Stillwater, OK. (K-State Athletics) – No. 15 K-State sets out for the final road trip of the regular season this weekend when the Wildcats take on No. 13 Oklahoma State in a crucial Big 12 series starting on Friday at 6 p.m. inside O’Brate Stadium.
Game two of the Top 15 matchup in Stillwater is set to start at 6 p.m. with the series finale following at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
Both teams enter the weekend tied second in the league standings at 11-7 with each ranked in the Top 15 of the Collegiate Baseball poll.
Sophomore Raphael Pelletier was named to the Buster Posey Catcher of the Year Watch List as one of just three members from the league represented in the list.
Owen Boerema (6-1) will get Friday’s call with the left-hander making his 13th start as a Wildcat going against the Cowboys’ Juaron Watts-Brown. German Fajardo (3-2) will head to the hill Saturday facing right-hander Ben Abram.
The entire series will be streamed on the Big 12 Now 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.
GAME #50
K-STATE (31-18, 11-7 Big 12) vs. OKLAHOMA STATE (33-14, 11-7 Big 12)
Friday, May 12 | 6 p.m. | O’Brate Stadium (8,000)
Projected Starters: LHP Owen Boerema vs. Juaron Watts-Brown
Watch: Big 12 Now on ESPN+
Radio: 1350AM/93.3/93.7FM
Listen Online: kstatesports.com/watch
Live Stats | Tickets
GAME #51
K-STATE (31-18, 11-7 Big 12) vs. OKLAHOMA STATE (33-14, 11-7 Big 12)
Saturday, May 13 | 6 p.m. | O’Brate Stadium (8,000)
Projected Starters: RHP German Fajardo vs. RHP Ben Abram
Watch: Big 12 Now on ESPN+
Radio: 1350AM/93.3/93.7FM
Listen Online: kstatesports.com/watch
Live Stats | Tickets
GAME #52
K-STATE (31-18, 11-7 Big 12) vs. OKLAHOMA STATE (33-14, 11-7 Big 12)
Sunday, May 14 | 1 p.m. | O’Brate Stadium (8,000)
Projected Starters: TBD vs. TBD
Watch: Big 12 Now on ESPN+
Radio: 1350AM/93.3/93.7FM
Listen Online: kstatesports.com/watch
Live Stats | Tickets
A LOOK AT K-STATE
The Wildcats enter the week ranked 15th in the Collegiate Baseball Top 30 Poll with a 31-18 overall after sweeping Southeast Missouri State … Cats are 13-9 when playing on the road … K-State is slashing .270/.397/.460 as a team which includes 77 doubles, 10 triples and 70 home runs with two starters hitting over .300 … K-State ranks fifth in the nation in walks with 304 which ranks seventh in the school all-time leaderboard … The Cats rank 18th in the nation in sacrifice flies (29) and 17th in stolen bases (101) … Brady Day leads the offense hitting .348 followed by Kaelen Culpepper hitting .304 … Roberto Pena has launched 15 homers this season followed by Nick Goodwin with 11 while Pena ranks second in the Big 12 with 55 RBI … Goodwin and Brendan Jones have started in all 49 games for K-State at shortstop and center field… Jones ranks second in the league with 24 stolen bases … Goodwin is seventh in the nation in sac flies with seven … The Wildcats have a league third-best 4.72 team ERA with 429 strikeouts compared to 177 walks … K-State ranks second In the league with a 2.42 strikeout-to-walk ratio while leading in walks per nine innings at 3.75 and fewest walks allowed … Sixteen pitchers have made appearances on the mound with German Fajardo making a team-high 13 starts … Left-hander Owen Boerema ranks second in the league with 80 total strikeouts while the Minnesota product is just one-of-six pitchers to strikeout 12+ in a single game … Pete Hughes is in his fifth season at the helm and has compiled an 129-110 (.540) record during his time with Wildcats … Hughes is 781-602-3 (.565) in his 26 years as a head coach …
SCOUTING OKLAHOMA STATE
