Courtesy of Kansas State Athletics
MANHATTAN, Kan. – K-State baseball will take on No. 21 Texas in Austin this weekend with the three-game conference series starting on Thursday, April 6, at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.
The Wildcats (19-12, 5-4 Big 12) will face the Longhorns (21-9, 4-2 Big 12) at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday and Friday before the series finale on Saturday at noon. The weekend series in Austin marks the Cats second straight weekend against a D1 Baseball ranked Top 25 opponent.
Left-hander Owen Boerema will get the start on Thursday going against the Longhorns' left-hander Lucas Gordon. German Fajardo will get his ninth start of the season in the middle game on Friday and go head-to-head with right-hander Travis Sthele. Saturday's starters will be announced at a later date.
Friday's meeting marks the 85th game between the Cats and Longhorns with Texas leading the all-time series 61-22-1 since the start in 1985. The Cats are 4-6 in the last 10 matchups against the Longhorns, including 4-6 under head coach Pete Hughes. K-State claimed the regular-seasons series last season with a pair of home victories to capture the series, 2-1.
The game will be streamed on the Longhorn Network on ESPN+ and the ESPN app with radio coverage available on News Radio KMAN (93.3 FM, 1350 AM). Live streaming audio is available for the three-game series at KStateSports.com/watch and on the K-State Sports app.
GAME #32
K-STATE (19-12, 5-4 Big 12) at TEXAS (21-9, 4-2 Big 12)
Thursday, April 6 | 6:30 p.m. | UFCU Disch-Falk Field (6,649)
Projected Starters: LHP Owen Boerema v. LHP Lucas Gordon
Watch: Big 12 Now on ESPN+
Radio: 1350AM/93.3/93.7FM
Listen Online: kstatesports.com/watch
Live Stats| Tickets
GAME #33
K-STATE (19-12, 5-4 Big 12) at TEXAS (21-9, 4-2 Big 12)
Friday, April 7 | 6:30 p.m. | UFCU Disch-Falk Field (6,649)
Projected Starters: RHP German Fajardo v. Travis Sthele
Watch: Big 12 Now on ESPN+
Radio: 1350AM/93.3/93.7FM
Listen Online: kstatesports.com/watch
Live Stats| Tickets
GAME #34
K-STATE (19-12, 5-4 Big 12) at TEXAS (21-9, 4-2 Big 12)
Saturday, April 8 | 12 p.m. | UFCU Disch-Falk Field (6,649)
Projected Starters: TBD v. 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 heads into the Big 12 weekend 19-12 and 5-4 overall in the league after dropping a 6-1 decision to Nebraska on Tuesday night … Pete Hughes is in his fifth season at the helm and has compiled an 117-104 (.529) record during his time with Wildcats … Hughes is 769-596-3 (.563) in his 26 years as a head coach … K-State is slashing .269/.405/.462 as a team including 53 doubles, five triples and 45 home runs with two starters hitting over .300 … K-State leads the nation in walks with 217 … Senior Cash Rugely is hitting .355 to lead the Cats offense to go alongside a .504 on-base percentage and .602 slug … Brady Day is second on the team in batting average at .302 followed by Nick Goodwin at .283 … Roberto Pena has sent eight homers out of the ball park this season and ranks third in the Big 12 with 37 RBI … Goodwin and Brendan Jones have started in all 31 games for K-State at shortstop and center field… Jones ranks second in the league with 19 stolen bases which ranks 14th in the nation … As a team, the Wildcats are dangerous on the base path with a league-high 74 stolen bases which ranks eighth in Division I … K-State has rolled 22 double plays this season which ranks third in the Big 12 … The Wildcats have a 4.75 team ERA with 276 strikeouts compared to 106 walks … K-State ranks second in the league and ranks 35th in DI with a 2.60 strikeout-to-walk ratio … Sixteen pitchers have made appearances on the mound with four making over 10 outings this year while German Fajardo has a team-high eight starts … Owen Boerema is one of eight pitchers from the Big 12 this season to record four victories and is one of four with 45+ strike outs … Fajardo picked up his first season victory in the Cats 7-1 upset over No. 24 West Virigina, tossing seven complete innings … Boerema (4-1) and Fajardo (1-1) will each make starts against the Longhorns while Saturday's starter will be announced later …
SCOUTING NO. 21 TEXAS
