Friday, April 9
Austin, TX
6:30 p.m.
Kansas State University
at
Texas
K-State Faces Road Test at No. 3 Longhorns
Apr 08, 2021 | Baseball
MANHATTAN, Kan. – The K-State Wildcats take their four-game winning streak on the road as they take on the third-ranked Texas Longhorns in a three-game series that is set to begin Friday at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.
Friday's series opener is scheduled for a 6:30 p.m. first pitch and is slated to feature the Big 12's Preseason Co-Pitchers of the Year in K-State's Jordan Wicks and Texas' Ty Madden.
Saturday, the Wildcats will start redshirt sophomore righty Carson Seymour and redshirt freshman right-hander Connor McCullough will get the call Sunday.
K-State (17-11, 2-4 Big 12) will face its third straight top-25 team to begin the conference schedule. The Cats took down No. 3 Texas Tech at Tointon Family Stadium last weekend.
Texas (22-8, 7-2 Big 12) has won its last five outings and 10 of its last 12 overall. K-State has won the last two series between the teams, taking two of three in Austin in 2019.
All three games will be broadcast on the Longhorn Network and the ESPN app. Radio coverage will be available on News Radio KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) with free, streaming audio at K-StateSports.com/watch.
GAME #29
K-STATE (17-11, 2-4 BIG 12) at #3 TEXAS (22-8, 7-2 BIG 12)
Friday, April 9 // 6:30 p.m. // UFC Disch-Falk Field // Austin, Texas
Projected Starters: LHP Jordan Wicks (4-2, 3.40 ERA) vs. RHP Ty Madden (4-1, 1.52 ERA)
Watch: Longhorn Network // ESPN app
Radio: K-State Radio Network // Matt Walters, Christopher Brown
Listen Online: K-StateSports.com/watch // 1350KMAN.com
Live Stats
GAME #30
K-STATE (17-11, 2-4 BIG 12) at #3 TEXAS (22-8, 7-2 BIG 12)
Saturday, April 10 // 2:30 p.m. // UFC Disch-Falk Field // Austin, Texas
Projected Starters: RHP Carson Seymour (2-2, 4.29 ERA) vs. RHP Tristan Stevens (1-1, 3.27 ERA)
Watch: Longhorn Network // ESPN app
Radio: K-State Radio Network // Matt Walters, Christopher Brown
Listen Online: K-StateSports.com/watch // 1350KMAN.com
Live Stats
GAME #31
K-STATE (17-11, 2-4 BIG 12) at #3 TEXAS (22-8, 7-2 BIG 12)
Sunday, April 11 // 1 p.m. // UFC Disch-Falk Field // Austin, Texas
Projected Starters: RHP Connor McCullough (2-1, 3.58 ERA) vs. RHP Kolby Kubichek (3-2, 2.91 ERA)
Watch: Longhorn Network // ESPN app
Radio: K-State Radio Network // Matt Walters, Christopher Brown
Listen Online: K-StateSports.com/watch // 1350KMAN.com
Live Stats
A LOOK AT K-STATE
K-State takes its four-game winning streak to Austin, Texas, to take on the third-ranked Texas Longhorns starting Friday ... Following its home series victory over No. 3 Texas Tech, K-State swept Arkansas-Pine Bluff in a two-game midweek series at Tointon Family Stadium ... In two run-rule shortened contests, K-State outscored UAPB 24-2 ... The Wildcats launched four homers in the two games, led by two from Dylan Phillips and Cameron Thompson ... In taking the final two games of the series against the Red Raiders, the Wildcats snapped a season-long five game losing skid and rebounded from a 17-1 drubbing in the opener Thursday night ... The Cats put up 17 runs on 23 hits after scoring just one with two base hits Thursday ... K-State tallied eight home runs in the series and claimed its first series win over TTU since 2013 and first top-five series victory since 2015 ... Chris Ceballos and Phillips each homered twice, as six different Cats registered a home run in the series ... K-State led throughout each of the last two games of the set, getting six strikeouts over 5 2/3 innings from Carson Seymour and seven strikeouts in seven frames from Connor McCullough ... Tyler Eckberg entered the game with the bases loaded in the sixth inning Friday and went on to record a 10-out save, striking out six and allowing just one base hit ... It marked Eckberg's team-leading fourth save of the season ... Zach Kokoska belted his 10th home run of the season in the series and extended his on-base streak to 24 game (career high).
