an interesting number. Last season, while appearing in 20 games as a freshman, Smolinski had four hits. Entering the series opener against SIUE, spread out across nine games this season, he had four hits. Now here he was, Smolinski, whacking the ball like he was back at Bellevue West High School, or Gretna High School, back home in Nebraska, where he was the second-rated shortstop and fifth-rated player overall in the state his senior season. Crazy to think Smolinski is just two years removed from those days, hitting .412 with four home runs and a school-record 47 RBI. Time can fly. Even those nights in the dugout, when you're a college freshman waiting your turn, waiting for your chance to contribute, or even shine. Yes sir, time can fly.
Until time stands still.
Yes, here Smolinski was, going 4-for-4 against SIUE, on a night that was his night, at the time his best night as a Wildcat, with one single, two doubles and a second-inning home run to deep left that really got things going. Smolinski had the cheat code — the preparation that he put in prior to the game coupled with the keen eye of associate head coach Austin Wates, who delivered the report on the SIUE pitchers. So, Smolinski knew what was coming. He knew it all along. And, boy, was he ready. On this night, everything seemed to stand still. Except for him and the ball.
"On the home run, I knew the wind was going to be blowing toward left and going into that at-bat I was working to stay middle," Smolinski says. "He threw me a changeup in the middle and I thought to myself, 'Stay on it.'"
Boom.
"Yeah, last year, I only had four hits with the opportunities that I had, and I'm proud of staying with it," Smolinski says. "I've trusted my training, stayed with my approach, and I'm seeing the ball start to fall my way."
How good was Smolinski in Friday night's series opener against SIUE? He was one triple away from hitting the cycle, which no K-State player had done since Kaelyn Culpepper in the 2024 Fayetteville Regional.
"I love guys who get four hits," Hughes says. "He hit fastballs and changeups and breaking balls. That's what I loved about it. It was multi-dimensional, which you have to have at this level. He did it with runners on base. He did it with two strikes. That was really great. I loved it. It was different."
There wasn't much different about the other two games of the series against SIUE for Smolinski. On Saturday, he went 1-for-1 with three walks. On Sunday, he went 4-for-4 again with two doubles, two home runs and six RBI. He only seemed to get stronger as the series went on.
For the series, Smolinski went 9-for-9 with four doubles, three home runs and nine RBI.
Definitely, one of many K-State players who are Big 12 Player of the Week worthy.
All the sudden, Smolinski finished this past weekend's series against SIUE leading the team with a .464 batting average (13-for-28) with four doubles, four home runs, 15 RBI, a team-leading 1.621 OPS, a team-leading 1.036 slugging percentage and a team-leading .585 on-base percentage.
"I wouldn't say anything has changed," Smolinski says. "I've always just tried to do what I could with the opportunities I had and stayed confident going into every day, trying not to look at the past or the future, and just staying present in the moment."
But there was a time when Smolinski did look to the future. He was a middle-schooler in Nebraska, realized that he was more talented than most of the kids, and he believed that baseball could take him places. It began with his first piece of recruiting correspondence. Boston College showed interest in him. He was a high school freshman. It continued on. More Division I schools jumped on board. Then things paused that summer day before his junior year. He and his coaches and teammates on the Gretna High School varsity baseball team traveled to Manhattan and practiced at Tointon Family Stadium. He saw Hughes and Wates and recruiting coordinator Ryan Connolly observing practice.
Then things got different.
"I worked out, talked to them afterward, and had a phone call with Coach Hughes," Smolinski says. "I decided on my college pretty quick after that."
What separated K-State from the other programs?
"It was an instant connection with all the coaches," Smolinski says. "The relationship we built was really quick."
Last season as a freshman, Smolinski hit .250 with four hits, one home run and five RBI to go along with three runs scored. He had a .350 on-base percentage and slugged .438. His first collegiate start? That was different. He went 2-for-3 with a solo home run and two RBI against William & Mary on March 6, 2025 — exactly one year to the day of this sophomore breakout performance against SIUE.
"Growth, maturity, patience," Hughes says. "It is really hard to be productive in college baseball coming in from the high school ranks. The average age of our team is 22 ½ years old, and you ask an 18-year-old to come in with no experience at the Power 4 level to be productive and it's difficult. How do you get better? You're mature enough to understand the landscape and get better in your practices and early work. Your batting practices is where you make your biggest jump in growth. You're not going to have your name in that lineup that day, but you still have to get better. That's the challenge."
Smolinski met it head on during this offseason. He played 37 games for Tri-State of the Appy League, slashing .258/.381/.433 with 31 hits. He had seven doubles, one trip and four home runs for a .814 OPS. He also drove in 20 RBI and stole nine bases with 25 runs scored.
Back in Manhattan, he got with the cheat code — Austin Wates.
"I worked with Coach Wates a lot," Smolinski says. "He's awesome when it comes to swinging. There were little tweaks to my swing to make from last year to this year. I worked on those over the summer and made those adjustments and kept working on them this fall. That was big going into this year."
The hard work is paying off. And hard work? That's not different. That hasn't changed.
"He's the ultimate team guy, he's a work-a-holic, so it was just a matter of time," Hughes says. "Physically, he's changed in a year. Sometimes, you learn the game and take your biggest strides when you're sitting on the bench watching it, because it's not as fast as you think it is."
Sometimes, everything slows down. Sometimes, everything stops. Just Smolinski and the ball. Four at-bats. Four hits. That kind of night.
"I'm just proudest of how I've been able to handle adversity," Smolinski says. "This game is a tough sport. Going into my freshman year last year, I played summer ball, didn't have the best summer, and I was like, 'This is different. This is a different game than I've been playing.'"
Now he certainly looks at home at the plate. Once utilized on a limited basis as a freshman, he's darned near at the head of the table. And he's just a sophomore.
After recording eight hits in his entire career, Smolinski had nine hits in three days.
With four doubles.
And with three home runs.
And with nine RBI.
Better stock up on the eye black, Smolinski.
That college baseball spotlight can grow pretty bright.
Players Mentioned
INF
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