The Longhorns enter the weekend as the No. 21 team in the nation ranked by D1 Baseball with an overall 21-9 record and 4-2 record in league action … The Longhorns had their 16-game winning-streak snapped last weekend after dropping the conference series to Oklahoma State on a walk-off … Texas is led by seventh year head coach David Pierce who's guided the Longhorns to an overall 240-125 record … Pierce is 437-234 overall in his 12 seasons at the Division I level with three College World Series appearances … Texas made the program's 38th appearance in the CWS in 2022… The Longhorns are slashing .281/.380/.472 with 101 extra-base hits including 41 homers … Three starters are hitting over .300 led by Peyton Powell … The redshirt-junior from Robinson, Texas is hitting .366 on the year with 21 RBI and 23 runs scored … Ten Longhorns have sent one out of the park this season led by Eric Kennedy with seven while Powell has a team-high .624 slugging-percentage … On the mound, Texas has a 3.32 team ERA limiting opponents to hit .228 with a 2.35 strikeout-to-walk ratio … Lucas Gordon (3-0) will get his eighth start of the season in Thursday's opener heading into the series with a 2.04 ERA … The left-hander has a struck out a team-high 45 batters this year … Right-hander Travis Sthele will get the mid-game start with a 4.96 ERA and 2-3 record on the hump for the Longhorns …
INSIDE THE SERIES
Texas leads the all-time series 61-22-1 since the series opener on March 8, 1985 … The Cats are 11-34-1 when playing in Austin grabbing their last road victory with a 2-0 shutout on April 19, 2019 inside UFCU Disch-Falk Field … K-State claimed the regular-season series last season, 2-1, in Manhattan … The Wildcats are 4-6 in the last 10 meetings against the Longhorns including 4-5 under fifth-year head coach Pete Hughes … The Cats last road series win came in 2019 … The Longhorns lead 3-2 in the last five meetings …
L, 1-15 – April 10, 2021 (Austin)
L, 2-9 – April 11, 2021 (Austin)
W, 8-5 – April 14, 2022 (Manhattan)
W, 2-0 – April 15, 2022 (Manhattan)
L, 4-2 – April 16, 2022 (Manhattan)
AROUND THE LEAGUE
Oklahoma State took control of the Big 12 standings after winning the series 2-1 against No. 21 Texas … The Cowboys are 6-3 in league action and 22-8 overall after snapping the Longhorns 16 game winning streak … Texas is second in the league standings at 4-2 and 21-9 overall followed byWest Virginia (21-7) in third after opening their Big 12 schedule with a 2-1 series win over K-State … TCU and K-State are 5-4 in Big 12 action with the Horned Frogs posting an 18-11 overall record … Kansas ranks sixth (19-12, 3-3) followed by Texas Tech (20-9, 4-5), Oklahoma (16-14, 2-4), and Baylor (10-19, 2-7) …
ON THE ROAD AGAIN
K-State is 7-8 when playing on the road and 7-5 when playing in true away games as the visiting team including 1-2 in Big 12 road games ... On the road, the Wildcat offense hits .263 while slugging .440 with 20 home runs ... K-State has averaged 7.3 runs a game on 8.9 hits when on the road ... Three Wildcats are hitting over .300 on the road with Kaelen Culpepern, Raphael Pelletier and Brendan Jones … Culpepper leads the offense on the road hitting .355 with 11 hits with three extra-base hits and 15 RBI over eight games … Pelletier is hitting .313 followed by Jones at .310 … The duo has combined for 26 of the 109 road runs with 13 RBI while Cole Johnson leads with 20 RBI and five homers … The Wildcat bullpen has boasted a 5.65 ERA on the road, striking out 132 compared to 57 walks ... Seven different Cats have earned a victory on the road with Tyson Neighbors leading with two saves … Neighbors has made an appearance in eight road games this season followed by Mason Buss and Shay Hartis each with seven …
WALK THE WALK
The Cats have walked a nation-leading 217 times this season, averaging seven per contest … Brendan Jones leads the Wildcats with 29 total walks which ranks 13th in Division I and second in the Big 12 … 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-State is on pace to break the single-season Top 10 leaderboard with just 64 left to match the 10th top performance of 276 set in 1982 … The Wildcats all-time single-season walks record was set in 1995 with 382 …
GOTTA BE QUICKER THAN THAT
K-State has caused troubles on the base path for opponents, stealing a league-high 74 bases which ranks eighth in all Division I while sitting 14th with 2.39 per game … The Cats nearly matched the program record with 11 stolen bases against Youngstown State (March 10) and were just one base shy of matching the record … Brendan Jones has been the speedster for the Cats lineup with 19 stolen bases which is second in the Big 12 and 14th among all Division I players … The Cats 74 stolen bases surpasses the 2022 season total by 32 … The K-State single-season record is 149 set in 2009 thru 62 games …
R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Raphael Pelletier continues to be a threat behind the plate as the redshirt-sophomore catcher from Mascouche, Quebec, Canada has thrown out a league-high 10 runners this season after tossing out two Sooners in the home Big 12 series … Pelletier matched his career-high in the series opener against Baylor (March 17) …
THE LONG BALL