SCOUTING TEXAS
No. 3 Texas (22-8, 7-2 Big 12) enters the weekend on a five-game winning streak after a pair of midweek wins over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Stephen F. Austin to go with a three-game sweep at Kansas last weekend ... The Longhorns have won 10 of their last 12 overall ... UT is led offensively by Mitchell Daly with his .380 average ... Cam Williams has a team-best eight homers and 26 RBI ... Ty Madden has struck out 55 over 47 1/3 innings and boasts a 1.52 ERA ... Madden and Wicks, the Big 12's Preseason Co-Pitchers of the Year, are slated to meet Friday night.
INSIDE THE SERIES
K-State trails the all-time series with Texas, 20-57-1 (20-47-1 Big 12) ... The Wildcats are 11-31-1 on the road in the series and took two of three games in 2019 at UFC-Disch Falk Field ... K-State has won the last two series with the Longhorns, taking two of three in both 2018 and 2019 ... The Cats have won four of the last six matchup after dropping nine of the previous 10 meetings ... In the last meeting, Jordan Wicks tossed a five-hit shutout in 2019 to clinch the series - K-State's first-ever road shutout against Texas.
AGAINST RANKED TEAMS
No. 3 Texas will mark the third straight ranked team the Wildcats will face in a weekend series after meeting No. 13 Oklahoma State and No. 3 Texas Tech to begin Big 12 play ... K-State claimed a series victory over TTU, winning the final two games of the series for its first top-five series win since 2015 and first over Tech since 2013 ... The Wildcats last won back-to-back series over a top-25 team in 2019, taking two of three games against both No. 19 TCU and No. 14 Texas ... Pete Hughes is 9-13 against ranked opponents as the head coach at K-State.
BIG BAT CATS
After going without a home run in the season's opening weekend (four games), the Wildcats have erupted for 44 home runs over the last 24 games ... Junior Zach Kokoska leads the way with 10 homers while sophomore Dylan Phillips has nine and senior Cameron Thompson has eight ... Kokoska, who ranks second in the Big 12, hit his 10th homer Thursday against TTU ... As a team, K-State has launched multiple home runs in 11 of 28 games this season, including four in the rubber game against the Red Raiders ... The Cats' six homers against South Dakota State on March 10 were one shy of tying the program's single-game record and are the most in a game since the 2006 season ... 13 different Cats have homered this season, with five players turning in a multi-homer game ... The 13 different players with a homer are the team's most since the 1998 season and are tied for the most in the country this season ... K-State's 43 home runs are sixth-most in the country and lead the Big 12.
WHAMMER HAMMER
Dylan Phillips homered twice Tuesday against UAPB, his second multi-homer game of the season and fourth of his career ... He upped his career home run total to 24, which is tied for eighth in program history ... Earlier this season, Phillips saw his career-best 32-game on-base come to an end March 27 at Oklahoma State ... Phillips has recorded a base hit in 33 of his last 39 games, including 15 multi-hit efforts ... With 35 runs batted in this season, Phillips has driven in 46 runs over his last 36 games while recording an RBI in 24 of those games ... The two-way star saw a streak of 10 consecutive games with an RBI snapped March 14 at Rice ... Phillips saw his 10-game hitting streak end March 23, as he was 18-for-37 (.486) with five homers and 16 RBI in that stretch ... His season average of .374 is good for fourth in the Big 12 while his RBI total is second ... He ranks in the league's top 10 in all three slash categories.
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 on Opening Day, Wicks was named Big 12 Pitcher of the Week and National Pitcher of the Week by the NCBWA ... Wicks leads the Big 12 with his 60 strikeouts and has reached double-digit strikeouts in three of seven starts ... Four of his seven starts this season have been quality efforts ... Dating back to last season, Wicks has allowed 17 earned runs over 68 1/3 innings (2.24 ERA) with 86 strikeouts.
GOODWIN? MORE LIKE REALLY GOODWIN
K-State true freshman Nick Goodwin has done it all for the Wildcats through the season's first seven weeks, ranking in the top three on the team in doubles (9), extra-base hits (15) and RBI (20) and leads the team with eight stolen bases ... The Overland Park product strung together three straight multi-hit games against Western Michigan and put together an eight-game hitting streak from March 5-13 ... Goodwin has reached base in 25 of 28 games this season and has a hit in 22 contests.