OSU enters the weekend ranked in four of the national polls, coming in as high as 13th with an overall 33-14 record and 23-6 when playing at home … Josh Holliday is in his 11th season at the helm of the Cowboys baseball program boasting a record of 395-213-2 (.649) leading the team to nine NCAA Tournament appearances including the 2016 College World Series … OSU is slashing .305/.409/.551 averaging 8.5 runs a game on 10.4 hits … The Cowboys have totaled 215 extra-base hits including a conference leading 87 homers … Four starters are hitting over .300 led by Roc Riggio … The two-time Big 12 Player of the Week is hitting .357 on the year with 51 RBI and 55 runs scored … Fifteen players have sent one out of the park this season led by Riggio with 16 to go along with a team-high .754 slugging-percentage … On the mound, OSU has a 5.29 team ERA with opponents hitting .263 with a 2.47 strikeout-to-walk ratio … Right-hander Ben Abram has earned six victories on the mound this year over 13 appearances with 10 starts … Juaron Watts-Brown has struck out 10+ batters on four occasions this season including a season-high 13 against Utah Tech … Last season, the Cowboys finished 42-22 to host the NCAA Stillwater Regional before their season came to an end with a 7-3 decision against Arkansas in the finals …
INSIDE THE SERIES
OSU leads the all-time series 176-59 since its start on 1911 including a 52-19 record in Big 12 action … The Cats are 17-101 when playing the Cowboys on the road … OSU claimed the regular-season series 2-1 in 2022 in Manhattan …The Cats last series win over the Red Cowboys came in 2010 inside Tointon Family Stadium where K-State with a 3-0 clean sweep … K-State last won a series in Stillwater 2-0 in 2009 … K-State is 1-9 in the last 10 …
L, 2-4 – March 27, 2021 (Stillwater)
L, 2-8 – March 28, 2021 (Stillwater)
L, 9-12 – April 1, 2022 (Manhattan)
L, 6-8 – April 2, 2022 (Manhattan)
W, 7-2 – April 3, 2022 (Manhattan)
AROUND THE LEAGUE
The West Virginia Mountaineers (37-12) lead the league with an 13-5 record followed by Oklahoma State (33-14) and K-State (31-18) tied for second at 11-7 … Texas (33-17, 12-9) ranks fourth followed by Texas Tech (34-16, 9-9), Oklahoma (26-22, 5-4), TCU (27-21, 8-10), Kansas (22-26, 7-14), and Baylor (16-32, 6-15) …
THE BIG 12 TOURNAMENT
The 2023 Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship will again be held at the home of the Texas Rangers, Globe Life Field, for the second straight season in Arlington, Texas, May 24 through May 28 … The top-eight teams from the conference will advance to the tournament … All-tournament tickets for the 2023 Phillips 66 Big 12 Baseball Championship at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas are on sale at GlobeLifeField.com/Big12 … The 2023 NCAA Baseball Tournament begins June 2.
A SEASON OF FIRSTS
Wildcats reached 30-wins for the first time since 2021; 17th time in program history … Roberto Pena became just the third player since 1997 to have a 15-plus home run season joining Dylan Phillips and Zach Kokoska in 2021 … K-State matched a program record 13 wins on the road after defeating UC Irvine … The Cats last won 13 road games in 2013 … The Wildcats’ Dillons Sunflower Showdown series sweep was the first road sweep over KU since 2013 … The 2023 team was the fastest team to nine conference wins in program history … Fastest team to 24 overall wins since 2013 … K-State completed its first sweep over Oklahoma at home since 1990 … The sweep over the Sooners marked the first Big 12 series sweep since 2013 … K-State was the first member of the Big 12 to reach nine conference victories this season … First time in 123-years of K-State baseball history the Wildcats led off the season with a four-game road series sweep …
CRACKIN’ THE POLLS
K-State jumped to 15th in the latest edition of the Collegiate Baseball’s Top 30 poll on Monday morning … The Cats made the first appearance in a national poll since 2014 last week at No. 22 … The Cats are receiving votes in the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) …
WELCOME TO THE NEIGHBORHOOD
Right-handed closer Tyson Neighbors has been dominating on the mound for the Cats this season, totaling nine saves and a 4-1 record … The sophomore ranks 10th all-time in K-State history with nine career saves and leads the Big 12 in the category … In the series opener against Texas Tech, Neighbors broke the school’s TrackMan-era pitch velocity record at 99 mph … Neighbors was named to the NCBWA Stopper of the Year Midseason Watch List …
BRING OUT THE BROOMS
