Friday, March 12
Houston, TX
12 p.m.
Kansas State University
vs
Northern Illinois
K-State Heads to Houston to Face NIU, Rice
Mar 11, 2021 | Baseball
MANHATTAN, Kan. – After an eight-game homestand, the K-State Wildcats will travel to Houston for four games over three days against the Northern Illinois Huskies and Rice Owls at Reckling Park beginning Friday.
K-State (8-4) will face NIU (1-6) Friday at 12 p.m. and again Saturday at 11 a.m. The Cats will meet Rice (5-6) for the nightcap of a Saturday doubleheader at 4 p.m., with the weekend wrapping up against the Owls on Sunday at 2 p.m.
Kasey Ford will get the call in the series opener Friday, with Carson Seymour taking the hill in the first game on Saturday against NIU. Saturday afternoon against Rice, the Wildcats will send Jordan Wicks to the bump while Connor McCullough will start the series finale Sunday.
All four games will have radio coverage available on News Radio KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) with live streaming audio available for both games at K-StateSports.com/watch. K-State's contests against Rice will stream on C-USA.TV at ConferenceUSA.com/watch.
GAME #13
K-STATE (8-4) vs. NORTHERN ILLINOIS (1-6)
Friday, March 12 // 12 p.m. // Reckling Park (6,193) // Houston, Texas
Projected Starters: RHP Kasey Ford (1-0, 0.75 ERA) vs. RHP Michael Lasiewicz (0-1, 9.00 ERA)
Watch: N/A
Radio: KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) // Matt Walters, Christopher Brown
Listen Online: K-StateSports.com/watch // 1350KMAN.com
Live Stats
GAME #14
K-STATE (8-4) vs. NORTHERN ILLINOIS (1-6)
Saturday, March 13 // 11 a.m. // Reckling Park (6,193) // Houston, Texas
Projected Starters: RHP Carson Seymour (1-1, 5.54 ERA) vs. RHP Brandon McPherson (0-1, 5.79 ERA)
Watch: N/A
Radio: KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) // Matt Walters, Christopher Brown
Listen Online: K-StateSports.com/watch // 1350KMAN.com
Live Stats
GAME #15
K-STATE (8-4) at RICE (5-6)
Saturday, March 13 // 4 p.m. // Reckling Park (6,193) // Houston, Texas
Projected Starters: LHP Jordan Wicks (2-0, 1.89 ERA) vs. RHP Roel Garcia (1-0, 2.77 ERA)
Watch: C-USA.TV
Radio: KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) // Matt Walters, Christopher Brown
Listen Online: K-StateSports.com/watch // 1350KMAN.com
Live Stats
GAME #16
K-STATE (8-4) at RICE (5-6)
Sunday, March 14 // 2 p.m. // Reckling Park (6,193) // Houston, Texas
Projected Starters: RHP Connor McCullough (1-0, 1.00 ERA) vs. TBA
Watch: C-USA.TV
Radio: KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) // Matt Walters, Christopher Brown
Listen Online: K-StateSports.com/watch // 1350KMAN.com
Live Stats
A LOOK AT K-STATE
K-State heads to Houston, Texas, for four games in three days against Northern Illinois and Rice at Reckling Park ... The Wildcats finished an eight-game homestand, going 6-2 after a two-game midweek sweep of South Dakota State ... The Cats belted six home runs in a 15-4 win Tuesday before launching three more in a 10-0 victory in the finale ... Dylan Phillips connected on three home runs over the two games, including two on Wednesday ... Daniel Carinci and Zach Kokoska each hit a pair on Tuesday to help K-State reach its highest single-game home run total since 2006 ... Caleb Littlejim struck a career-high eight over four scoreless innings in his start on Wednesday, as the bullpen logged four shutout frames to go with 16 total strikeouts ... Over two games, nine Wildcats combined for 31 strikeouts while allowing just one earned run in the series sweep ... The K-State offense tallied 19 home runs over its eight-game homestand, led by Kokoska with five.