FROM THE PEN
Wildcat starting pitchers this season have posted a 3.22 earned run average, allowing 51 earned runs over 142 1/3 innings with 154 strikeouts against 57 walks ... The K-State bullpen owns an ERA of 4.06 (46 ER, 102.0 IP) with 115 strikeouts against 54 walks ... Over the last 18 games, Wildcat relievers have registered a 2.50 ERA (19 ER, 68.1 IP) with 94 strikeouts and 34 walks ... In the season's first 10 games, the bullpen yielded a 7.22 ERA (27 ER, 33.2 IP) with 21 strikeouts and 20 walks ... The Cats totaled 31 strikeouts over two games vs. SDSU, punching out 15 in the opener before a season-high 16 in the second game ... In the month of March, K-State starters went 5-5 with a 3.20 earned run average (29 ER, 81.2 IP) ... The pen owned a March ERA of 2.93 (19 ER, 58.1 IP), with Jaxson Passino leading the way with 13 strikeouts in eight innings ... Kasey Ford has allowed one earned run over 11 2/3 innings in three outings while Tyler Eckberg made six appearances with one earned run in seven innings during March.
ECKKKKSELLENT
Wildcat closer Tyler Eckberg collected his fourth save of the year Friday against third-ranked Texas Tech ... The Edina, Minnesota, product entered the game in the sixth inning with the bases loaded and produced a strikeout to preserve the Cats' 6-2 lead ...
Eckberg went on to complete a 10-out save ... Eckberg now has 12 saves in his career, which is tied for fourth in program history ... Over his last nine games (14 innings), he has allowed just one earned run while striking out 16.
BY TH3 NUM8ERS
K-State has a run differential of +35 and is 13-4 when scoring the game's first run ... On the season, the Wildcats are 3-for-27 with the bases loaded (.111) and have held opponents to .189 (7-for-37) with the bases loaded ... K-State is 3-for-16 (.188) with the bases full in games won and 0-for-11 in losses with the bags loaded ... Overall, the Cats are hitting .236 with runners in scoring position and .222 with two outs ... In victories, the Wildcats are hitting .286 with runners in scoring position and .282 with two gone ... In losses, K-State hits .141 with runners in scoring position and .126 with two outs ... K-State has tallied 35 two-out RBI in 17 wins and just six RBI with two outs in 11 losses ... Phillips leads the team with a .469 average with runners in scoring position.
Friday's series opener is scheduled for a 6:30 p.m. first pitch and is slated to feature the Big 12's Preseason Co-Pitchers of the Year in K-State's Jordan Wicks and Texas' Ty Madden.
Saturday, the Wildcats will start redshirt sophomore righty Carson Seymour and redshirt freshman right-hander Connor McCullough will get the call Sunday.
K-State (17-11, 2-4 Big 12) will face its third straight top-25 team to begin the conference schedule. The Cats took down No. 3 Texas Tech at Tointon Family Stadium last weekend.
Texas (22-8, 7-2 Big 12) has won its last five outings and 10 of its last 12 overall. K-State has won the last two series between the teams, taking two of three in Austin in 2019.
All three games will be broadcast on the Longhorn Network and the ESPN app. Radio coverage will be available on News Radio KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM) with free, streaming audio at K-StateSports.com/watch.