K-State launched nine home runs in their Big 12 series against West Virginia, totaling 45 on the year … The Cats 45 homers ranks second in the league and 33rd nationally … Roberto Pena moved to top of the Cats' season leader board after hitting four out of the ballpark in three of the Wildcat's last six games … Nick Goodwin leads the current career leaderboard with 28 … Brendan Jones hit a leadoff home run in the series opener against the Mountaineers … Cole Johnson hit his second career and season grand slam in the Wildcats 12-9 comeback victory over Air Force (March 28) … Three players have hit multiple homers in a single game with Johnson, Salinas and Pena … The Cats have produced 80+ home runs the past two seasons … K-State hit back-to-back home runs for the second time this season since with back-to-back solo shots by Dom Hughes and Nick Goodwin … Three Wildcats have hit three grand slams this season with the last coming at Air Force (March 28) by Johnson … Johnson and Roberto 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 … Nine players are posting a multi-home run season … 38 homers were against right-handed pitchers, 22 were solo shots while 19 came with one-out … The Wildcats were the only team to produce double digit bombs in the opening weekend (10) … The Wildcats sent five deep and out in the series finale against Stephen F. Austin marking the third time in the Hughes era … The five home runs were just short two of matching a program record seven …
LAST TIME OUT
K-state moved to 19-12 overall after falling to Nebraska, 6-1, in a Tuesday nightcap … The Wildcats, now 12-4 at home, were held to one run for just the second time this season with an RBI single by Cash Rugely … The senior went 3-for-4 at the plate with a walk to extend his on-base streak out to 13 … Mason Buss (3-1) was credited with his first loss of the season after allowing two runs (one earned) on five hits during his five innings … The freshman struck out four Huskers in his third collegiate start … Five different players registered hits on Tuesday … Eleven runners were stranded on base with seven in scoring position … The bullpen combined for seven strikeouts with one walk … The Cats went 3-for-18 (.167) with runners on base and hit .182 with runners in scoring position …. Nebraska scored six runs on 12 hits with no errors committed and 10 left on base …
A LOOK AT THE NUMBERS
K-State has a season +82 run differential through 31 games averaging 8.2 runs on 8.9 hits ... The Wildcats have outscored opponents 36-20 in the fourth inning alone and 91-39 (+60) from the seventh and on … Cats are 14-2 when leading after the sixth and 2-0 when tied after six ... K-State is 8-6 when committing no errors in a game … Conversely, K-State has won 11 games when one or more errors are committed, 11-6 overall ... The Wildcats are 14-5 when scoring first and 7-4 when scoring in the first inning … K-State has outhit opponents on 14 occasions this season and is 5-12 when being outhit … The Cats are 12-2 when limiting opponents to five or less runs and are 4-4 in one-run games… K-State is 15-7 when playing afternoon games and 4-4 when playing under the lights … The Cats have won 15 games against right-handed starters while going 4-5 against lefties …
FROM THE 'PEN
Under the guidance pitching coach Rudy Darrow, the Cats pitching staff has produced a 4.75 ERA which ranks fifth in the Big 12 with outings from 16 different players this season … The Wildcats have struck out 276 batters this season compared to 106 walks, averaging 9.2 strikeouts per nine innings which ranks fourth in the Big 12 … K-State's pitching staff ranks second in the league with a 2.60 strikeout-to-walk ratio which is 37th in Division I … Five players have earned at least two victories on the mound lead by newcomer Owen Boerema with four followed by Tyson Neighbors and Mason Buss each with three … Boerema earned his fourth victory in the series opener against Oklahoma limiting the Sooners to one run with seven strikeouts during his six innings … Right-hander German Fajardo has made a team-high eight starts on the mound this season, ranks seventh in the nation… Boerema is just one of four pitchers from the Big 12 to record 45+ strike outs this season and ties fourth overall with 45 … Four different players have earned a save this year led by sophomore Tyson Neighbors with four which ranks third in the league…
UP NEXT
Following the series in Austin, the Cats will have another quick turnaround when they host Creighton on Monday, April 10, in the second meeting this season between the two schools. The game 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 is available for all games at KStateSports.com/watch and on the K-State Sports app.