SCOUTING NORTHERN ILLINOIS
Northern Illinois (1-6) enters the weekend on a four-game skid after dropping all four games at UTRGV last weekend ... The Huskies' offense is paced by Kam Smith, who has a .435 average along with two homers in six RBI ... Brady Huebbe is hitting .381 with a team-high four doubles to go with a triple and a home run for a .810 slugging percentage ... Opponents are hitting .299 against NIU pitchers, who have recorded 48 strikeouts and 35 walks ... Connor Langreder has a team-high 12 strikeouts over 7 2/3 innings to go with a 1-1 record.
SCOUTING RICE
Rice (5-6) has split its last six contests after a 3-1 win over Houston Baptist on Tuesday ... The Owls are 4-1 at Reckling Park this season ... Bradley Gneiting leads Rice with his .350 average, two home runs and 11 RBI ... Braden Corneauz boasts a .317 average with a double, triple and five RBI ... The Owls pitching staff has a 5.36 earned run average with 85 strikeouts in 94 innings ... Roel Garcia is 1-0 in three starts with a 2.77 ERA and a team-high 19 strikeouts in 14 2/3 innings.
INSIDE THE SERIES
K-State is 2-0 all-time against Northern Illinois and 1-3 in its history against Rice ... The Wildcats swept a two-game midweek series with NIU at Tointon Family Stadium in 2019, winning 9-6 and 8-3 ... The Cats and Owls last faced each other in the 2009 Houston Regional, where the teams met three times ... K-State finished as the regional runner-up after falling to Rice, 13-4, in the final game of the regional ... The Cats defeated the Owls 7-6 in the first matchup of the 2009 regional before losing back-to-back games, ending their postseason run ... All four matchups against Rice have been on the road.
THE COMPASS TOUR CONTINUES
K-State is in the midst of 10 consecutive games against teams with a direction in its name: Western Michigan, Eastern Illinois, South Dakota State, Northern Illinois ... So far on the tour, the Wildcats are 6-2 with three wins over WMU, one over EIU and two over SDSU ... During the eight-game stretch, the Cats offense is hitting .315 with 36 extra-base hits, including 19 home runs ... Phillips has a team-high .444 average with three homers and 10 RBI ... Kokoska homered five times while Goodwin has four bombs over the last eight games ... Eckberg has appeared four times in that span and has earned two saves ... Wicks has 18 strikeouts against one walk over 12 innings.
FAMILY REUNION
K-State head coach Pete Hughes will have three of his four sons involved in this weekend's series ... Hughes' son, Hal, is a junior infielder at Rice while Dom is a freshman outfielder for the Wildcats ... His oldest son, Thomas, is a volunteer assistant on the K-State coaching staff and played his senior year at K-State in 2019 ... Hal, a transfer from LSU in his first season for the Owls, is hitting .171 with a double and four RBI in 11 games this season ... Dom has made two starts in the outfield this season for the Cats, going 1-for-11 with a walk, run batted in and a run scored.
POWER SURGE
After going without a home run in the season's opening weekend (four games), the Wildcats erupted for 19 home runs over the last eight games ... Junior Zach Kokoska leads the way with five homers while freshman Nick Goodwin has four ... Kokoska and Carinci each lifted two home runs in a 15-4 win over SDSU Tuesday, as the Wildcats hit six long balls in the win ... The six homers was one shy of tying the program's single-game record and are the most hit in a game since the 2006 season ... Phillips produced his third career multi-homer game with two home runs against the Jackrabbits Wednesday, to give K-State three multi-home run efforts in the last two games ... Kokoska and Thompson went back to back in the third inning Sunday vs. Eastern Illinois, marking the first time the Cats have gone back to back since April 19, 2019 ... In total, K-State has five players with 10 or more career homers, led by Dylan Phillips' 18.
WHAMMER HAMMER
Going back to last season, Dylan Phillips has reached base safely in 23 consecutive games - a career-best streak ... Phillips has recorded a base hit in 21 of his last 23 games, including eight multi-hit efforts ... With 15 runs batted in this season, Phillips has driven in 27 runs over his last 20 games while recording an RBI in 16 of his last 20 contests ... The two-way star has registered an RBI in seven straight contests and is the team leader in career home runs with 18.