GAME #29
K-STATE (17-11, 2-4 BIG 12) at #3 TEXAS (22-8, 7-2 BIG 12)
Friday, April 9 // 6:30 p.m. // UFC Disch-Falk Field // Austin, Texas
Projected Starters: LHP Jordan Wicks (4-2, 3.40 ERA) vs. RHP Ty Madden (4-1, 1.52 ERA)
Watch: Longhorn Network // ESPN app
Radio: K-State Radio Network // Matt Walters, Christopher Brown
Listen Online: K-StateSports.com/watch // 1350KMAN.com
Live Stats
GAME #30
K-STATE (17-11, 2-4 BIG 12) at #3 TEXAS (22-8, 7-2 BIG 12)
Saturday, April 10 // 2:30 p.m. // UFC Disch-Falk Field // Austin, Texas
Projected Starters: RHP Carson Seymour (2-2, 4.29 ERA) vs. RHP Tristan Stevens (1-1, 3.27 ERA)
Watch: Longhorn Network // ESPN app
Radio: K-State Radio Network // Matt Walters, Christopher Brown
Listen Online: K-StateSports.com/watch // 1350KMAN.com
Live Stats
GAME #31
K-STATE (17-11, 2-4 BIG 12) at #3 TEXAS (22-8, 7-2 BIG 12)
Sunday, April 11 // 1 p.m. // UFC Disch-Falk Field // Austin, Texas
Projected Starters: RHP Connor McCullough (2-1, 3.58 ERA) vs. RHP Kolby Kubichek (3-2, 2.91 ERA)
Watch: Longhorn Network // ESPN app
Radio: K-State Radio Network // Matt Walters, Christopher Brown
Listen Online: K-StateSports.com/watch // 1350KMAN.com
Live Stats
A LOOK AT K-STATE
K-State takes its four-game winning streak to Austin, Texas, to take on the third-ranked Texas Longhorns starting Friday ... Following its home series victory over No. 3 Texas Tech, K-State swept Arkansas-Pine Bluff in a two-game midweek series at Tointon Family Stadium ... In two run-rule shortened contests, K-State outscored UAPB 24-2 ... The Wildcats launched four homers in the two games, led by two from Dylan Phillips and Cameron Thompson ... In taking the final two games of the series against the Red Raiders, the Wildcats snapped a season-long five game losing skid and rebounded from a 17-1 drubbing in the opener Thursday night ... The Cats put up 17 runs on 23 hits after scoring just one with two base hits Thursday ... K-State tallied eight home runs in the series and claimed its first series win over TTU since 2013 and first top-five series victory since 2015 ... Chris Ceballos and Phillips each homered twice, as six different Cats registered a home run in the series ... K-State led throughout each of the last two games of the set, getting six strikeouts over 5 2/3 innings from Carson Seymour and seven strikeouts in seven frames from Connor McCullough ... Tyler Eckberg entered the game with the bases loaded in the sixth inning Friday and went on to record a 10-out save, striking out six and allowing just one base hit ... It marked Eckberg's team-leading fourth save of the season ... Zach Kokoska belted his 10th home run of the season in the series and extended his on-base streak to 24 game (career high).
SCOUTING TEXAS
No. 3 Texas (22-8, 7-2 Big 12) enters the weekend on a five-game winning streak after a pair of midweek wins over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Stephen F. Austin to go with a three-game sweep at Kansas last weekend ... The Longhorns have won 10 of their last 12 overall ... UT is led offensively by Mitchell Daly with his .380 average ... Cam Williams has a team-best eight homers and 26 RBI ... Ty Madden has struck out 55 over 47 1/3 innings and boasts a 1.52 ERA ... Madden and Wicks, the Big 12's Preseason Co-Pitchers of the Year, are slated to meet Friday night.
INSIDE THE SERIES
K-State trails the all-time series with Texas, 20-57-1 (20-47-1 Big 12) ... The Wildcats are 11-31-1 on the road in the series and took two of three games in 2019 at UFC-Disch Falk Field ... K-State has won the last two series with the Longhorns, taking two of three in both 2018 and 2019 ... The Cats have won four of the last six matchup after dropping nine of the previous 10 meetings ... In the last meeting, Jordan Wicks tossed a five-hit shutout in 2019 to clinch the series - K-State's first-ever road shutout against Texas.
AGAINST RANKED TEAMS
No. 3 Texas will mark the third straight ranked team the Wildcats will face in a weekend series after meeting No. 13 Oklahoma State and No. 3 Texas Tech to begin Big 12 play ... K-State claimed a series victory over TTU, winning the final two games of the series for its first top-five series win since 2015 and first over Tech since 2013 ... The Wildcats last won back-to-back series over a top-25 team in 2019, taking two of three games against both No. 19 TCU and No. 14 Texas ... Pete Hughes is 9-13 against ranked opponents as the head coach at K-State.
BIG BAT CATS
After going without a home run in the season's opening weekend (four games), the Wildcats have erupted for 44 home runs over the last 24 games ... Junior Zach Kokoska leads the way with 10 homers while sophomore Dylan Phillips has nine and senior Cameron Thompson has eight ... Kokoska, who ranks second in the Big 12, hit his 10th homer Thursday against TTU ... As a team, K-State has launched multiple home runs in 11 of 28 games this season, including four in the rubber game against the Red Raiders ... The Cats' six homers against South Dakota State on March 10 were one shy of tying the program's single-game record and are the most in a game since the 2006 season ... 13 different Cats have homered this season, with five players turning in a multi-homer game ... The 13 different players with a homer are the team's most since the 1998 season and are tied for the most in the country this season ... K-State's 43 home runs are sixth-most in the country and lead the Big 12.