K-State has swept five three-plus game series this season including two Big 12 foes which marks the first since 2013 … The Cats are 16-0 in the five series and have outscored opponents 168-78 (+90) … The Wildcats plated 21 runs in the series finale against the KU Jayhawks in the highest-scoring game in series history to complete the Showdown sweep … K-State is the only program in the Big 12 to have two conference sweeps this season …
KEEP AN EYE ON 25
Junior Nick Goodwin was named to the 2023 College Baseball Foundation Brooks Wallace Award Watch List … The award honors the nation’s top shortstop and will be presented by the College Baseball Foundation later this year … Goodwin, a junior from Overland Park, Kan., ranks seventh in the nation with seven sacrifice flies while ranking 10th in the league with 48 RBI … At the plate, the Overland Park native has a slash line of .286/.403/.524 to go with seven doubles, two triples, and 11 homers … Goodwin hit his 32nd career home runs in the Cats victory over SEMO to tie fourth overall in the K-State all-time leaderboard … He was one of seven shortstops from the Big 12 represented on the watch list …
GOT HEEEEM
Raphael Pelletier was just one of three pitchers from the Big 12 to be tabbed to the Buster Posey Catcher of the Year Watch List … The sophomore continues to be a threat behind the plate as right-handed catcher from Mascouche, Quebec, Canada has gunned down a league-high 15 runners this season for an impressive .516 SBA percentage … As a team, K-State is second in the league in caught stealing with 24 runners thrown out while having the lowest SBA percentage at .425 …
ON THE ROAD AGAIN
K-State is 13-12 when playing on the road and 13-9 when playing in true away games as the visiting team including 5-4 in Big 12 road games … On the road, the Wildcat offense is slashing .263/.384/.433 including 38 doubles, five triples and 32 home runs … K-State has averaged 6.7 runs a game on 8.9 hits when on the road … Three Wildcats are hitting over .300 on the road with Brady Day, Kaelen Culpepper and Raphael Pelletier … Day leads the offense on the road hitting .350 with 28 hits including five extra-base hits and nine RBI … Cole Johnson leads with 26 RBI on the road while Nick Goodwin has launched seven homers on the road… The Wildcat bullpen has boasted a 5.44 ERA on the road, striking out 227 compared to 97 walks … Eight Cats have earned a victory on the road led by Kyler Heyne with three while Tyson Neighbors has a team-high five saves … Neighbors has made an appearance in 13 road games this season followed by Ty Ruhl with 11 …
WALK THE WALK
The Cats rank fifth in the nation in walks with 304, averaging 6.2 per contest … Brady Day ranks 16th in the nation in walks and third in the Big 12 with a team-high 45 … K-State has registered double figure walks in eight games this season … The Cats had 16 walks against Youngstown State (March 10) which was nine short of matching the Division I all-time record … K-States’ 304 walks rank seventh in the all-time program single-season records … The Wildcats all-time single-season walks record was set in 1995 with 382 …
GOTTA BE QUICKER THAN THAT
K-State has caused trouble on the base path for opponents, stealing a 101 bases which ranks 16th in all Division I and second in the Big 12 while sitting 24th with 2.06 stolen bases per game … Brendan Jones has been the speedster for the Cats lineup with 24 stolen bases which is second in the Big 12 and 29th among all Division I players … The Cats stole a season-high 11 bases against Youngstown State … The K-State single-season record is 149 set in 2009 thru 62 games …
THE LONG BALL
K-State has launched 70 balls out of the park this season which ranks third in the Big 12 … Eleven players have recorded multiple homers this season led by Roberto Pena with 15 … Nick Goodwin leads the current career leaderboard with 32 which ties fourth on the all-time leaderboard … Four players have hit multiple homers in a single game with Kaelen Culpepper, Cole Johnson, Orlando Salinas, Jr., and Pena who has two … Brendan Jones hit the Cats only game leadoff home run in the series opener against the West Virginia … K-State hit back-to-back home runs for the third time this season against Wichita State by Culpepper and Pena … Five Wildcats have hit grand slams this season with the last coming from Brendan Jones against SEMO (May 6) … Johnson and Pena each launched a grand slam against SFA (Feb. 20) to mark the first time since 2010 where two Wildcats posted grand slams in the same game … Just 16 homers have been against left-handed pitchers, 35 are solo shots while 20 have come with two outs … The Wildcats sent five deep and out in the series finale against No. 24 West Virginia marking the fourth time in the Hughes era, and second this season … The five home runs were just short two of matching a program record seven …