WICKY WICKY YEAH
K-State lefty Jordan Wicks racked up the preseason honors, including being named the 2021 Big 12 Co-Preseason Pitcher of the Year ... Wicks was tabbed a preseason all-American by D1Baseball, Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball and NCBWA ... The Conway, Ark., product is K-State's first preseason all-America nod since 2014 and the first Big 12 preseason of-the-year award winner ... Wicks was also one of 55 named to USA Baseball's Golden Spikes Award Watch List, which recognizes the nation's premier amateur player ... Following his 10-strikeout, seven scoreless innings against Oregon State, Wicks was named Big 12 Pitcher of the week and National Pitcher of the Week by the NCBWA ... Wicks struck out 10 more hitters against WMU and eight against EIU in his last start ... Wicks ranks second in the Big 12 with his 28 strikeouts ... Dating back to last season, Wicks has allowed five earned runs over 45 innings (1.15 ERA) with 54 strikeouts ... Wicks has 18 strikeouts against one walk over his last 12 innings (two starts).
GOODWIN? MORE LIKE REALLY GOODWIN
K-State true freshman Nick Goodwin has done it all for the Wildcats through the season's first three weeks, leading the team in steals (5) and runs (11) while ranking second in hits (15), extra-base hits (8), RBI (13) and doubles (4) ... The Overland Park product strung together three straight multi-hit games against Western Michigan and has put together a five-game hitting streak ... Goodwin has reached base in 11 of 12 games this season and has a hit in 10 contests ... He currently ranks in the Big 12's top 10 in hits, home runs, RBI, total bases and steals.
IT'S NOT HOW YOU START
Wildcat starting pitchers this season have posted a 2.12 earned run average, allowing 15 earned runs over 63 2/3 innings with 70 strikeouts against 25 walks ... The K-State bullpen owns an ERA of 5.56 with 27 earned runs in 43 2/3 frames, with 41 strikeouts against 27 walks ... The K-State pen held South Dakota State scoreless over 10 innings over the two games, and now have a scoreless streak of 11 innings ... The Cats totaled 31 strikeouts over two games vs. SDSU, punching out 15 Tuesday before a season-high 16 on Wednesday ... The Cats allowed one earned run in two games against SDSU, good for a 0.50 ERA ... In the month of March, K-State starters are 3-1 with a 1.26 earned run average.
K-State (8-4) will face NIU (1-6) Friday at 12 p.m. and again Saturday at 11 a.m. The Cats will meet Rice (5-6) for the nightcap of a Saturday doubleheader at 4 p.m., with the weekend wrapping up against the Owls on Sunday at 2 p.m.
Kasey Ford will get the call in the series opener Friday, with Carson Seymour taking the hill in the first game on Saturday against NIU. Saturday afternoon against Rice, the Wildcats will send Jordan Wicks to the bump while Connor McCullough will start the series finale Sunday.
All four games will have radio coverage available on News Radio KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) with live streaming audio available for both games at K-StateSports.com/watch. K-State's contests against Rice will stream on C-USA.TV at ConferenceUSA.com/watch.