WHAMMER HAMMER
Dylan Phillips homered twice Tuesday against UAPB, his second multi-homer game of the season and fourth of his career ... He upped his career home run total to 24, which is tied for eighth in program history ... Earlier this season, Phillips saw his career-best 32-game on-base come to an end March 27 at Oklahoma State ... Phillips has recorded a base hit in 33 of his last 39 games, including 15 multi-hit efforts ... With 35 runs batted in this season, Phillips has driven in 46 runs over his last 36 games while recording an RBI in 24 of those games ... The two-way star saw a streak of 10 consecutive games with an RBI snapped March 14 at Rice ... Phillips saw his 10-game hitting streak end March 23, as he was 18-for-37 (.486) with five homers and 16 RBI in that stretch ... His season average of .374 is good for fourth in the Big 12 while his RBI total is second ... He ranks in the league's top 10 in all three slash categories.
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 on Opening Day, Wicks was named Big 12 Pitcher of the Week and National Pitcher of the Week by the NCBWA ... Wicks leads the Big 12 with his 60 strikeouts and has reached double-digit strikeouts in three of seven starts ... Four of his seven starts this season have been quality efforts ... Dating back to last season, Wicks has allowed 17 earned runs over 68 1/3 innings (2.24 ERA) with 86 strikeouts.
GOODWIN? MORE LIKE REALLY GOODWIN
K-State true freshman Nick Goodwin has done it all for the Wildcats through the season's first seven weeks, ranking in the top three on the team in doubles (9), extra-base hits (15) and RBI (20) and leads the team with eight stolen bases ... The Overland Park product strung together three straight multi-hit games against Western Michigan and put together an eight-game hitting streak from March 5-13 ... Goodwin has reached base in 25 of 28 games this season and has a hit in 22 contests.
FROM THE PEN
Wildcat starting pitchers this season have posted a 3.22 earned run average, allowing 51 earned runs over 142 1/3 innings with 154 strikeouts against 57 walks ... The K-State bullpen owns an ERA of 4.06 (46 ER, 102.0 IP) with 115 strikeouts against 54 walks ... Over the last 18 games, Wildcat relievers have registered a 2.50 ERA (19 ER, 68.1 IP) with 94 strikeouts and 34 walks ... In the season's first 10 games, the bullpen yielded a 7.22 ERA (27 ER, 33.2 IP) with 21 strikeouts and 20 walks ... The Cats totaled 31 strikeouts over two games vs. SDSU, punching out 15 in the opener before a season-high 16 in the second game ... In the month of March, K-State starters went 5-5 with a 3.20 earned run average (29 ER, 81.2 IP) ... The pen owned a March ERA of 2.93 (19 ER, 58.1 IP), with Jaxson Passino leading the way with 13 strikeouts in eight innings ... Kasey Ford has allowed one earned run over 11 2/3 innings in three outings while Tyler Eckberg made six appearances with one earned run in seven innings during March.
ECKKKKSELLENT
Wildcat closer Tyler Eckberg collected his fourth save of the year Friday against third-ranked Texas Tech ... The Edina, Minnesota, product entered the game in the sixth inning with the bases loaded and produced a strikeout to preserve the Cats' 6-2 lead ...
Eckberg went on to complete a 10-out save ... Eckberg now has 12 saves in his career, which is tied for fourth in program history ... Over his last nine games (14 innings), he has allowed just one earned run while striking out 16.
BY TH3 NUM8ERS
K-State has a run differential of +35 and is 13-4 when scoring the game's first run ... On the season, the Wildcats are 3-for-27 with the bases loaded (.111) and have held opponents to .189 (7-for-37) with the bases loaded ... K-State is 3-for-16 (.188) with the bases full in games won and 0-for-11 in losses with the bags loaded ... Overall, the Cats are hitting .236 with runners in scoring position and .222 with two outs ... In victories, the Wildcats are hitting .286 with runners in scoring position and .282 with two gone ... In losses, K-State hits .141 with runners in scoring position and .126 with two outs ... K-State has tallied 35 two-out RBI in 17 wins and just six RBI with two outs in 11 losses ... Phillips leads the team with a .469 average with runners in scoring position.