2023 Baseball Season

[WildcatEngineer]

BH, thank you, that question was dumb on my part. I knew ISU dropped baseball so they could keep wrestling. I did not put 2 +2 together that the odd team had to play out of conference.

[bhoovy]

The Cats have cancelled their game tonight against UC Riverside claiming logistical issues, as they want to be sure to get back in Manhattan with plenty of time to prepare for a big home series with Tech.

[sfs20]

K-State is at 67 in Rpi and Tech at 69. Fluctuates a lot but this is a big series this weekend.

[bhoovy]

Cats with a big win 3-2 to start the series with Tech.

Boerema was not quite as sharp and went to a lot of 3 ball counts but managed to keep the red raiders off the board until the 5th were he surrendered two. Cats came right back in the bottom of the 5th with one to cut the lead in half, 2-1. Cats had several innings with runners in scoring position with less than two outs but couldn’t get the big hit. Boerema left after 6 with 7 k’s 4 bb and giving up 6 hits.

But in the 7th a Pelletier single was followed by a Pena blast to right field that cleared easily on a night the ball wasn’t carrying well and the cats took a 3-2 lead. Ruhl came in for the 7th and 8th and managed to get the raiders out with a little stress.

Then in the 9th Neighbors entered the game. He walked the first batter and then had the next batter hit to Pena at first which he tagged first and threw down to 2nd for an unconventional DP. Then Neighbors was juiced and hit 99 on the gun and ended up getting the ground out to short for the game.

Big win for KSU and huge start to the series.

Goodwin and Culpepper were both 2-4 and Pena was 1-2 but drove in all 3 runs.

Need a great game by Fajardo tomorrow to win the series.

Tech leads the conference in offense, but the cat pitching pretty well kept them quiet despite walking 7 tech batters.

4pm tomorrow on espn+

[tmcats]

that was a hell of double-play. and neighbors is just hilarious to watch. texan taking down txt. ten page in-game thread on txt board.

https://247sports.com/college/texas-tec ... 19/?page=1

[bhoovy]

Cats lose game two 5-2 and now go into Sundays with a winner take all game for the series.

Cats needed a great performance from Fajardo and didn’t get it, but with the way the Cats offense played he would have had to basically pitch a shutout as they were pretty dreadful.

Tech took the lead in the first with a questionable balk by Fajardo that scored the man on third. The cats took advantage of a tech error in the bottom of the first to tie the game at 1. Cats took the lead in the 3rd with aid from another tech error to go up 2-1. But in the 4th Fajardo relinquished multiple hits to allow the raiders to plate two and retake the lead 3-2. Fajardo had done his usual job of pitching decent until the 6 where with two out he walked a batter and then put one over the middle of the plate that the #9 hitter in the tech order put over the right field fence to go up 5-2. It was only his 3rd hr of the year and got Fajardo removed from the game.

Heyne took over to close out the inning and pitched pretty well into the 9th where he walked the bases loaded with two out and Wisenbaker came in to get the last out and not allow any more runs.

In the bottom of the 9th the cats quickly got two outs but then Day walked and Culpepper was hit by a pitch to allow Goodwin to come to the plate as the tying run. But he struck out again to go 0-4 for the day. The cats only had 6 hits for the game with Day and Rugley having 4 of those, two each.

Despite only having 6 hits the cats had lots of opportunities with runners on base as they stranded 12. Just could never come up with the big hit. They say that hitting is contagious but I also think poor at bats are as well, as the cats were struck out a whopping 14 times. At least 6 of those were looking. You have to give some credit to the tech pitching staff most certainly, but 14 K’s is just really poor plate appearances and leaving 12 runners makes it that much worse.

The defensive play of the game once again went to the cats when Culpepper who was shading towards shortstop had a bouncing ball hit just inside the line. He ran to glove the ball, then jumped and threw back across his body to first, but not one of those lofting throws to get it over to first, but basically a bullet that was right on the money. Unfortunately it was in a losing effort.

So tomorrow at 1pm on espn+ they play for the series, which is big for both teams. Cats have had a very hard time finding someone to fill that Sunday starting role with much success, so hopefully someone steps up or they basically do a version of Johnny whole staff and just go inning by inning. But the bats got to get it going regardless. Supposed to be a windy day so could be lots of runs scored.

[purpleprairiecat]

Some the 14 K's can be attributed to the umpire's weird strike zone. He was calling strikes when the ball was clearly inside on right-handed batters. The Tech pitchers quickly took advantage, and the Cats never did adjust.

[bhoovy]

Some the 14 K's can be attributed to the umpire's weird strike zone. He was calling strikes when the ball was clearly inside on right-handed batters. The Tech pitchers quickly took advantage, and the Cats never did adjust.

You’re absolutely correct. I was trying to avoid going there as I was afraid I’d go on a lengthy rant.

[WildcatEngineer]

Has the new construction on the north side affected the wind in Toiton?

[KStateEdDoc]

Great 10-8 win over Texas Tech to capture the series! The team kept rallying in the middle to late innings before closing the door in the 9th. Been a fun season......