GAME #13
K-STATE (8-4) vs. NORTHERN ILLINOIS (1-6)
Friday, March 12 // 12 p.m. // Reckling Park (6,193) // Houston, Texas
Projected Starters: RHP Kasey Ford (1-0, 0.75 ERA) vs. RHP Michael Lasiewicz (0-1, 9.00 ERA)
Watch: N/A
Radio: KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) // Matt Walters, Christopher Brown
Listen Online: K-StateSports.com/watch // 1350KMAN.com
Live Stats
GAME #14
K-STATE (8-4) vs. NORTHERN ILLINOIS (1-6)
Saturday, March 13 // 11 a.m. // Reckling Park (6,193) // Houston, Texas
Projected Starters: RHP Carson Seymour (1-1, 5.54 ERA) vs. RHP Brandon McPherson (0-1, 5.79 ERA)
Watch: N/A
Radio: KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) // Matt Walters, Christopher Brown
Listen Online: K-StateSports.com/watch // 1350KMAN.com
Live Stats
GAME #15
K-STATE (8-4) at RICE (5-6)
Saturday, March 13 // 4 p.m. // Reckling Park (6,193) // Houston, Texas
Projected Starters: LHP Jordan Wicks (2-0, 1.89 ERA) vs. RHP Roel Garcia (1-0, 2.77 ERA)
Watch: C-USA.TV
Radio: KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) // Matt Walters, Christopher Brown
Listen Online: K-StateSports.com/watch // 1350KMAN.com
Live Stats
GAME #16
K-STATE (8-4) at RICE (5-6)
Sunday, March 14 // 2 p.m. // Reckling Park (6,193) // Houston, Texas
Projected Starters: RHP Connor McCullough (1-0, 1.00 ERA) vs. TBA
Watch: C-USA.TV
Radio: KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) // Matt Walters, Christopher Brown
Listen Online: K-StateSports.com/watch // 1350KMAN.com
Live Stats
A LOOK AT K-STATE
K-State heads to Houston, Texas, for four games in three days against Northern Illinois and Rice at Reckling Park ... The Wildcats finished an eight-game homestand, going 6-2 after a two-game midweek sweep of South Dakota State ... The Cats belted six home runs in a 15-4 win Tuesday before launching three more in a 10-0 victory in the finale ... Dylan Phillips connected on three home runs over the two games, including two on Wednesday ... Daniel Carinci and Zach Kokoska each hit a pair on Tuesday to help K-State reach its highest single-game home run total since 2006 ... Caleb Littlejim struck a career-high eight over four scoreless innings in his start on Wednesday, as the bullpen logged four shutout frames to go with 16 total strikeouts ... Over two games, nine Wildcats combined for 31 strikeouts while allowing just one earned run in the series sweep ... The K-State offense tallied 19 home runs over its eight-game homestand, led by Kokoska with five.
SCOUTING NORTHERN ILLINOIS
Northern Illinois (1-6) enters the weekend on a four-game skid after dropping all four games at UTRGV last weekend ... The Huskies' offense is paced by Kam Smith, who has a .435 average along with two homers in six RBI ... Brady Huebbe is hitting .381 with a team-high four doubles to go with a triple and a home run for a .810 slugging percentage ... Opponents are hitting .299 against NIU pitchers, who have recorded 48 strikeouts and 35 walks ... Connor Langreder has a team-high 12 strikeouts over 7 2/3 innings to go with a 1-1 record.
SCOUTING RICE
Rice (5-6) has split its last six contests after a 3-1 win over Houston Baptist on Tuesday ... The Owls are 4-1 at Reckling Park this season ... Bradley Gneiting leads Rice with his .350 average, two home runs and 11 RBI ... Braden Corneauz boasts a .317 average with a double, triple and five RBI ... The Owls pitching staff has a 5.36 earned run average with 85 strikeouts in 94 innings ... Roel Garcia is 1-0 in three starts with a 2.77 ERA and a team-high 19 strikeouts in 14 2/3 innings.
INSIDE THE SERIES
K-State is 2-0 all-time against Northern Illinois and 1-3 in its history against Rice ... The Wildcats swept a two-game midweek series with NIU at Tointon Family Stadium in 2019, winning 9-6 and 8-3 ... The Cats and Owls last faced each other in the 2009 Houston Regional, where the teams met three times ... K-State finished as the regional runner-up after falling to Rice, 13-4, in the final game of the regional ... The Cats defeated the Owls 7-6 in the first matchup of the 2009 regional before losing back-to-back games, ending their postseason run ... All four matchups against Rice have been on the road.
THE COMPASS TOUR CONTINUES
K-State is in the midst of 10 consecutive games against teams with a direction in its name: Western Michigan, Eastern Illinois, South Dakota State, Northern Illinois ... So far on the tour, the Wildcats are 6-2 with three wins over WMU, one over EIU and two over SDSU ... During the eight-game stretch, the Cats offense is hitting .315 with 36 extra-base hits, including 19 home runs ... Phillips has a team-high .444 average with three homers and 10 RBI ... Kokoska homered five times while Goodwin has four bombs over the last eight games ... Eckberg has appeared four times in that span and has earned two saves ... Wicks has 18 strikeouts against one walk over 12 innings.
