Courtesy of Kansas State Athletics
MANHATTAN, Kan. — Fresh off its three-game sweep of the Fayetteville Regional, K-State is set to compete in the program's second NCAA Super Regional and face No. 12 national seed Virginia in a best-of-three series, starting Friday at Disharoon Park in Charlottesville Virginia.
The Fayetteville Regional Champions (35-24) are two wins away from Omaha, as the winner between the Cats and Cavaliers (44-15) will advance to the 2024 College World Series at Charles Schwab Field, beginning on June 14.
The Cats will send lefty graduate Owen Boerema (6-3, 5.07 ERA) to the mound in Friday's series opener and will go head-to-head with the Cavaliers' left-hander Evan Blanco (7-3, 3.57). With 105 strikeouts this year, Boerema holds the single-season senior-class strikeouts record. Jackson Wentworth, who is nine strikeouts away from breaking current Major Leaguer Jordan Wicks' single-season strikeouts record, will start Saturday.
Friday's Super Regional opener marks the first meeting between K-State and Virginia in school history.
In the regional championship, K-State scored seven runs in a two-inning span over the second and third innings and received eight scoreless innings from its bullpen to defeat No. 4 seed SEMO, 7-2, and advance to the Super Regional.
Five Wildcats were named to the Fayetteville Regional all-tournament team with Kaelen Culpepper, who went 7-for-12 (.583) with two home runs and seven RBI, was named the Fayetteville Regional's most valuable player. Culpepper was joined by Jaden Parsons (third base), Chuck Ingram (outfield), Jackson Wentworth (starting pitcher), and Tyson Neighbors (relief pitcher) on the regional's all-tournament team.
Tickets are available through the Virginia athletic ticket office. All three games of the Charlottesville Super Regional can be seen on ESPNU and the ESPN app, while radio coverage is available on the K-State Sports Network. A free, live streaming audio is available for all games at KStateSports.com/watch and on the K-State Sports app.