LAST TIME OUT
K-State collected its first 30-plus win season after sweeping Southeast Missouri State in a three-game set last weekend … After capturing a one-run triumph, the Cats defeated the Redhawks 12-5 before grabbing a 10-0 shutout to earn the sweep … K-State outscored SEMO 24-6 slashing .303/.407/.685 … Roberto Pena led the offense with an incredible slash line of .833/.909/2.500 with one double and three home runs … Six Wildcats launched one of the nine homers over the walls at Tointon … K-State committed no errors in the series … The pitching staff boasted a 2.16 ERA with 20 strikeouts to seven walks, limiting the Redhawks to hit just .174 …
A LOOK AT THE NUMBERS
K-State has a season +105 run differential through 49 games averaging 7.4 runs on 8.9 hits … The Wildcats have outscored opponents 57-26 in the second inning alone and 122-55 (+67) from the seventh and on … Cats are 21-3 when leading after the sixth and 4-0 when tied after six … K-State is 17-11 when committing no errors in a game … Conversely, K-State has won 14 games when one or more errors are committed, 14-7 overall … The Wildcats are 23-6 when scoring first and 9-7 when scoring in the first inning … K-State has outhit opponents in 26 contests this season and is 5-18 when being outhit … The Cats are 22-4 when limiting opponents to five or less runs and are 8-6 in one-run games… K-State is 24-11 when playing afternoon games and 7-7 when playing under the lights … The Cats have won 23 games against right-handed starters while going 8-6 against lefties …
FROM THE ‘PEN
Under the guidance pitching coach Rudy Darrow, the Cats pitching staff has produced a 4.72 ERA which ranks third in the Big 12 with outings from 16 different players this season … The Wildcats have struck out 429 batters this season compared to 177 walks, averaging 9.1 strikeouts per nine innings which ranks fourth in the Big 12 … K-State’s pitching staff ranks second in the league with a 2.42 strikeout-to-walk ratio … The Cats lead the league in fewest walks allowed per nine innings at 3.75 and fewest allowed overall … Six players have earned at least three victories on the mound led by newcomer Owen Boerema with six … Boerema earned his sixth victory in the series opener against SEMO … The Litchfield, Minn., product is one of six players to strikeout 12+ batters in a single-game after fanning 12 against No. 21 Texas (April 7), ranks second in the league with 80 total strikeouts… Right-hander German Fajardo has made a team-high 13 starts on the mound this season, ranking eighth in DI … Four different players have earned a save this year led by sophomore Tyson Neighbors with a league-high nine which is the 13th-best in D1…
UP NEXT
K-State will return to Tointon Family Stadium to wrap up the 2023 regular season against TCU on May 17-20. The Cats and Horned Frogs’ three-game set is scheduled to begin on Thursday, May 18 at 6 p.m. The series will be streamed on the Big 12 Now on ESPN+ and the ESPN app with radio coverage on News Radio KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM). Live streaming audio will be available at kstatesports.com/watch and the K-State Sports app.
How to follow the ‘Cats: Stay up to date on K-State baseball online at www.kstatesports.com and on the team’s social media channels on Twitter and Instagram.
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Kansas State University, the nation’s first operational land-grant institution and a Carnegie Foundation Tier One university, is recognized as one of the nation’s best colleges with world-class research and academic excellence located in America’s No. 1 College Town (Manhattan, KS).