FAMILY REUNION
K-State head coach Pete Hughes will have three of his four sons involved in this weekend's series ... Hughes' son, Hal, is a junior infielder at Rice while Dom is a freshman outfielder for the Wildcats ... His oldest son, Thomas, is a volunteer assistant on the K-State coaching staff and played his senior year at K-State in 2019 ... Hal, a transfer from LSU in his first season for the Owls, is hitting .171 with a double and four RBI in 11 games this season ... Dom has made two starts in the outfield this season for the Cats, going 1-for-11 with a walk, run batted in and a run scored.
POWER SURGE
After going without a home run in the season's opening weekend (four games), the Wildcats erupted for 19 home runs over the last eight games ... Junior Zach Kokoska leads the way with five homers while freshman Nick Goodwin has four ... Kokoska and Carinci each lifted two home runs in a 15-4 win over SDSU Tuesday, as the Wildcats hit six long balls in the win ... The six homers was one shy of tying the program's single-game record and are the most hit in a game since the 2006 season ... Phillips produced his third career multi-homer game with two home runs against the Jackrabbits Wednesday, to give K-State three multi-home run efforts in the last two games ... Kokoska and Thompson went back to back in the third inning Sunday vs. Eastern Illinois, marking the first time the Cats have gone back to back since April 19, 2019 ... In total, K-State has five players with 10 or more career homers, led by Dylan Phillips' 18.
WHAMMER HAMMER
Going back to last season, Dylan Phillips has reached base safely in 23 consecutive games - a career-best streak ... Phillips has recorded a base hit in 21 of his last 23 games, including eight multi-hit efforts ... With 15 runs batted in this season, Phillips has driven in 27 runs over his last 20 games while recording an RBI in 16 of his last 20 contests ... The two-way star has registered an RBI in seven straight contests and is the team leader in career home runs with 18.
WICKY WICKY YEAH
K-State lefty Jordan Wicks racked up the preseason honors, including being named the 2021 Big 12 Co-Preseason Pitcher of the Year ... Wicks was tabbed a preseason all-American by D1Baseball, Baseball America, Collegiate Baseball and NCBWA ... The Conway, Ark., product is K-State's first preseason all-America nod since 2014 and the first Big 12 preseason of-the-year award winner ... Wicks was also one of 55 named to USA Baseball's Golden Spikes Award Watch List, which recognizes the nation's premier amateur player ... Following his 10-strikeout, seven scoreless innings against Oregon State, Wicks was named Big 12 Pitcher of the week and National Pitcher of the Week by the NCBWA ... Wicks struck out 10 more hitters against WMU and eight against EIU in his last start ... Wicks ranks second in the Big 12 with his 28 strikeouts ... Dating back to last season, Wicks has allowed five earned runs over 45 innings (1.15 ERA) with 54 strikeouts ... Wicks has 18 strikeouts against one walk over his last 12 innings (two starts).
GOODWIN? MORE LIKE REALLY GOODWIN
K-State true freshman Nick Goodwin has done it all for the Wildcats through the season's first three weeks, leading the team in steals (5) and runs (11) while ranking second in hits (15), extra-base hits (8), RBI (13) and doubles (4) ... The Overland Park product strung together three straight multi-hit games against Western Michigan and has put together a five-game hitting streak ... Goodwin has reached base in 11 of 12 games this season and has a hit in 10 contests ... He currently ranks in the Big 12's top 10 in hits, home runs, RBI, total bases and steals.
IT'S NOT HOW YOU START
Wildcat starting pitchers this season have posted a 2.12 earned run average, allowing 15 earned runs over 63 2/3 innings with 70 strikeouts against 25 walks ... The K-State bullpen owns an ERA of 5.56 with 27 earned runs in 43 2/3 frames, with 41 strikeouts against 27 walks ... The K-State pen held South Dakota State scoreless over 10 innings over the two games, and now have a scoreless streak of 11 innings ... The Cats totaled 31 strikeouts over two games vs. SDSU, punching out 15 Tuesday before a season-high 16 on Wednesday ... The Cats allowed one earned run in two games against SDSU, good for a 0.50 ERA ... In the month of March, K-State starters are 3-1 with a 1.26 earned run average.